The Time of Jacob’s Trouble is not what I expected, nor was the writing the Donna VanLiere that I’m used to.
A typical day at work turns into a nightmare for Emma Grady when her favorite patient and several colleagues vanish in front of her. What could make so many people vanish in a moment? And not just in New York, but all over the globe?
Do you remember the Left Behind series from the early 2000s? As a believer those books packed a punch. To me they were an easier way to see what the Bible describes in the book of Revelation. The Time of Jacob’s Trouble seems to be VanLieres way of doing the same thing. But this book did not work for me or pack the same punch the Left Behind series did. The characters lacked depth and their stories and how they are written felt jumbled and without flow. Then suddenly, the book just stops! I was not expecting a cliffhanger! What I didn’t know when I started this book was that it is the first book in a series.
Why did my Kindle say there was nearly two hours left in the book when I reached the end of the story? Because the rest of the book is segments titled Where in the Word? The best way I can describe these segments are as Bible study material. VanLiere dives into the scripture surrounding the events in the fictional chapters she has written. I did not read these segments because I was not prepared for them. Their inclusion was such a shock to me. I wasn’t prepared to study the end times as told in Revelation in depth. My head was completely in the fictional characters and what was happening to them.
While this did not live up to my VanLiere expectations, it was still an okay read. I’m not sure how this book is classified, but it seems better suited for a Bible study group to experience together. I’m not sure that I’ll read the next book, but I’ll probably read the fictional portion only and skip the study material if I do decide to continue the series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
Title: The Time of Jacob’s Trouble
Author: Donna VanLiere
Release Date: March 17, 2020
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