Wow. It started off similarly to Deadline, and I was afraid it would follow the same pattern, and perhaps in a sense it did, but it built upon it and became so much deeper. While Deadline deeply considered abortion issues and teen "sleeping around," Dominion dove into race issues. The ending was beautiful, one of those books you put down and stare into the distance for a while after finishing.

It's a murder mystery, for those wondering about the premise, and I would recommend to older teens. It's deeply disturbing in many parts, but in a good way, one that helps you reconsider and restructure your knowledge of racism issues and other things.

This book was very hard for me to get through. It was LOADED with racial issues (we're talking every sentence, no exaggeration, was regarding race, white vs. black, judging based on race, etc.) and frankly it was so distracting that I ended up skimming/skipping those sections by the end (as well as the Heaven scenes. They seemed irrelevant to the story line). The point was made in the first 100 pages. Besides, the dialogue wasn't believable during the race discussions. Don't get me wrong, I think dealing with racial issues is important, but it was a little overkill.

I wanted to like this book more because I read other reviews where readers raved about it, and I did enjoy one of his other books, Deception. The plot didn't progress until around page 450, but once the story did take off, it was very gripping. If you plan on reading this book, know that it is heavy with racial conversations and slow on the story line.

Wow 603 pages in 3 days. What else was I doing besides reading lol. I throughly enjoyed this book. It is eye opening and educational.

This is the second book in Randy Alcorn's series. While it was still a good story, I just didn't like this book as much as the first one or the third one. I highly recommend the last book in this series! It was the best.

When Clarence's sister and niece are killed in an assination murder, Clarence becomes obsessed with finding the killer while maintaining his job as a journalist and taking care of his family, Father, and his sister's remaining children. A lot of exploration of race in this book and what heaven is like.

While some may criticize that it's a book about a black man and his family's perspective, written by a white man, I felt that this book was needed from this author at this time. White people need a wake up call from an author who they trust. Alcorn does his research well. He shows that there is not one "black perspective," but he weaves in the experience of racism that white people need to understand. It was also a compelling novel.

This book wasn't the full of the typical fluff that a lot of Christian books have - it had a lot of depth. It also made me think about a lot of things that don't normally cross my mind much: inner city life, gangs, drugs, racial conflict, prejudices and also heaven. Heaven was REAL in this book and while I have believed that my entire life, this book left me with a longing for my true home.

Totally tasteless

This marks my second time reading this particular book. In my opinion, it doesn’t pack quite the same punch as its predecessor. While still a good story, it feels bloated with repetitive information, and I believe it would have been a better story if a couple hundred pages had been trimmed out. If I were to recommend Alcorn’s work to a friend, I would recommend Deadline without hesitation. I don’t know that I would do the same with this book. While I still loved the theological elements and the beautiful presentation of heaven, I found the plot and characters stiffer and harder to engage with than those in Deadline. And even as someone who shares a worldview with the author, I found this book to be very preachy.

Dominion is the story of Clarence Abernathy, a coworker of Jake Woods, the main character of Deadline. Clarence is a sports writer transitioning into a general columnist. Four things make Clarence stand out in the newsroom. First, he’s a big man. He’s physically very imposing and is built like a linebacker. Secondly, he’s an incredibly sharp dresser. While most journalists favor casual or even sloppy attire, Clarence is always impeccably dressed in expensive suits. Thirdly, he’s a conservative in a newsroom full of outspoken liberals, which means most everyone working at the paper disagrees vehemently with almost everything he writes. Fourthly, Clarence is African American, which makes his conservatism all the more unusual in the eyes of his fellow writers.

One of my issues with this book is that Clarence is just not as likable or empathetic as his main character counterpart in the first book. Clarence was a fun side character in Deadline, but he was so abrasive and defensive as a main character that it hindered my enjoyment of the book. Also, watching Jake come to faith in Deadline was a wonderful experience. We don’t get that here. Clarence is already a Christian, who thinks he is living a model Christian life because he follows a list of do and don’ts. In actuality, he is lukewarm at best and has stepped away from a true relationship with God. He is a believer in the “prosperity gospel,” which is an element of some segments of Christianity that I disagree with strongly. Obviously, so does Alcorn, and Clarence’s “name it and claim it” belief system is put to the test and found to be false. When God fails to live up to Clarence’s misguided expectations, Clarence turns his back on God because he feels betrayed.

