Tristi had witnessed the massacre and destruction of her village when she was twelve years old. Now the man who gave the orders was aboard the ship for the transatlantic crossing. Her only hope was that another passenger, Amanda Bechtel, now Amanda Allmond ,would come to her assistance, if needed. The mere sight of Colonel Perreira triggered vivid memories of all that had happened during the Mozambique war for independence. How would she avoid the colonel? Would he come after her to erase the last person who could connect him to the genocide?
In Unpredictable Crossing
Jonna-Lynn K. Mandelbaum’s experiences as a missionary nurse to Mozambique are obvious in this story of three people who share a horrid past and are reunited by fate on a cruise ship in the present. Ms. Mandelbaum weaves flashbacks from all of the main characters which allow the reader to understand Tristi’s fear when she realizes the colonel, who ordered the destruction of her village, is now a passenger on the cruise ship she works as a stewardess. In fact, these flashbacks were my favorite part of this story. The recollections were vivid, real and gave great insight into these characters which I am sure stems from the author’s own missionary work. The plot was a little shallow during the scenes on the cruise ship – it moved too fast and sometimes focused more on where the characters were sitting and what their plans were for the day then the psychological tension that would surround a chance meeting of these people. Overall, I did enjoy this book and am definitely interested in reading some of the author’s other books which appear to deal with characters more than seating arrangements.
You can read an excerpt from chapter one as well as Ms. Mandelbaum’s reflections on writing and publishing. Thank you to the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Rating:
and 1/2
Book Information:
ISBN: 1-4327-4024-5
Subject: Fiction
180 pages
no illustrations
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