Randy Alcorn Talks of 'Deception'
CBN.com Building on the enormous success of his previous novels, Randy Alcorn’s latest offering, Deception (releasing April 17 from Multnomah Publishers) is an intriguing murder-mystery, compelling readers to keep going until they figure out the truth.
The tale begins with homicide detective Ollie Chandler investigating the murder of a Portland State University professor. Ollie soon finds himself caught in the middle of a tangled web of deceit and betrayal that turns his career, his closest relationships, and the entire police department up-side-down.
With trademark style, Randy spins a gripping tale that portrays the gritty reality of the present, but also the tangible hope of eternal life.
He recently discussed the book.
The concept of a minister who creates gritty suspense novels is certainly unconventional. What first sparked your interest in writing murder mysteries for the Christian audience?
I wrote my first novel, Deadline, in 1994 as an experiment. I didn’t think I’d write another novel, so I threw a little of everything into that book: homosexuality, abortion, media bias. I was surprised at the strong response and the several years the book spent on the bestseller’s list. It still sells well today, thirteen years later.
I like reading them myself, particularly the Nero Wolfe books, by Rex Stout. I love Sherlock Holmes. In fact, every chapter of Deception starts with a great quote from a Holmes story. It was really fun matching those up with the contents of particular chapters. I also recognize that many people enjoy murder mysteries, so there’s a wide audience of potential readers.
Fiction has subversive potential. People let it into their minds, like the Trojan Horse. They don’t know what’s inside. You hook them with the story and God can work below the level of their consciousness. Fiction can be propaganda for evil or convey a theme that impacts people for good.
I’m convinced it’s possible to artfully present a story with significant spiritual themes. I try to tell a story that’s good enough to win the right to integrate eternal themes into it. If it’s poorly written or comes across as a sermon, then obviously you don’t reach people, because they’re aware that you’re imposing something on a story that isn’t innate to it. But if it’s a good enough story, the spiritual component is so woven into it, so inseparable from it, that it has credibility and lasting impact.
You’ve received letters from fans who have read Dominion and assume you are an African American because of the book’s amazingly accurate portrayal of racial issues as they exist today. What is your approach to researching a novel in progress? In what key area did you spend the most time researching for Deception?
In researching Dominion, I read 80 books by and about African Americans, interviewed black pastors and famous athletes, including Reggie White, and I spent hours in inner cities.
Over the years I’ve received many letters from black readers who assumed I was black, saying things like, ‘We have to help our white brothers and sisters understand…’ One African American man wrote and said, ‘Our whole family has read Dominion. Eight of us think you’re black and one of us thinks you may be white. I bet $50 that you’re black. Would you settle the bet?’ Before I had a chance to answer, he emailed me back, ‘I just checked your web site. Never mind. You cost me fifty bucks.’”
We live in uncertain times, and many people are fearful of this present world and unsure of what will happen to them when they leave it. How does Deception address these themes?
In Deception, Heaven and Hell are portrayed as real places. Readers will see the vitality and richness of relationships in Heaven, and the stark loneliness of Hell, a place where those who want nothing to do with God in this life get what they thought they wanted…but find it terrifying. Deception is an entertaining story, but at the same time it contains a perspective on invisible realities that leaves readers with a sense of hope.
You are recognized as a rare phenomenon in the world of Christian publishing—a writer of both best-selling murder mysteries and successful nonfiction titles addressing such serious issues as money, abortion, and heaven. What is your main purpose as a writer, and how do these different areas of your writing function toward achieving that goal?
My purpose as a writer is to communicate in such a way as to challenge the thinking of readers and touch their hearts. I want to draw them into the story (fiction) or the subject matter (nonfiction) in a way that influences their perspective and worldview. I want to entertain, but also educate. Whether through my fiction or nonfiction I want readers to grasp what’s behind
, “We look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.”Each of your “three D” novels portrays incredibly vivid scenes of heaven and hell. What first ignited your passion to communicate a deeper understanding of eternity?
Twenty-five years ago my mother died, then nine years later to the day my closest friend from childhood died. In both cases, I found myself thinking a lot about Heaven. I was writing Deadline when Jerry died and I decided I wanted to include a character’s “viewpoint from heaven” in which he watches and discusses with others what’s happening on earth. I’d never seen that done before, but it’s something I feel like God laid on my heart. I wanted to portray the unseen realities the Bible speaks about.
Randy, when your readers finish Deception, what key impression do you want to leave in their hearts and minds?
I hope Christian readers will gain a better understanding of and compassion for the non-believer’s mindset, including their skepticism toward us believers. I hope they’ll gain compassion for the grieving and consider better ways to touch them. And they’ll find their faith strengthened as they see the story’s events reinforce God’s providence, justice, and grace.
Non-believing readers may need to rethink their view of all Christians as hypocrites whose blind faith leaves them ignorant, insensitive, and judgmental.
All readers will be confronted with the reality that there’s an invisible world of realities that affect us every day. They’ll see that life promises what it can’t deliver, and delivers what most of us don’t expect.
I hope readers will gain a new perspective on the causes of suffering and the hidden purposes of pain. Deception doesn’t tie everything neatly together. But if in the end Ollie Chandler is left feeling hope, hurting readers might feel the same.
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Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. He has authored twenty books (over two and a half million in print), including the novels Deadline, Dominion, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters,and the Gold Medallion winner, Safely Home. His fourteen nonfiction works include Money, Possessions and Eternity, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, The Treasure Principle,and Heaven.
Courtesy of The B&B Media Group.
