Off The Wall - Scuba Diving To The Extreme

“Even after he’s dead, we’ll have trouble. So we’ve decided this run is our last.” After he’s dead? He was going to kill a man? “And by the way, Ian, we’ll have to kill you too.”

Book: Off the Wall /Absolute Pressure (Orca Sports)by Sigmund Brouwer, Word Publishing, 1996

 

Genre: Sports Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 12-14

Subjects: Drugs, Forgiveness

Summary: Ian is spending this summer the same as he does every other summer, hanging out at his uncle’s and doing scuba diving. When he is doing a favor for his uncle, while still underwater, he realizes the spring on his valve has been cut. He’s losing air fast and may not survive the trip back to the surface. And even if he survives that, it’s obvious someone is out to commit murder. Someone that desperate won’t stop at one attempt.

Notes: This is a short story and very fast paced. The focus is on the action, moving from one extreme event to the next with very little in between them. At the end though, there is an author’s note that makes the book really good. There is some discussion about forgiveness in the book itself, and even a hint at salvation, but then in the author’s note, Sigmund Brouwer carries it farther and explains briefly about forgiveness and even mentions how through Christ, God forgave us.
This book was republished in 2009 as part of the Orca Sports series and retitled Absolute Pressure.

Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Colossians 3:13 – Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.