This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready - PUBLIC

Smith-Ready, Jeri  This Side of Salvation, 368 pgs.  Simon Pulse, 2014.  $17.99  Content: Language: R (32 swears; 5 “F”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG.   

David’s family has been falling apart ever since David’s brother, John, died.  But David’s parents have taken grief to a new level, when they join a religious cult that believes in the Rush, a second coming of Jesus that will happen on May 11 at 2:30 AM.  When David leaves his house to see his formal girlfriend at a post-prom party, he returns after the appointed time to find his parents missing and their clothes laid out in bed as though they were taken in the night.  David, his sister and their friends try to track the mystery of where his parents went because David believes he can keep his family together.   

This book is told through flashbacks between before the Rush and after.  David is a great character that is easy to like and care for and his family’s grief feels real and heartbreaking.  The content makes this book hard to recommend for a public school library.  The mature content is on page sex and other sexual references.   

PUBLIC ONLY.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.