When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey

Published June 11th 2013 by Thomas Nelson Publishers

Christian-Fiction, Paranormal?, Mystery

Paperback provided by Publisher via Booklook Bloggers

My rating 4 stars

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*Actual rating 3.5 stars*

My Thoughts I think that I should have listened to someone reading this book, rather than reading it myself. It’s one of those questionable plots that have you confused, yet, unable to stop reading. I think that it would have been much more suspenseful that way, and I probably would have rated it higher than 3.5 stars. Still, I did enjoy it to a certain extent.

This book tells the story of a little girl, Leah, and her imaginary(?) friend. Her mysterious premonitions about things in the small town of Mattingly cause quite a stir. There are some who believe her to be a prophet of some sort, and then there are the naysayers. Her predictions of lottery numbers (or were they lottery numbers?) and then a terrible storm, prove to be the start of a myriad of events in Mattingly. Her parents, Tom and Ellen, don’t know what to think of their daughter’s sudden gift. Her dad writes it off as nothing but soon can’t deny that something is going on.

Leah is just an adorable, yet strange, little girl. I think that her stutter is just too cute. That little trait already causes her to feel displaced among kids her age, but since her sudden intuitions have come to fruition, she feels like even more of an outcast.

What marks the boundary between a miracle of God and the imagination of a child?
Nine-year-old Leah’s invisible friend seems harmless enough until he aids her in upsetting the tranquility of her new town, a place where her parents desperately hoped she’d finally be able to make friends and fit in. Hidden within a picture she paints for a failed toymaker are numbers that win the toymaker millions. Suddenly, townspeople are divided between those who see Leah as a prophet and those who are afraid of the danger she represents. Caught in the middle is Leah’s agnostic father, who clashes with a powerful town pastor over Leah’s prophecies and what to do about them.
When the imaginary friend’s predictions take an ominous turn and Leah announces that a grave danger looms, doubts arise over the truthfulness of her claims. As a violent storm emerges on the day of the annual carnival, Leah’s family and the town of Mattingly must make a final choice to cling to all they know or embrace the things she believes in that cannot be seen.

On one hand, I can see how easily some people will steer clear of this book. The label, Christian-Fiction, alone will have some apprehensive. The catch is that when you read it, you will not think that you are reading CF. There is no scriptural feel to this book, other than the supernatural elements. Still, I can easily see myself reading his other books of the same style. I’m especially eager to read his next book, The Curse of Crow Hollow, come August. While this one doesn’t make me go Wow, it is a good read. Recommended!