Book Review: All Through the Night by Davis Bunn

I had the pleasure of meeting Davis at the Mount Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2005. I appreciated his heart for writers and his wisdom in regards to writing. But I’d never read his work. (except for those paired offerings with Janette Oke, for example)

But lately, I got wind of the new release: “All Through The Night.”

Here’s the back cover copy:

A loner, trying to forget. A community—and a woman—who need for him to remember...

Broken relationships and unfulfilled promises scatter themselves across Wayne's past like burned-out craters. His background in military special-ops is something he's trying to forget. But when he gets himself sweet-talked into helping a quirky group of seniors who've been scammed, he discovers it will take a lot more than muscle and nerve. Breach a conman's high-security estate to recover stolen money? No problem. Become part of community? Love again? Not on your life.

A lawyer with her own painful past is intrigued by Wayne and asks him to take on another unusual case--Tatanya's wealthy employer believes he's been visited by...an angel? Did a messenger from God in a pinstripe suit truly bring a divine warning, or is this merely another cruel hoax? Tatanya is willing to trust Wayne with her boss's life, but she's not sure she's ready to trust him with her own wounded heart.

With a financial analyst's skills and a warrior's tenacity, Wayne races to unmask dangerous forces hiding behind a corporate veil. But he will need all his resources--and then some--against an unseen enemy bent on destroying his fragile bid for a second chance at life...and love.

All he wanted was to put his past behind him. But now it's the only thing that will save them...

Just the front cover was enough to intrigue me. (What can I say? Covers do make a difference to me.) But suspense is not one of my favorite genres. Still, because I was curious and because this copy was due back at the library **grin**, I dug in. And I finished the whole thing in one weekend. Couldn’t help it.

First off, since I read so much by female authors, this was a such a different read. Now, I’m not comparing women’s suspense to Davis’ because I don’t read suspense, so I’m just saying—he writes like a guy! **grin** And part of that is the genre, I understand—short, quirky (though great) sentence structure; some holes in the narrative. But the pictures his purposeful use of words painted were phenomenal. One of his focuses in the book was on a hero’s heart—the heart of a warrior. We saw that plainly expressed in his lead male character—Wayne. Though the story wasn’t written first person, readers definitely get a sense that they were inside Wayne’s head and heart. With a cover like that, you’re expecting to learn about this guy’s regrets, and Davis did not disappoint. But he also portrayed hope in the story, and through a very masculine presentation, showed heroes still need God.

Every now and then a sentence simply danced on the page for its wit or wisdom. As a reader or a writer you can’t help loving that. Thanks, Davis, for a(nother) powerful read! You may have just picked up a new fan.