Tag Archives: inspirational fiction

Review: Don’t Blink: 12 Inspirational Suspense Thrillers

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Box set of 12 books, with authors' names visible on the spines. Cover: Don't Blink. Cover image is a cottage in the forest with an overcast sunset sky.

Don’t Blink: 12 Inspirational Suspense Thrillers, by Terry Toler, Cynthia Hickey, Heather Day Gilbert, Jordyn Redwood, Urcelia Teixeira, Melanie D. Snitker, Camy Tang, Sherri Wilson Johnson, Vikki Kestell, C.D. Gill, Jan Thompson, and Lynn Shannon. (Winged Publications, 2025)

This collection is well worth picking up. Some of the authors were new to me, some were the draw for me to order the book. (Then I scored an advance review copy. My own copy landed in my Kobo app on release day.)

As with any collection, not every story worked for me. The ones that weren’t to my taste will be another reader’s favourites.

Here are some of the ones I most enjoyed, in order of appearance:

Queen Bee, by Heather Day Gilbert: 5 stars, tense but heartwarming. I liked the setting and the bee details. I was pretty I’d identified the villain, but there was a lot more going on that totally surprised me.

Abandoned to Darkness, by Jordyn Redwood: 5 stars, even tenser but somehow Isla’s blindness and having to trust Asher, her rescuer, helped me keep enough distance that I wasn’t too frightened.

Murder by Accident, by Vikki Kestell: 5 stars, and my personal favourite in this collection. Miss BD Finch is delightful—feisty, direct, and determined to avoid the gangster who wants to prevent her testifying at his trial. Be warned, this novella doesn’t resolve that. It stops at what I’d call a pause point, not a cliff-hanger, but where the next stage of the action will begin in book 1 of The Tahoe Mysteries series, Number 1 With a Bullet. Ordinarily, that’s a deal-breaker for me not to find at least partial resolution… but I’d already decided I’ll be following Miss Finch and her pets into the next book.

For more about the authors and to check out their other books: Terry Toler, Cynthia Hickey, Heather Day Gilbert, Jordyn Redwood, Urcelia Teixeira, Melanie D. Snitker, Camy Tang, Sherri Wilson Johnson, Vikki Kestell, C.D. Gill, Jan Thompson, and Lynn Shannon.

[Advance review copy provided by the authors / Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: The Baggage Handler, by David Rawlings

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The Baggage Handler, a novel, by David Rawlings

The Baggage Handler, by David Rawlings (Thomas Nelson, 2019)

Three people under pressure. Three identical black-with-red-tags suitcases. One airport baggage carousel.

Here’s the official description:

When three people take the wrong suitcase from baggage claim, their lives change forever. 

A hothead businessman coming to the city for a showdown meeting to save his job.

A mother of three hoping to survive the days at her sister’s house before her niece’s wedding.

And a young artist pursuing his father’s dream so he can keep his own alive.

When David, Gillian, and Michael each take the wrong suitcase from baggage claim, the airline directs them to retrieve their bags at a mysterious facility in a deserted part of the city. There they meet the enigmatic Baggage Handler, who shows them there is more in their baggage than what they have packed, and carrying it with them is slowing them down in ways they can’t imagine. And they must deal with it before they can leave.

In this modern-day parable about the burdens that weigh us down, David Rawlings issues an inspiring invitation to lighten the load.


[via the Thomas Nelson website]

My thoughts:

This gift-book-sized hardcover novel is an engaging read that’s sure to keep readers thinking long after they’ve reached the end. Most of us will relate to one of the three situations, and likely we’ll recognize a few people other than ourselves. If we can come away from the story inspired to “hand over” some of our personal baggage, we’ve gained more than the pleasure of a good tale.

Chapters alternate between David, Gillian, and Michael as they follow the same path of attempting to retrieve their baggage and discovering what’s weighing them down. Because of the parable-like nature of the story, the ending can’t be as happy as I’d like, but it’s a satisfying ending.

The book is published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher, and written by a Christian author, but the message and worldview is subtle. Who exactly is The Baggage Handler? An angel? Jesus? Because it’s not stated, this is a book that can also cross into the hands of non-faith readers who also have baggage to unload.

The Baggage Handler is an excellent debut novel from Australian author David Rawlings. Look for his next release, The Camera Never Lies, in December 2019. For more about the author and his work, visit davidrawlings.com.au.

[Review copy from the public library.]