Songs of Deliverance

September 14, 2009
This isn't as good as its predecessor, but readers who liked the characters introduced in Rhythms of Grace
will be happy for one more dance with Grace, Brian, Zeely, Ron and assorted supporting characters. Ostensibly stand-alone, the story gets moving faster for readers already in on the tangled web of relationships, which gets a lot more tangled, and more related, as the four major characters slowly, slowly move past the trauma that ended the first novel. Both books are set in Testimony, Ohio, a place that, in the author's clever conceit, was home to any fleeing slave who could pay $500 to settle there. The history of slavery ties the story together as it marks and twists family lines laid out in the book. This good idea suffers in execution from a few too many secrets and neat resolutions. The pace also drags, with literal sermonizing as characters sit in church or as they agonize over repeated relationship setbacks. Though her promise doesn't deliver enough, Griffith remains worth watching.