Deception: 3 (Ollie Chandler)

It’s a good book and it is well written, but he warned the main deception of the book is the story line isn’t about a murder, it’s that it is trying to convert you to Christianity. It lures you in with an atheist main character but at every turn you get told why he is wrong to be atheist. Towards the end of the book it got too much and I couldn’t finish it.

Having read Deadline i moved onto Deception. Did it surpass Deadline? It sure did! Alcorn has been blessed wth a terrific gift and he utilises it fully. A must read for a believer and a great book to give to a non~Christian.

As a mystery/detective book it's a page turner. However, I bought it as the sequel to the previous books in the series, Deadline & Dominion, because of the first two books' strong Christian message. I kept waiting & hoping for the heaven scenes, the scenes that, so far, had been a big part of the series giving the hope of the message of salvation through Jesus' blood & resurrection. The peeks into heaven. This book, however, has very little of that & focuses more on the evil of man. I'm particular as to what I read in fiction & search for those books/authors that include that hope as a main feel of the story. Deception fell very short on that &, instead, focused more on negativity. Not what I consider a good addition to the series. The witnessing of Jake & Clarence to Ollie is almost like it's thrown in to keep it a Christian book. Disappointed, let down. It is a good crime novel but there's a lot of those.

This book is hard to put down. Randy Alcorn is amazing with dialogue. You'll laugh, and cry, and maybe see a little of your own struggle, as you follow the life of police detective, Ollie Chandler. This book is filled with honest conversations, wonderful dialogue between the characters, letting you see the shaping of a man's thoughts as he processes the ageless theme of good vs. evil and how to reconcile pain and loss with the truth of God's love and goodness. Your mind will be entertained by an author who has captured the art of story telling in this book, but be prepared for your heart to be touched as well.

I found Alcorn when I moved into an office and someone left a copy of "Dominion" on the bookshelf. Since then I've read at least a dozen of his books and recommended them to many others. "Deception" is an excellent example of a tongue in cheek hard boiled detective story where nothing is quite what it seems, but it's not so unreal you want to slap yourself and then the author for writing the drivel. The twists and turns keep you on your feet and the tongue in cheek references to many things kept my attention with the occasional chuckle e. There are several points where you think, "hey, it's solved", but the book has many pages left, so you think, "how could that be? Well how sharp are you? You're not explicitly invited to solve the case, but hey, it'a sn entertaining thing t think of when you have a new detective novel. A previous reviewer labels this book "Jesus junk". Well, Ollie admits in the first five pages that he's not sure if there is a God, and the characters from two previous books that the author wrote are in there and they are Christians, so if the concept of Christianity offends you, then maybe you shouldn't read the book. IF YOU'RE NOT A Christian, then read can still read it and and see what a fun read it is. If you want to read the series in order, Read "Deadline" then "Dominion" and then this one. It's a fun read, but one that stretches your brain. And Randy Alcorn is a director of Eternal Perspectives Ministries, which tries to get people to see beyond today into their life in heaven. If Christianity is the thing that offends your tolerant heart the most, then you probably won't like his novels, though you could still learn something. Enjoy

First off, if you haven't read Randy Alcorn's other two books Deadline and Dominion, you just need to go and buy them right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.....I'm serious. His books are so good that they will make every other book you read seem bad, honestly.Deception's main character is Detective Ollie Chandler. He was a minor major character in the above mentioned books, but we get to know him so much better in the pages of this book.Ollie is a son of a gun, no frills, let's fry the bad guys, Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris worshipping kinda guy. Alcorn makes Chandler instantly likeable, and molds his character like someone out of a 30's detective novel.Clarence Abernathy (main character of Dominion) and Jake Woods (main character of Deadline) both make appearances in Deception. They added some very deep, soul-searching dialog to match our loveable homicide detective's cynical and dark thoughts on life.Alcorn does not handle the problem of evil and living in a broken world with kid's gloves in this novel. Ollie is on the forefront of a lot of bad stuff, thus his very cynical look on life and God. He just can't believe there's a God while so much evil goes unchecked.What ensues through the novel is Ollie's journey through a very complicated murder, always delving for new clues and always not sure who he can trust.Alcorn is a master wordsmith, and his mastering of the 1930's detective novels is suberb. This book is a must have for mystery lovers and people who just love a good book.

Randy Alcorn may be the most underrated author in the country. That is mainly because he focuses on the Christian fiction market so does not get the media attention that many others do.He has written several terrific novels. The best of these are 'Deadline' and 'Dominion'. Although 'Deception has some of the same characters as those two, it is not quite as good in some ways as those. It is still terrific from the standpoint of examining doubts about Christianity, the difficult questions such as why God would allow suffering, evil, etc.Perhaps the reason that I don't like it quite as well is that the detective type story is not my favorite genre. Some of the dialogue of the lead character, Ollie Chandler, is just a bit too corny for me.Nevertheless, this story will keep one's attention, it has lots of twists and turns, and it is a fun story. It is also very thought provoking. Some of the parts that I find to be particularly good are as follows: The author ties the work of being a homicide detective (Ollie Chandler) into a challenge to ponder the question of who killed Jesus Christ and why. He also asks extremely good questions for the skeptic to consider such as why would the apostles be willing to die for a belief system based upon a lie. I would strongly urge readers to seriously review pages 156-157.Another great question for Christians to ponder is why so many 'store their treasures there (Earth)' so that 'every day they move toward their deaths, they're moving away from their treasures. But if they store their treasures here (Heaven), every day they're moving toward their treasures'.Another excellent point that Mr. Alcorn makes in this book as well as others (such as the two previously mentioned and 'Heaven') is that oftentimes the way that Heaven is portrayed by many Christians 'made me not want to go there'. It is portrayed in a vastly different way by Alcorn.I recommend this book, but would suggest that readers enjoy 'Deadline' and 'Dominion' first. They are even better than this one. I also think that 'Heaven' is a must read.

