I recently read Robert Liparulo's debut thriller Comes A Horseman, a book that's notable for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it's a great tale--full of twists, turns and harrowing action. In fact, beginning to end, it's perhaps one of the fastest-paced thrillers I've read; kudos to Liparulo for packing a whallop, if you'll permit me to use such high-falutin' terms.

But I'm also quite interested in the book for purely selfish reasons; in many respects, it aims for the same markets my own book will. For starters, Comes A Horseman includes faith and spiritual elements, but isn't overt about them. Nor is it a Big Message book, filled with deep theological thoughts. It's entertainment, pure and simple, and odd as it sounds, for a writer of faith, that's a bit of a struggle. In a recent interview with InFuze Magazine, Liparulo talked about that struggle:

I struggled with the whole idea of, "Has God given me this gift to write so that I can write entertainment?" ... I realized in reading that it was okay, that I could write this way. And I trust that God is going to be there. Because I'm a Christian, God is going to be on every single page, even when I can't see it.

I've struggled with that myself. I'll be blunt and say I want to entertain first; I don't write with a Big Message in mind, even though I do have some messages to convey. But part of who I am as a person--the journey that brought me to faith--will be reflected in the story. Certain themes and messages, I think, will be a part of what I always write, because they've helped shape what I am. Liparulo's interview at InFuze was encouraging for me, in part, because it was nice to see another author with the same inner conflict.

On a related note, Comes A Horseman is in that grey area between the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) and the ABA (American Booksellers Association). Liparulo's publisher has aggressively promoted this as an ABA novel, and rightly so: after all, the faith elements in the story are subtle and nuanced. At the same time, however, I'll bet the core market for this book will be CBA readers who embrace work by authors such as Peretti and Dekker.

It's a combination that seems to be working: Comes A Horseman has had solid Amazon rankings, regularly showing up in the top 100 thrillers during the month of November.

Here's hoping Comes A Horseman continues its successful ride in the months to come. I'll be thrilled to be on the shelf next to books such as this one.