Fiction Addict

Genre: General Fiction

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: March 1, 2009

Reviewed by Ashley Barrett

When fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper leaves his best friend Daisy Chance at their hangout he has no idea what is about to happen. Daisy mysteriously vanishes. The citizens of Defiance, Texas, grow anxious as days roll by with no trace of the young girl. Everyone becomes suspicious, even of the newer resident Muriel, Jed’s friend who is battling cancer.

Jed’s last conversation with Daisy torments him. He aches to be a hero, to rescue his friend, save his mom and sister from the controlling wrath of his father, Hap, and pray the cancer out of Muriel. But Jed’s prayers for Daisy, his family, and Muriel seem to bounce off the clouds.

Where is God in all this turmoil and who is He anyway? Is He the harsh judge Hap always warns about or the tender friend to whom Muriel speaks freely? Jed bounces back and forth between wrestling these questions and worrying about Daisy.

Daisy Chain grabbed me at the beginning and wouldn’t let go until the last word. It submerged me in a world of conflicted people stunned by the disappearance of a spunky young girl in their small, sweltering town.

Mary DeMuth has written both fiction and non-fiction. Daisy Chain begins the Defiance Texas Trilogy. I would certainly recommend Daisy Chain for readers who appreciate well-told, engrossing stories about real people. The second book in the trilogy A Slow Burn comes out in October and I can’t wait to dive in!