Crockett Grey was ready to spend the one night a year he dreads most drowning his sorrow and pain in a bottle of liquor. The anniversary of his daughter’s death always hit him like a ton of bricks and the only preparation he ever had was alcohol. That was, until Jamie showed up scared and in need of help.

Jamie a troubled foster child from his class was running away from home and they were following her. Grey and his neighbor take Jamie under their wing which set the ball of trouble and bizarre events rolling.

Crockett realized they were after Jamie and now him too. How would he protect Jamie and try to save himself and his reputation all at the same time? Suddenly his world is torn apart and a dark conspiracy begins to unfold, how will he ever get out of this let alone get his life back?

This was an amazing read. At no point in this book did I think I had it figured out. There are so many twists and turns and sub plots that jump out of nowhere, it keeps you from even trying to predict the end. There was so much mystery, conspiracy and mind games that it kept the action going. There were times I had to put the book down just to process the plot twist and change in possible outcomes.

The writer was amazing at concealing the gift and the motive for the individuals involved in Jamie’s life. With evil and the Catholic religion major factors in this book it brought deep scandal and intense darkness to the book.

I highly recommend this book. It is very well written and I was very intrigued that I could not correctly predict any part of the story. The Author surprised me at every turn of events and I LOVED it! ( )

The canary
Jamie Piper is a twelve-year-old foster child that has an unusual ability to sense evil. She turns to Crockett for help but things spiral out of control.

The beginning of the book was interesting but it slowed down and dragged a bit. I was frustrated with the character of Crockett Grey. He found himself in situations beyond his control, but he seemed to just stumble through them. His life events just kept getting worse and worse, but he reacted to them as a simpleton.

Overall it was an interesting subject and was worth the read. It was just not my favorite book by Sigmund Brouwer. ( )

I really couldn't get into this book because I don't know much about the Catholic church and so I couldn't follow what was going on. Now that being said it was a good book and I know that if I knew more about that religion that I would have loved the book. I was really well written and easy to follow. I was organized well and I found all of the characters very relate able. I fell in love with the little girl and was so glad that it did turn out well. I also had a rough time staying interested and it took me awhile to read the book which is not usual for me. I think it you know about the Catholic religion then you maybe able to get interested and love this book.
FTC-I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review ( )

Pretty decent suspense novel featuring a Vatican conspiracy with supernatural elements. Starts off lively and fast paced, gets a bit too pleased with itself for its convolutions of plot, but overall decent. I don't think I've read more than a scant handful of Christian novels, so I thought I'd branch out.

Teacher and surfer Crockett Grey (our hero, with that name, you know he'll be a rugged individualist) is having his once a year Scotch whiskey drunk fest at home on the anniversary of his young daughter's death. He's shocked to see what appears to be his daughter's face at the window, but it turns out to be his 12 year old student Jaimie. She's afraid to go back to her foster home, because a man is there whom she can sense is evil. She can sense darkness in people. Crockett has the werewithal to bring Jaimie over to his elderly neighbor's, and neighbor Nana drives them to the foster home, which they find burned down and surrounded by cops. When Crockett is framed and falsely accused of viewing child pornography, he has to find out what's going on. It all gets rather complicated from there; suffice to say that priests, psychologists, Satan worshippers, a Vatican conspiracy, DNA research, witches, pedophilia, child abuse, and demons feature. It's not graphic. The author leaves the demon/witch thing up to interpretation and the reader could take the psychological interpretation. I'd recommend it to the Christian fiction suspense fans, but maybe not devout Catholics. More on the Evangelical side, probably. ( )

The Canary List is a religious suspense thriller in the vein of Dan Brown. I had mixed feelings about this book. I wasn't sure if Mr. Brouwer meant for it to be YA or adult fiction. I felt that the subject of the story and the focus on the actions of the adult characters seemed to indicate that it was for more mature audiences, but the style of the novel felt more YA. I also felt like a lot of the drama around the occurrences in Crockett's life bordered on the unrealistic - I spent much of the novel thinking, "Really? I don't think they would react like that!" Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the subject, and the action and drama carried me along to the (somewhat expected) slap-in-the-face ending.

I also was intrigued by the meaning behind the title of the book - which I cannot reveal here for risk of spoiling the story.

All in all, a good afternoon read if you're a fan of Dan Brown.

I received a free review copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. ( )