Blackstock Novel a Grand Slam Homerun

by Randall Murphree
November 6, 2003

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(AgapePress) - Christian novelist Terri Blackstock was the top-selling Christian suspense author in 2002. Now, she's got another hit -- Line of Duty. In fact, if we were in a baseball game, it would be a grand slam. Instead, we're in a New Orleans office tower where bombs, explosions, fear and sacrifice mirror the nation's 9/11 tragedy in a powerful story. Line of Duty (Zondervan, 2003) is the fifth title in Blackstock's Newpointe 911 series.

You can count on this author for the essentials -- the Gospel is always there. She tackles provocative social and moral issues -- e.g., domestic abuse, abortion, white supremacy. And her appealing characters pull you into a gripping narrative.

The main setting for Line of Duty is the Icon corporate building. When exploding bombs turn the high-rise into an inferno of death, Blackstock's Newpointe firefighters and rescue team are called into action. Her descriptions of the scene and its victims put the reader on-site -- hearing the cries for help, choking on the smoke, touching death.

Ashley Morris, an angry 16-year-old trapped in the fiery fiasco, may be Blackstock's most memorable character to date. The epitome of adolescent rebellion, Ashley decorates herself with spiked burgundy hair, multiple tattoos, and pounds of metal chains and jewelry hanging from many pierced body parts. She is orphaned by the Icon explosion, but fashions an uneasy alliance with Jill Nichols, an attorney also trapped in the burning building.

Visiting her mother's new grave, Ashley thinks of suicide. Blackstock is at her best when she gets into the girl's mind: "She sat there for a long time, the crisp wind drying the tears on her face as fast as they fell .... It was peaceful here. All around her death lay lined up with an order that life did not have. There was no pain in this graveyard, no dread, and no fear. Wouldn't she be better off lying here among them? There was just room enough beside her mother's grave for her own."

Terri Blackstock

This is Blackstock's best work yet. "I always hope that each book will be better than the ones before it," said Blackstock in an exclusive interview. "I really wanted the reader to experience this crisis by stepping into the skin of my characters. It was definitely an emotional experience working on this book. I relived all the emotions I experienced on September 11 and the days following it."

To research her subject, Blackstock read numerous books and articles written by survivors. "It was heart-wrenching," she said. "As for Ashley, I pictured her so vividly in my mind that I don't think I will ever forget her. I may never see a burgundy-haired teen with piercings and tattoos quite the same again."

In Line of Duty, the strength and redemption of Christian faith are artfully woven into the plot with typical Blackstock finesse. No tacked-on sermonettes, just realistically flawed Christian characters, for whom faith is sometimes weak and often challenged. They are people with whom her readers can identify.

Blackstock believes Christian fiction is an ideal vehicle for addressing moral issues. "I've incorporated many issues into my fiction," she said. "In Ulterior Motives and Private Justice, I dealt with the subject of divorce. In Evidence of Mercy I dealt with domestic abuse. Showers in Season was about abortion and Down Syndrome."

She sees it as her responsibility to serve the cause of Christ with her craft. Early in her career, she was a best-selling secular romance novelist for HarperCollins, Dell, Harlequin and Silhouette publishers. In fact, her secular titles sold more than 3.5 million copies. Then she began to realize that she was not using her gift as God intended and recommitted her life to Him.

"I wanted to be able to tell the truth in my stories," she said. Thus, she left the secular field and began writing Christian fiction. "I've gotten many letters from people dealing with these issues, and most of them are positive," she said. "Many readers have passed the books on to friends experiencing the same things. I'm not just using these issues as a platform for a plot, but as a means of reaching hurting people, or educating readers about hurting people, and pointing them to the answer to all of life's problems -- Jesus Christ."