I am so embarrassingly late with this . . . forgive me, Athol.
Athol. When I saw his name on the title of this book “Lost Mission” I, like you probably, (c’mon back me up, here!) mentally pronounced it just the way it appears. A th ol. Guess what? That’s not right at all. From what I’ve learned, it is pronounced as “eight oll” with the emphasis on the eight. So, in my simple brain, I filed it as “ate all” – pathetic, huh? But it helped me remember how to pronounce the man’s name. And that’s important, because Athol is a writer I want to read and learn more of.
Hmm . . . a Writer I want to read, and one of whom I want to learn more? Sigh.
About the book:
What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?
A billionaire
driven mad by grief.
A pastor
in love with the wrong woman.
An illegal immigrant
desperate to feed his family.
Only Lupe de la Garza can save them from the ancient evil lurking in a lost mission's ruins, but it will take an act of faith beyond all human power.
An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are...
· A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
· A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
· An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
· A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything
Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission's good Franciscan founder's standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?
From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.

About the author:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the "Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006" by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife.
Find out more about Athol and his books by visiting his website.
What Does SNCC Think:
I really looked forward to reading this book. I love history, and I particularly enjoy reading it as it unfolds. That’s what this book promised.
And it delivered . . . but in a way I did not expect . . . and had a hard time reading.
Okay, up front, this is the first Athol Dickson book I’ve read, so please forgive me if I’m showing a certain amount of ignorance.
It took me well over a month to read this book, mainly because I could not adjust to the writing style. When I eventually adjusted to the subtle segues from history to the present and then back to history . . . I confess it jarred me. I set the book aside many times.
I kept going back to it, first, because I’d committed to touring it (and I’m waaay late!) and second because I was intrigued with the story concept.
Lost Mission is more than an historical work of fiction. There is so much buried in here . . . the dreams and the plight of the illegal's from Mexico.
I don’t know.
And there are several issues I felt unresolved and some I cannot accept. But I’m not going to spoil your read, my reader friends.
I will confess that I’ve never read anything quite like this before. There were many times I set it aside. But I couldn’t ignore it. So, I finished it. But you are going to have to form your own opinion.
I will say this: It’s deep, compelling, and, in a certain way, mesmerizing. (On another frontier, it also made me me quite angry.) Maybe that’s the mastery If Athol Dickson.

Now, about NaNo, or WriMo, as some call it: As I said yesterday, this is my –th or –th attempt (I’m so scrambled I don’t even remember what I said yesterday) – but let me say this . . .







