The third book this Peabody series by Jeri Massi has certainly kicked it up a notch! My whole family is enjoying these books as I read them aloud each night, and I keep coming away shocked at the level of excitement that a book published by Bob Jones University Press can offer.

In this book, Jack Derwood (one of the main characters in the first book, Derwood, Inc.) and his friend Scruggs (main character in the second book, Dangerous Game) team up with Jack’s Uncle Justin, an historian, in search of hidden gold in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Along with a handful of other characters (each of whom I had to make up voices for), this team of scientists and adventurers face sabotage, kidnapping, and gunfire as they slowly snake their way towards the secret backwoods lair of the legendary Soapy Smith.

As far as Christian fiction goes, this is the kind that has the potential to endure. Nothing against preaching and the Gospel, of course, but unless that’s the sole target of the novel, the preachiness sneaked into most Christian novels only detracts from the book’s value — and I’d say that’s true for just about everyone in the reading audience, Christian or non-.

In her novels, Massi balances well the suspense of plot with the depth of her main characters, allowing for any spiritual messages to come naturally and without force. I appreciate this kind of writing, and I’d say that this book could appeal to a much wider audience than just those homeschooling families most familiar with BJUP.

Lessons in this book include courage, persistence, and friendship, though youth would have to read between the lines to catch some of it. It could possibly spark some good conversations as a classroom assignment, but honestly, it’s better just left as good, clean, exciting fiction.

I asked my kids (9 and 10) which book thus far has been their favorite, and both voted for this, with Dangerous Game coming in second and Derwood, Inc. coming in last. Although I’m a guy who’s read a few more books than they, still I’ve gotta say, I agree.

Looking forward now to Book 4, Courage by Darkness!

©2021 E.T.

Read More from JourneyForth Press:

• With Wings as Eagles by William Pinkston (1983)
• These Are My People by Mildred T. Howard (1984)
• Medallion by Dawn L. Watkins (1985)
• Derwood, Inc. by Jerri Massi (1986)
• A Dangerous Game by Jerri Massi (1986)
• Treasure in the Yukon by Jerri Massi (1986)
• With Daring Faith by Rebecca Henry Davis (1987)
• Courage by Darkness by Jerri Massi (1987)
• Some Summer! by Jean Vandervenne (1987)
• Llamas on the Loose by Jerri Massi (1988)
• The Runaway Princess by Milly Howard (1988)
• Abandoned by Jerri Massi (1989)
• A Question of Yams by Gloria Repp (1992)
• Brill of Exitorn by Peggy Downing (1994)
• Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World by Deb Brammer (1994)
• The Lost Prince by Peggy Downing (1995)
• Tales from Dust River Gulch by Tim Davis (1996)
• Camp Sierra Secret by Esther G. Wilkinson (1996)
• Chickadee Winter by Dawn L. Watkins (1999)
• Songbird by Nancy Lohr (2000)
• Nix by Penny McKnight (2006)
• Shield by Dawn Watkins (2008)