Book Review: "Impasse" by Laurel Oke Logan

impasse: a position or situation from which there is no escape

Before reading this book, I had never heard of this word before (it never showed up on my SAT list!) Reading this book gave me a somewhat better understanding of the meaning. I read this book after going through Bethany House's old Portraits series and I had to inter-library loan it because this was the only book in the entire series that no library in this entire area had. "Impasse" tells the story of Esther, a television reporter, and Jon, a history teacher, and the choices they make that lead them into a deadlock. The story deals mainly with the creation vs. evolution debate, and what's a Christian to do about it in school. This book was one of those older Christian romance novels I'm not too particularly fond of. Esther comes off rather weak when dealing with her fiance, letting him run all over her until the very end of the story. Also something I never find realistic in romance novels were the two characters getting engaged after knowing each other for less than 6 months. There also seems to be a dislike for non-traditional church services. I also did not realize this story was a modern retelling of the book of Esther until page 200. Hopefully others would catch on more quickly than I did. Final verdict: ok story, interesting arguments on evolution vs. creation, so so characters.

Impasse by Laurel Oke Logan is published by Bethany House (1997)