Hey this is the third book in the series, and I recommend that you read the other 2 books first. Just because he talks a little about the other characters from the last books, especially Clarence's Dad. But you don't Really need to read the others first, I think It would just help bring it into context a little more. But otherwise, Super good book! I skipped So much homework because I was reading this Dang book! One day I didn't do anything productive just read! Gah. Great mystery too lots of twists and turns and Randy is very Funny in this book. Pretty Darn funny! Great explanation of why God allows suffering. a Fantastic Book.Update 2nd time reading it. Man, I loved it. I really urged my wife to read it, and I even tried to read parts aloud to her, funny parts. This book is hilarious. And a great mystery. I loved every second. In fact, I skipped out on a lot of work and was instead reading. It just really grips you. So pretty much my work life suffered (I work at home, my own business.) while I was reading this book .

After reading the first two books in this series, I was completely unprepared for Ollie Chandler's point of view. His dry humor and skepticism made this extremely entertaining as well as insightful and thought-provoking. Ollie, a Portland detective, mistrusts two things: religion and the media. His constant exposure to the criminal world, as well as the loss of his wife, makes him doubt the existence of a God of love. And a corrupt reporter who twisted the facts so that he was held up to the world's scorn gives him a strong aversion to the "truth" of the news. So when a Christian news reporter is assigned to shadow him, he is not exactly thrilled. But the case he's working on just may need more wisdom, time, and grit than he has to offer.

I got hooked into this series by starting with the second book -- Dominion. Fortunately, you don't have to read them in order to appreciate them. Characters are shared between the books, but each one is a good stand-alone read.Having said that, I'm really glad to see this story written from the perspective of Detective Ollie Chandler. He had me in stitches in Dominion and he's just as funny in Deception. But more importantly, Ollie asks the kinds of questions and wrestles with the kinds of tragic life experiences that prevent many people from seeing the goodness of God and taking the step of saving faith in Jesus Christ. Ollie's Christian friends Jake and Clarence are ready with answers to his questions, so we can learn from them, but I think we can learn more from observing the honest pain and doubt that Ollie struggles with. These are hard issues that keep many people out of the Kingdom.Randy Alcorn writes compelling, thoroughly researched fiction that entertains as it instructs. I highly recommend this book. Read it for yourself, then pass it along to others (on either side of the Christian fence) who could be helped by its message.

I bought this book expecting that it would be a page turning thriller. I was disappionted. I enjoyed reading it, however it wasn't very suspenseful. I was hoping for a book that I wouldn't read alone at night. It was a very good read but not what I expected. This is also a very Christian book with quite a bit of evangelism. I was disappointed that the evangelism did not have a satisfying ending. I am looking forward to reading some other Randy Alcorn books and getting to know his characters better.All in All- read this book if you are really into Christian detective novels.

No disappointment here! Love the mystery and the love of God showing through!

I visited my mother the week before Mother's Day and brought along two copies of this book. It was the most memorable activity of our week. My mom and I read our books in the same room, alternating our laughter and calling out the funny things that were happening. "The problem with morning is that it comes before my first cup of coffee." The book is about a cynical homicide detective who has been waiting all his life to hear good news at 3 a.m. Will that ever happen?Randy Alcorn is my favorite author and he has written excellent books. In this one, his versatility really stands out. This book would be a great book to give for Christian outreach.My regret is that you only have five stars. On a 1-5 scale, I'd give it 25.

I had previously read all three of the books in this trilogy and thought it was time to revisit them, about 10 years later, I was still very impressed and enjoyed the books thoroughly, although this one a little less than the first two.I read all three books in a row, and was craving some more Randy Alcorn when I picked this one - but the style was vastly different to that in the first two novels of the series. I still enjoyed it very much, and the reason for the odd style is explained by the character of Ollie, who is narrating. it still took me a bit of effort to get through it though. In the end I just thought, "I need to just go with it" and forced myself to stop comparing it to the other books.My advice for anyone who hasn't read the trilogy before - make sure you read them in order. It makes a big difference to your understanding of the characters as an assumed knowledge of their backgrounds is used in Deception.I found Deception to be interesting, was gripped by the storyline, if not so much by the way it was written, and really appreciated Alcorn's interpretation of what Heaven may be like. It helped me to expand my understanding of Heaven from "fluffy clouds, gowns, and singing with harps" and everything boring, to something much deeper and more meaningful. I know I still can't even begin to imagine it though!

GREAT BOOK. The main character is likeable but not a perfect guy by any means. The murder mystery is complex and really keeps you guessing until the last chapter. Lots of humor, as well as a touching family story line. Highly recommend!

This book, the third in a series of three, was absolutely great. I loved the story, the characters and the ending. I recommend these books to everyone, especially one who is suffering from loss.

I've read the other books in this 3 book series: Deadline and Dominion. I liked them both. Each book focuses on one character of three which appear in all three books. Deadline is about Jack; Dominion is about Clarence; and Deception is about the cop, Ollie Chandler. This is a fun reading first person narrative (for the most part) looking at the world through Ollie's eyes. I liked all three books in the series, but I think this one is my favorite. It would be good to read them in order, but if you just start with this one and read the others later it doesn't hurt the story at all.