Review: If We Survive by Andrew Klavan

by:  Andrew Klavan
published by:  Thomas Nelson
publish date:  November 6, 2012

Will Peterson is part of a mission team that has traveled to Costa Verde to rebuild the wall of a school. It's been a great trip-until a revolution breaks out just before they board their plane to go home.

But then it becomes a desperate race to escape: from a firing squad, from savage animals in the depths of the jungle, from prison cells and revolutionaries with machine guns.

One of the girls is showing Will amazing things about what it means to be truly fearless. And one of the guys has the makings of a real hero. None of them will go home the same. If they only survive.

This was one of my random audiobook picks from the library.  I didn't know anything about it or the writer going in.  I definitely didn't realize it was going to be Christian Fiction.  However, my thinking throughout the whole book was that, this was the right way to do Christian Fiction.  The concept of God and Faith was present throughout the entire book, but it wasn't presented in an overbearing manner.  I thought Andrew Klavan did a super job with presenting this aspect of the story especially in a YA format that would be acceptable to most readers.

The story is about Will and a group of students and missionaries that travel to Costa Verde to help repair a wall.  While there civil war breaks out and they get caught up in the cross fire and draw the ire of some of the revolutionaries.  Will and his group must escape the tiny jungle town they are in and try to get back to a city with an airport so they can make their escape. 

The story was very well written.  The action was tense and nerve wracking.  If We Survive was one of my surprise 5 star books.  I give those out very few and far between, so that's a testament as to how much I thought of this book.  I definitely recommend it.