cover image Strait of Hormuz

Strait of Hormuz

Davis Bunn. Bethany House, $14.99 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7642-1138-6

Bunn, a four-time Christy Award winner and writer in residence at Oxford University, does something few Christian fiction writers do. Starting with what seems to be a narrow view, his stories open readers to a bigger multicultural and multireligious world. Granted, some of the stereotypes he employs play into everyday prejudices about who are America’s international enemies and friends, yet he always seems to surprise and lead into places readers don’t expect. Intelligence agent Marc Royce is back for another international rush to avert a world war as axis-of-evil nations join forces to commit genocide against Israel and the United States. The pace slows but still feels energized when characters visit an underground church: “What you see here is an impossibility. We are Kurds. We are Turks. We are Syrian and Lebanese and Ethiopians and Iraqi. We are Persians... We were enemies.” Bunn’s strength is that he stretches the worldview of Christian readers with such stopovers in a story that also includes a love interest between a Christian and a Jew, showing how they work out their relationship and their faith. (Nov.)