Athol Dickson’s LOST MISSION won the Christy Award for Best Christian Suspense Novel of 2010!!!

 

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www.christyawards.com/winners.html

LOST MISSION, a taut, historical suspense novel with magical realist elements, set in the popular California mission period, with a parallel contemporary storyline.

Among the dirt-poor neighborhoods and ultra-wealthy enclaves lining the hills of southern California, a construction project unearths a long-lost Spanish mission. This discovery sets off a chain of events that presents four unrelated people—Reverend Tucker Lockwood, Concha Rivera, Delano Jones, and Detective Harmony Killeen—with difficult choices.

In every case, a greater good could be served with a compromise of some basic moral value. Lockwood could steal to feed the poor. Delano Jones could lie—or at least bury the truth—to protect his monument to God’s law. Concha Rivera, a Christian with a strong sense of mission, could trespass to preach the Gospel. Detective Killeen could betray her sense of legal responsibility to defend her family. It seems these devil’s alternatives will inspire these modern people to perpetuate the very crime that left the mission buried and forgotten 250 years ago—a mystery that is gradually revealed through research into a mysterious triptych excavated at the mission site, as well as through historical flashbacks.

At least two themes of magical realism appear repeatedly through the story. First is the appearances of Santos, a mysterious being characterized by a crooked nose, in both the contemporary and historical storylines. And second, the gradual appearance of faces on the triptych as the story's four protagonists—often with the help of a mysterious Hispanic man with the crooked nose—decide whether they will repeat the mistakes of the past.

Like other novels by Athol Dickson, Lost Mission will attract the same stellar reviews he regularly receives  from such publications as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. His writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publishers Weekly) and Flannery O'Conner (The New York Times). His They Shall See God was a Christy Award Finalist and his River Rising was a Christy Award winner, selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and a Christianity Today Best Novel of 2006 finalist.

 

Athol Dickson's university-level training in painting, sculpture, and architecture was followed by a long career as an architect, before his decision several years ago to devote his full time to writing. His latest novel, Winter Haven, was published in Spring 2008. His novels are known for their richly evocative settings, unforgettable characters, intense suspense, and pervasive sense of magical realism. This is his first title for Howard Books. Although it’s a stand-alone novel, it’s the first book in a three-book contract. His previous books have been published in German (Haenssler), Dutch (Jongbloed), and Polish (W Wylomie), among other languages.

Link: http://www.atholdickson.com/

Author: Athol Dickson

Add date: 2010-07-15