Official Review: In Search of Sanctuary by Jamie E. Kirby

[Anthony__]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "In Search of Sanctuary" by Jamie E. Kirby.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In Search of Sanctuary by Jamie E. Kirby is a historical Christian novel with themes of love, violence, deceit, faith, benevolence, and restoration.

The Sanctuary, the café’s name, is many things to many people. For some, it is a dingy outdoor café in the heart of one of New York City’s worst slums. For Mac and his gang, popularly known as “the bad boys,” it is a place to unwind after their criminal activities. For Aiden (a 15-year-old orphan) and her older friends, it is a haven. After losing her parents at the age of five, Aiden lived as a street urchin until Maggie, The Sanctuary owner, adopted her. However, with Maggie, Father Joseph (the young parish priest), and other patrons of The Sanctuary, Aiden feels again what it means to be part of a family. Then, tragedy strikes. Shortly after that, Shamus arrives at The Sanctuary searching for Aiden, the love of his life. Will Shamus ever find Aiden? With Mac on the loose, will Shamus and Aiden ever be safe?

I loved the author’s choice of words and sentence structures; merely reading through this book improved my vocabulary. I find it interesting that the book began and ended with narrations of what happened at The Sanctuary. The story is told using the third-person omniscient point of view. Each chapter begins with a title that gives the reader a hint of what to expect. I love how the author narrates his story with appropriate scriptural backings. I love the story development and how the author captured each character’s peculiarities; I was most captivated by Zora. She is brave, charismatic, and charming. Furthermore, I was fascinated by the bond Aiden shared with her friends.

I saw one discrepancy. At the end of Chapter 73, the author stated that Tess, Annabelle, and Reggie returned to London. However, there was no mention of Annabelle during the events that transpired in London in the succeeding chapters. The next time Annabelle was mentioned is in Chapter 90, where she was with Bart, Giselle, and Madam Rousseau in Paris, whereas nothing was said about her return to Paris. Aside from the above, there is absolutely nothing I dislike about this book.

In Search of Sanctuary is masterfully written with good diction and advanced grammatical expressions. The discrepancy mentioned above is harmless and did not detract from my enjoyment of this book. Therefore, I am rating it 4 out of 4 stars because the book is well edited. I did not notice any grammatical or typographical errors. I recommend this book to lovers of Christian literature regardless of their age. Although this book is a Christian novel, I believe even non-Christians can enjoy or benefit from it.

On a final note, I was amazed when I discovered what “Sanctuary” truly means at the end of the book. It had a profound effect on me and gave me a different perspective of the entire story.

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In Search of Sanctuary
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[Kennedy NC]

Sometimes a place can signify different things to different people. It's interesting the sanctuary represented different things to many. Great review.