Summary: Charlie West is on the run, from the police and a group of unknown terrorist. How can he prove that he is innocent and at the same time stay alive long enough to make sure the terrorists do not kill anyone else?
Charlie West, the hero of this series, has just stopped a murder at the end of The Last Thing I Remember (do not try to read this series out of order).
The Long Way Home picks up a couple weeks later. Charlie is trying to discover why he has been framed for murdering his best friend Alex (and by whom) while trying to avoid both the police and the terrorists that are after him.
Charlie decides to head back to his home town, in part because of home sickness, but mostly to get to the scene of Alex’s murder.
His friends have already suspected what he is going to do and meet him where they think he is going to hide out. This includes Beth, his girlfriend. Because he has lost the last year of memory, he has no memory of their relationship and only remembers that she told him to give him a call that last day of his memory.
As they get re-acquainted Beth tells Charlie about their relationship, Charlie’s trial for Alex’s murder and everything she knows before Charlie went to jail. This provides a lot of back story that was not in the first book and gives Charlie several clues to pursue.
This story moves along very quickly. And unlike some extended thriller series, there is real information discovered and shared in this book.
These are quick books. I have finished two books in two days and will probably start the third book soon.
One interesting thing to note is that these are published by a Christian book publisher (Thomas Nelson.) Andrew Klavan is not a traditional Christian author. These are the only books published by a Christian publisher that he has written. The rest of his books are traditional thrillers, four of them have been made into movies.
I only note this because as I was glancing at Amazon reviews there are several negative reviews by Christians because these books are not ‘Christian enough’. One actually says that he would give it ‘a high rating’ if it weren’t published by a Christian publishing house. Because it is, he only rated it two stars (the lowest rating of 81 reviews).
Charlie is clearly a Christian in the series. He attends church, has traditional Christian values that he lives by and he attempts to share his faith at one point with one of his friends. But there is not a real gospel presentation to the reader. No one (at least so far) gets saved and has their life turned around. There are a couple of brief bible references but the book is written as a thriller that is appropriate for teen Christians to read, not as an evangelistic novel.
It is always interesting to me how different people understand Christian media. I think there is room in the world for a variety of types of Christian media. I am glad some people are writing more evangelistic books. But most people that read those evangelistic books are already Christians. What I find inappropriate is harping on authors because they did not write a particular type of Christian book.
This is one of the better modern young adult series that I have read (whether Christian or not) and that should be enough.
Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook
The complete series as a single ebook, The Homelanders, is now available for $10.99.
Related Reviews
- The Last Thing I Remember (Homelanders #1) by Andrew Klavan
- The Long Way Home (Homelanders #2) by Andrew Klavan
- The Truth of the Matter (Homelanders #3) by Andrew Klavan
- The Final Hour (Homelanders #4) by Andrew Klavan
- Identity Man by Andrew Klavan
