A Lever Long Enough by Amy Deardon

Amy Deardon is a skeptic who came to faith through study of the historic circumstances surrounding the death of Jesus. I met Amy last summer at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. When she spoke of her upcoming debut novel in the clinic we took, the premise intrigued me. Then the next morning we had a long visit in the foyer of the main building at PBU. What a blessing she was and still is to me. I offered then to review her book, and she generously handed me an ARC. I actually read this back in January. (Told you I was catching up this week!) She can be reached through her Web site.

Here's a brief description of A Lever Long Enough:

In the near future, the Israeli military has developed a prototypic time machine. When believers in Yeshua (Jesus) create a politically explosive situation that threatens the balance of peace between Israel and nearby countries, the Israelis must send a team of four elite soldiers back to film the theft of Jesusʼ body from the tomb and thus disprove Christianity. The team, consisting of a Special Forces soldier as leader, an ex-American astronaut as engineering specialist, an archaeologist, and a linguist, has exactly seventy-two hours to collect the video evidence. Drawn into a web of first century deception and death, the only way to escape is for the team to change the past. In the present, a traitor attempts to sabotage the mission and seize control of the military complex. The Special Forces leader operating in the past is the only one who can reveal him, but he is trapped two thousand years away. Even with a time machine, time is running out...

If you are a fan of speculative fiction, you'll love this book. I was hooked by the book's description, but I definitely couldn't put the book down after the first few pages. As a debut author, Amy has done a very good job incorporating her research into a fictional world. The book not only creates a world peopled with skeptics. But the prospect of filming the theft of Christ's body draws several of the characters to ask more questions than what's good for them. I loved the intrigue that was a part of this story, and it was skillfully woven throughout the span of two thousand years. The ending was a little abrupt and left me wanting to read more. Now. Hopefully there is a sequel in the works! There's definitely room for one. It's a book worth reading.

You can order a copy of A Lever Long Enough here.