Cushman's (Waiting for Daybreak) latest faith-based novel begins with a jolt. As a police officer arrives on the doorstep of Alisa Stewart's home, she fears that her only living son, Kurt, has been killed in the course of his dark lifestyle, living on the streets and using drugs. Her terror is calmed when she learns her son is only needed for an investigation into the beating death of a local dealer, and she's further assuaged when Kurt himself calls to say he is now in rehab. Latching onto this unexpected and desperately needed ray of hope, Alisa is deceived by her own optimism. As past secrets are revealed, she is forced to consider justice and mercy's conflicting demands. Though Kurt's struggle dominates the novel, Alisa faces additional personal crises- her husband threatens divorce and she's tempted by the possibility of an affair. The number of crises facing her is overwhelming and at times distracts from the power of the central conflict. However, the novel offers a denouement that will satisfy evangelical Christian readers with its resolution while maintaining its reality. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Alisa Stewart is a woman on the edge, barely holding herself together for the sake of 10-year-old Caroline after one son is murdered, his younger brother Kurt turns to drugs and is kicked out of the house, and her husband moves out. When a detective turns up looking for Kurt as a person of interest in the beating death of his supplier, Alisa's carefully constructed façade of lies and concealed truths begins to crumble. And her faith, never as strong as she led others to believe in the church where she works and during the motivational speeches she delivers in public, wavers until she is faced with an ethical quandary of life-and-death proportions. Cushman's fortysomething protagonist matter-of-factly narrates her struggles with her conscience and her maternal instinct to protect her offspring in this introspective, deeply personal, and often emotionally painful contemporary Christian novel, which is sure to appeal to many readers.--Welch, Lynne Copyright 2009 Booklist