The Crossing by Serita Ann Jakes

The Crossing is a surprising read. Upon reading the book jacket I was anticipating not much more than a murder mystery with a few possible twists.  What I wasn't expecting was a Christian murder mystery. 

This story is told from the voice of several different characters and flashes back and forth between the time of the murder and present day, I actually like this style of writing.  It gives us a bit more indepth feel for what is happening and why.

While at a train crossing, a bus loaded with football players, cheerleaders and teachers is the scene to a terrifying event that haunts two of the main characters to this day.  An unknown man enters the stopped bus and starts shooting.  Among the chaos a young teacher is fatally shot and here the story begins.  One of her students (and best friend) Claudia is by her side until her last breath.  The unusually long train seems to never end and because of this the young teacher really stands no chance of surviving but during this time we experience the last thoughts of a dying person and the uncanny realizations that come too late to act upon.  The beginning of each chapter captures these moments of clarity 10-years ago as BJ Remington's life is fading away.

In present day, Claudia is now married to an up and coming ADA, she is a mother and a woman going through the nightmare haunting her to this day of the unsolved murder of her friend BJ.  Through a series of happenstance meetings, the three students most involved on the bus long ago are reunited and as a result the process of opening and solving this cold case comes to fruition.

Along the way, we follow these characters seeing their good side and not so good side.  Each follows paths that will either lead them to happiness and faith or to the depths of despair. 

This story has a number of twists and will keep you guessing (or at least in my case) up until the end when the final "ah ha" is revealed.  Although I would definitely classify this as a Christian fiction it is not filled with a preachy style, it would be appealing to a wide variety of readers.  One of the bonuses to having a faith based novel, is that a lot of the "fillers" some authors tend to use to fatten up their stories (unnecessary expletives, graphic scenes of a sexual nature, etc) just are not here and instead you get more of a storyteller version of a good story.

* This book was a gift through Goodreads.com giveaway.  Thank you!