Russell Williams. Reborn Again. Xulon Press. 2003.

Every person I know has at least one time period in their life that they long to relive. How many of us wish we could have "acted differently" at some event, or read the Bible more, or made a different life choice? Reborn Again is the fictional tale of a Jake Simon dying in his early 30s from a brain aneurism. He bargains with God to let him relive a summer that holds many regrets for him. Can you imagine hovering over your dead body in a hospital emergency room and suddenly waking up back in your teenage bedroom?

The resulting story is fascinating as you see him mentally struggle to change the outcome of events he regrets most based on his "adult knowledge". The story begins on Jake's high school graduation day. On this day, he walks across the stage with a sign on his graduation gown saying "least likely to succeed" and is totally humiliated, thanks to one of his teenage tormentors. Several of his summer's activities fixing up an old van, winning the battle of the bands contest, and protesting at an abortion clinic where his close friend is left paralyzed from a gun shot. Now that he has been through the death experience, Jake is also concerned with building a financial legacy that will provide for his wife and coming baby. Getting well acquainted with the Bible following his grandfather's example is now a goal too. One of the greatest hurts in Jake's life is his belief that his birth was the cause for his mother's death.

Williams' characters seem like real people that you and I could know, rather than just people in a book. He has the ability to really bring these characters to life through conversation between characters, and descriptions of what the various people are like. I found Jake's "thoughts" as he struggles to apply his 30 some year old knowledge while acting like a teenager compelling reading. His statements about future events lead the police to put him in a mental institution temporarily. Jake goes through each event learning that things aren't always under his control. He seems to gain confidence in himself to make the right decisions as he learns things still turn out the same even when his choices are different than those he had made as a teenager. The battle of the bands was still lost.

My recommendation

The author's writing style makes this a fascinating story that is hard to put down. You are drawn through the story with events happening in a logical manner. It left me eager to see what will happen next and how it all comes out in the end. As an adult reader, the author's vocabulary was easy to understand. If you love fantasy, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. It may be purchased at Amazon.com.

Copyrighted by Diana Pederson, 2005-2009