Crazy Dangerous

Then he grinned down at me, his teeth bloodstained. “Oh,” he said. “Oh, punk. You are really going to get it now.” So that’s how I ended up just about dead, lying in a pool of blood by the side of the road. But that’s only the beginning of the story.

Book: Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2012

 

Genre: Adventure, Suspense

Target Audience: Boys 14-18

Subjects: Mental Illness, Bullying, Crime, Friendship, Courage

Summary: Jennifer is crazy right? Everyone knows this. Including Sam. But after he risks his life standing up to the bullies threatening her one day, she places her trust in him and reveals the secrets that she knows. But how can they possibly be real? She talks of demons and killing and blood everywhere. It’s nonsense! Except… the first thing she tells Sam actually happens. So even when she’s put in a mental hospital and diagnosed with schizophrenia, Sam takes her seriously when she calls him and reports that another murder is going to happen. The trouble is that he’s the only one. No one will believe that Jennifer actually knows what she’s talking about. Only Sam can provide the rescue and he’s got exactly twenty-five minutes to do it.

Notes: This book takes a look at mental illness, the spiritual realm and their connection to reality. At first, Sam thinks that Jennifer is possibly a prophet, being given visions from God. As it turns out, it’s nothing more than the things she sees and overhears being mixed in with hallucinations. So the spiritual realm is mostly thought of as unreality. It also looks at two other issues that could be spiritual. The first is that Sam is a PK – preacher’s kid. So he tries to do the right thing. Unfortunately, this does not come out of a desire to glorify God. It’s merely a matter of keeping up appearances. The next is his “Fear Nothing, Do Right” phrase that he decides to live by. Once again though, it’s not from a Bible verse or a trust in the Lord. It’s merely a moral consideration. He chooses to do right because it’s the morally correct thing to do. And as for “Fear Nothing” – well, he is portrayed from the very beginning of the book as a kid who is very gutsy. He’ll do risky things for the wrong reason as well as the right reason. He does pray at one point and then he sees the phrase “Do Right, Fear Nothing” written on a statue of an angel that later disappears and he takes this as his answer to prayer. So overall, it’s a book that teaches good morals, but not much about actual spirituality. It’s more of a “do right for because it’s the right thing to do” than a “do right because it is how the Bible or God says to live”.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 3/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Micah 6:8 – No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Thank you to BookSneeze for providing me a free review copy of this in e-book format.
Thank you to the library for getting a real copy so I could read what I'd promised to review! :-D