Christians were never promised prosperity upon accepting Christ. In fact, we were promised the opposite in the form of troubles and persecution. God is not a genie, waiting on wishes to grant. He is not to be bartered and bargained with. We shouldn’t expect to find a new car in our garage just because we prayed really hard. That just isn’t how God works. He blesses us richly, but often not in the ways we demand. I could write a book on all of the issues I have with the prosperity gospel mentality, but suffice it to say that I disagree with it completely and have never found a single verse of Scripture that supports that view.

This is a book that I don’t believe would be published today. It’s the story of a black man and his family and neighborhood, and it deals heavily with racism and the past that still haunts every African American. So why do I think it wouldn’t have been published if written last year instead of over ten years ago? It was written by a white man. Though every element was handled with tremendous grace, I fear that this book would be viewed as appropriation in today’s political climate. However, it’s a very good book, and I think that Alcorn handled every single element of the story with great consideration and finesse.

Dominion and Deadline are both staunchly Christian books. I view them as apologetics with plot. I thoroughly love both (though I prefer Deadline), and my worldview lines up completely with that which Alcorn presents, as I myself am a conservative Christian. I just want to make people aware of the point of view being presented in these books. If you’re a Christian or are interested in learning more about what Christians believe, these are definitely the books for you. If neither of these describe you, I fear that you will likely find these books offensive, though I could be wrong. I suggest going into these books knowing that they are largely apologetic (explaining and defending a particular faith) in natural, and that knowledge will make the books more enjoyable.

First of all, this is not just a thriller. I mean, it is. There is gang violence, murder, political drama, journalism shenanigans and more. But REALLY, really this book is about 2 important topics: racial inequality and...Heaven.

So, while the story is thrilling, Alcorn is using the story to teach teach TEACH. Here's how I know the teaching on racial equality is good--some of it caused me to raise an eyebrow, hurt my feelings almost. That's when you know he's preaching full-force and not just one-sided. I would love to hear an African American Christian's review of this book. What made me the saddest was that this book was set in the 90's. And the problems seem exactly the same as today. Why aren't they better??

The parts about heaven could be a little long BUT, if you stick with them, they are SO WORTH it. While I was in the middle of this book, one of my friends lost her battle with cancer. And having this teaching about how AMAZING Heaven is (and how MUCH MORE AMAZING Jesus is) gave me such encouragement in the grief.

I think this is an important book. My very favorite quote is one I remember from the first time I read it years ago, "black people see race as a marinade--it is in and through everything. White people see it as a sauce, they take as much or as little as they want." (from memory)

If you've never read a Randy Alcorn book, put it on your TBR. This is the 2nd in the series, but still a great standalone!

My 1st read from this author. Found the snippets of black history interesting. Enjoyed the grandfather's wisdom. "There's bad Christians & there's good Christians; there's phoney Christians & there's real Christians. The devil can go to church once a week. Nothin' to it. It's livin' it that matters, & the people that live it, those are the real Christians - not just the ones that mouth it. ... anybody who hates a man for the color God made him isn't filled with God, he's filled with the devil. So jus' because somebody say he a Christian, it don't mean he is. And even those that is Christians is still just people..."

This book was hard for me to read. I struggled to get into it and had difficulty sticking with it to finish. I don't recommend it. It is long, I believe the author is trying to do too much and I don't agree with his theology which made me dismiss much of the side plots.

The surface story has a woman and her five year old daughter killed in a gang-style shoot-up of their house. Her brother, a newspaper columnist works within and outside the confines of the law to bring the killers to justice, along the way distancing himself from his own wife and children and his nephew who is dabbling with gang membership, and jeopardising his job and reputation. One question Alcorn presents to readers is whether human sought justice is worth it or should just be left in God's hands. Along the way, Clarence explores in excruciating detail the history of racism in North America and goes on a soapbox about abortion--the comparison to rape was ridiculous!

Meanwhile in heaven--oh boy--his sister is meeting all kinds of people like C.S. Lewis and relatives who give her a family history and reinforce the evilness of racism theme--in case we're missing it on earth--the views to earth through historical and current portals weren't for me.

Finally the references to key passages in the Narnia Chronicles and books such as the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were too much of a hammer to the head--what happened to SHOW, don't tell?

Did not like it.