Title: Congo Dawn
Author: Jeanette Windle
Pages: 465
Year: 2013
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Congo Dawn is a thrilling adventure set in the contemporary Congo Rainforest. The author shows her knowledge of the area and people through her real life experience of growing up in a similar setting in Columbia. Her firsthand view adds much to the details of the story. The plot and dialogue are spot-on and very interesting.
Robin Duncan is an ex-marine now under contract to Ares Solutions, Inc., a private security firm. She is employed as a translator. Her new assignment is in the Congo as she grew up there and speaks the language. Ares Solutions is one of the many companies owned by billionaire Trevor Mulroney. In reality, these particular employees are hired guns/mercenaries. Robin believes she is just going to be on location for a month and earn a lot of money she desperately needs for her 4-year-old niece’s life-saving surgery. What she didn’t count on was running into a man she hasn’t seen in five years, a man who she last saw air-lifting her injured Marine brother to the closest hospital. Unfortunately, her brother died and Robin has been blaming this man the whole time. She thought she loved him, but now he is the last man on earth she wants to see. What are the chances of running into him in the Congo? Robin has lost her mother, brother and father to death. She is angry with God and stopped talking to him or depending on him. Robin often wonders why the innocent must suffer so. How can they sing of Jesus’ love amidst so much pain and suffering? She has deep conversations with Michael’s sister that begin to penetrate the hard shell of bitterness and anger she has built around her heart. Can she let herself truly give God control over her life and the lives of those she loves? When this current mission begins to be much more than it originally was explained to her, will she have the nerve to do what is right or do what is easy?
Michael Stewart also grew up in the Congo. His parents and grandparents were missionaries in the Ituri Rain Forest. His sister now lives there too. After his time in the Navy as a med-tech, he went on to become a surgeon and now works for a missionary surgical organization. He also has been deeply hurt for the last 5 years at Robin’s abandonment of him, telling him she hated him for letting her brother die and never wanting to see him again. He sees her with a group of men crossing the Congo border and hops a ride with their air transportation as they are going to the same place. He has a delivery of medicine to make and then will stay for a short while to train some of the medical staff. His faith has been refined through various trials. He sees Robin and realizes he still cares for her. Can she forgive him?
This is a great story of forgiveness, self-sacrifice, showing Jesus to others through action and much more. The characters will draw readers in right away, and the story will pull them in with tension-filled and suspenseful moments, political maneuvering and a conspiracy that must be protected at all costs, including leaving anyone alive that knows the truth. The journey of Robin’s faith and her conversations with Miriam are very well done and will touch the heart. I eagerly look forward to more novels in the future from this great author. I highly recommend this very entertaining novel.
My rating is 5 stars.
Note: I received a complimentary copy for an honest review of this book from www.bookfun.org. The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/ . Also follow me on Twitter @lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457 ( )

i read this while waiting in the airport, sitting in the airplane, all but reading while driving the car! An absolutely riveting, intriguing and intense novel. Just when you think you know where the characters are headed and what's ahead for them, something or someone jumps out of the rain forest at you and screws all your carefully thought out plans and throws them under the canopy of trees and you are in mortal danger. Oh, no, that would be former Marine lieutenant R. Duncan, last in a long line of Marine lieutenant R. Duncans, who is in danger of loosing her life!
Even as I write this, distanced from the reading by a few days, my adrenaline raises a notch.
Experience life in a dense rain forest, where the sun does not reach the forest floor, exotic flowers grow, and guerrilla forces tangle with government armies.
Jeanette is a superb story teller making the reader feel as if they are actually a character in the scene, seeing what they see, hearing what they hear, and even feeling the anxiety, the dread of the situations. She takes the point of view to the next level, with great talent. Jeanette's novels are a must read if you enjoy Suspense fiction.

I received this novel free from Tyndale for the purpose of writing an honest review review. An positive critique was not required, and the opinions expressed are my own. ( )

Nicely done, if a bit long winded at times. Wish the woman wasn't so naive, but good sound biblical truths in it as usual. ( )

I was really looking forward to reading Congo Dawn. I especially enjoy books that are very descriptive of their location and enjoy heart pounding thrillers with a Christian influence. Unfortunately, Congo Dawn was not at all what I expected.

The story was rather slow and drawn out, and I certainly wouldn't call it heart-pounding or edge of your seat suspense. It is actually much more of a romance novel. Even worse, it follows the same type of plot outline used by the typical harlequin romance novels. The story revolves around a woman and man with a past relationship that ended badly and they are now thrown together again. There is rudeness, tension, and plenty of pouting and stomping. In spite of this, they are drawn together. To be honest because of the behavior and "chemistry" between of the two main characters I simply didn't care about them. The only difference is that this, thankfully, is a clean romance.

There are some very good issues of faith that are discussed, especially suffering. The book is very descriptive, but almost too much so. Even the dialog is overly descriptive. For example, "She said firmly" and "He answered harshly...." I could clearly tell by what was said that it was harsh or firm, and I didn't need the author to tell me so.

I received a review copy of this book in return for an honest and fair review. I provide a link to Amazon.com to purchase the book, but it is only as a courtesy and I receive no compensation if purchased. ( )

When Robin Duncan takes on a security/translator contract in Democratic Republic of Congo, she doesn't expect all of her old wounds to open. Then she meets a man that she hoped to never see again, and she is reminded not only of her disappointment in humanity but also of the senseless death of her brother. Duncan must struggle inwardly with these issues while she maintains military efficiency in her team's efforts to capture a deadly insurgent leader. Soon, she learns that not all is as it seems - sometimes, good seems evil and evil seems good. Sometimes well-intentioned people can become monsters while fighting monsters.

Most Christian Suspense I've read is fairly fluffy, so I was surprised (and impressed) with the meatiness of this plot. I found the intensity of the mercenary action against the insurgency convincing. Often, I found myself unable to put the book down for suspense. The romantic tension was delicious, and added emotional depth to the characters without distracting from the suspense plot. And, of course, I always find stories about social justice medical personnel heartwarming. I also learned a lot about the Democratic Republic of Congo while reading this book. Windle has done a lot of research to back up all aspects of her plot - and it really shines through.

The only con would be a con ONLY to people who specifically avoid Christian Fiction. At one point, the suspense is, well, suspended by a philosophical discussion about why God allows bad things to happen to good people. This discussion would be interesting to any reader of Christian Fiction (i.e. the target audience), and the philosophy is demonstrated in the story by action. For those of you who generally avoid Christian Fiction because you feel it is "preachy," I recommend that you give this book a try anyway. Yes, there is that short section, but the rest of the book is all philosophy-demonstrated-by-action.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I am eager to read more of Windle's works now that I've had this taste. ( )