Book Review: The Brotherhood

What do you get when an author that has sold more than 60 million books decides it's time to hit the streets with a novel about police work?

The Brotherhood (Precinct 11)

You get Jerry B. Jenkins' new novel from Tyndale, The Brotherhood. Now, many people are familiar with Jenkins' name from his involvement with the blockbuster Left Behind series, but if that turns you against him for whatever reason, this novel may, perhaps, change your mind.

The Brotherhood is a novel set with the Chicago Police Department, and it covers a few of the early years of Boone Drake's career as an officer. The book follows Drake from a rookie on the force, through personal tragedy, and onto a promotion to work with a special unit. As you read it, you'll see a man that has all he wants, and loses most of it. In the process he has to determine what goals are important and what methods are allowed to reach them. There's a bit of action, a bit of romance, and not a few moments of personal soul-searching. It is, after all, a book with a message.

Personally, I enjoyed this book more than I expected. In all honesty, some of Jenkins' former work I had found too predictable and too heavily religious for a novelist. As a preacher, I've often found that when novelists try to preach, they neither preach well nor provide a good read. Jenkins does a good job balancing the two here. While some readers might prefer a more 'gritty' read that provides details of violence and the more intimate romance, this book leaves those out. I liked that.

As a novel, the work is good, but a strength that comes out is the presentation of life and the opportunity to learn from it. One lesson I saw was the need for community. Drake suffers personal tragedy and tries to wall himself off alone in the midst of it. That just doesn't work for him, and I can see my own tendency to do that. It won't work for me either.

The author is, as I said, Jerry B. Jenkins. Here's what he looks like so if you see him in Wal-Mart,  you can try to get him to autograph your copy:

Your copy of what? Of The Brotherhood, of course. Silly. Tyndale House Publishers, who so graciously gave me a copy of the book will be glad to give one lucky reader of this blog their own copy as well! It works like this: you leave a comment here on this blog sometime between now and Wednesday, February 16 at midnight CST. I'll then, on Thursday morning, February 17, pick one commenter at random. I'll email you for your address and send you a certificate to get The Brotherhood for free. If you do something really nice, like post a Tweet or Facebook link to this page, I'll give you a double entry. Just tell me in your comment that you have done so.

Got it? I got a book for free, but had to write a review afterwards. You might get a book if you write a comment before hand.

Doug