New Distant Thunder Book Review Sept. 14, 2009

Reviewed by Chris Phillips for Bestsellerworld.com

This is a work of speculative fiction; the events that occur here have not occurred in our reality, but they could. Root makes a very good case for that possibility and then shows how they could be prophetically fulfilled.


Ty Dempsey, a pastor in Plattsville, KS, is lead by God to begin teaching prophecy from Isaiah and Ezekiel. Moshe Eldan, a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, begins to see signs of increased terrorist activity and is lead to the same passages in a different way. Both watch as ancient prophecies come to life. These two experience events on different parts of the Earth, but their experiences are strangely parallel and culminate in an explosive climax where the central prophecy is complete.


Throughout the story these two fight battles that, although not in the same war, are the same in tension and dramatic effect. From the handling of a pastor’s issues leading a congregation to a renewed closeness to God; to piloting a fighter over the Golan Heights and fighting intense dogfights there; Root masterfully develops the plot. Then, when least expected, he twists it bringing prophetic and spiritual issues to the front, challenging many believers to see prophecy in a new light.


The action is compelling, even edge-of-the-seat tense. The plot is consistent and well-executed. The two main characters are thoroughly developed even if the others are paper thin in comparison. Throughout the book many of the antagonists seem to be interchangeable and non-descript, names changed but nothing about them distinguishes them from each other.
Read this story and prophecy comes. The only let down to this reader comes at the end, when it becomes clear that this volume is but the first part of a series. Hopefully Ty and Moshe will come back defending right in the next book, and the other characters will get their deserved development, becoming more completely fleshed-out people, believable to every reader.