Fatherless

Fatherless #1

by James C. Dobson, Kurt Bruner

The year is 2042, and the long-predicted tipping point has arrived. For the first time in human history, the economic pyramid has flipped: The feeble old now outnumber the vigorous young, and this untenable situation is intensifying a battle between competing cultural agendas. Reporter Julia Davidson-a formerly award-winning journalist seeking to revive a flagging career-is investigating the growing crisis, unaware that her activity makes her a pawn in an ominous conspiracy. Plagued by nightmares about her absent father, Julia finds herself drawn to the quiet strength of a man she meets at a friend's church. As the engrossing plot of FATHERLESS unfolds, Julia faces choices that pit professional success against personal survival in an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world. FATHERLESS vividly imagines a future in which present-day trends come to sinister fruition.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Science Fiction, Book Club, Dystopia, Thriller

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

A licensed psychologist and marriage, family, and child counselor, Dr. James Dobson was a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. For 14 years Dr. Dobson was an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, and he served for 17 years on the attending staff of Children's Hospital Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (1967) in the field of child development.

He was the author of more than 50 books, including The New Dare to Discipline, The New Strong-Willed Child, When God Doesn't Make Sense, Night Light: A Devotional for Couples, Bringing Up Boys, and the New York Times bestseller Bringing Up Girls .

Heavily involved in influencing governmental policies related to the family, Dr. Dobson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the National Advisory Commission to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He also served on the Attorney General's Advisory Board on Missing and Exploited Children, the Department of Health and Human Services' Panel on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, and the Commission on Child and Family Welfare. He was elected in 2008 to the National Radio Hall of Fame, and in 2009 received the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reviews

[Christian Fiction Addiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often I read a book that leaves me feeling like the plot is entirely too possible, and I shudder to imagine that it might come true. Fatherless is just such a book, depicting a not-so-distant future where it becomes routine for an elderly person to end their burdensome life, where the average man doesn't even bother to have children but instead remains the eternal playboy, and where the concept of marriage is simply laughable. I found the plot to be fascinating, and needless to say I was hooked from the first sentence and held captive to the last page. Dobson and Bruner are a dynamic writing team, and have created unforgettable characters who will draw you in to their complex lives.

The book is sure to appeal to a wide audience, as there's no real violence to scare off readers used to more gentle reads. However, the plot is absolutely action-packed and filled with every day people working through deep ethical issues, ones that we are already facing on a much smaller scale. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live in a world where helping someone die because they are elderly and disabled becomes viewed as something heroic! I pray God saves us from such a future.

Fatherless is an excellent start to a series that is bound to not only entertain, but to leave you thinking about where our world is headed in the near future. I encourage you to pick up this book and journey with the characters through some frightening possibilities that will make you thankful that we're not living in that world - yet. 5 out of 5 stars.

Book has been provided courtesy of Hachette Book Group Canada, for the purposes of this unbiased review.

[Lovely Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐️

I think maybe this story had potential, but the execution was very political/social heavy as we look to a potential future (2042) where natural conception is frowned upon upon and giving birth to a child with any type of genetic disability is unheard of due to in-vitro selection and abortion.

There were a lot of characters and I had difficulties knowing who was who…..and there was a SURPRISING amount of intimate scenes between couples which I felt was kind of odd….

I also felt the author’s heavy agenda in pushing people to have children rather than live child-free, which is not an agenda I could push on EVERYONE blindly…it made those of us who are child-free look as though we are doing something wrong.

Language: 1 ba, 3 abuses of God’s name

Also, since Dr.James Dobson is the author, a few things in this book made me wonder if he believes you can lose your salvation?!? Which I don’t agree with…

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to read in that it paints a very bleak picture of the authors' projections of life in 2042. That said, I can easily conceive of the cultural norms they imagine. I thought the characters were well developed and likable, although some of their actions are a little hard to believe. The story line feels stilted and a little confusing at times, but overall not bad writing. Although I'm a follower of Christ, I tend to shy away from "Christian" fiction as the writing quality is usually lacking, but this was a pleasant exception.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! This was just a really long, poorly written book in which nothing important ever happens. The premise is great. In a time when the elderly outnumber the young and the young stop having kids, how do you deal with the resulting economic crisis? You set up centers where the elderly can volunteer to "transition" (which is a friendly way of saying that they can opt to pay to have physician assisted suicide...). The first chapter of this book was pretty amazing. There is a boy who has the same disease as Stephen Hawking who elects to transition in an effort to spare his mother and brother the expense and bother of his upkeep. During the process, the boy's mother bursts into the room to try to stop the procedure, ends up attacking the nurse with a scalpel before falling and cracking her head on the bed, resulting in her death. Lawsuit? Oh, yes. However, it becomes very clear at the very beginning that the lawsuit over the situation that was really built up in the first chapters NEVER COMES TO FRUITION and is almost completely ignored for the rest of the book. We get more back story on the boy and his mom, but nothing ever happens with this plot point, which is frustrating because it felt like the book was going to center on this story.

Instead, the book switches gears to focus on whiny journalist Julia whose career is waning. She is assigned to cover the lawsuit story, but then a few chapters later she is forced to switch gears to a story about what the government plans to do regarding the deepening economic downturn. So then the book's storyline changes to focus on congressman Kevin Tolbert, who proposes that the government should encourage people to have more kids, thus allowing parents to be cared for by multiple, tax-paying children when they reach old age. But guess what? By the end of the book, nothing happens with this either. Apparently these two issues weren't enough to focus on, so the authors decided to throw in the fact that Kevin and his wife Angie have a daughter who, they just found out, will have some level of mental retardation. In this book, invitro selection is a process parents can take to weed out bad genes, so the embryos with defects are not chosen for pregnancy and things like mental retardation are almost completely eliminated. Unless you have a small shred of religion, which the Tolbert's do, and you choose to get pregnant the natural way. So then there's the debate about whether or not that's okay. Also, randomly inserted in the narrative is Matthew's story. He's a guy who has to take care of his aging mother, a situation made difficult owing to the fact that she has dementia. He has qualms with outright asking her to transition so he can fulfill his dream of going to college and, someday, being a professor. Throughout this entire 431 page tome of utter pointlessness, he seems to have no connection with the other characters whatsoever.

The bad writing almost made me give up. The conversations between characters seemed extremely forced and a lot of the things they said would honestly never be said by real people. And the love scenes between Kevin and his wife were horrible and completely unnecessary to the plot. I feel like the authors had a clear agenda when they started writing this (which is true, I guess, if you read the forward) and then tried to create a story to fit their agenda. And the whole book takes place a mere 30 years in the future, which, from where I'm sitting, makes this whole plot device of "transitioning" seem less believable as I don't see people's enthusiasm for having children waning enough to make any of this at all plausible. There are too many issues in this one book that never come to any kind of satisfactory conclusion, so the reader is in the same place at the end that they were in at the beginning. Horrible writing, flat, two-dimensional characters who experience little growth and issues that aren't really resolved. All in a 431 page book. Honestly, why are the next two books necessary?

[Autumn Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

why s*x scenes in a Christian book?!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I really did. The message of where our country could be headed couldn't be more important, and I agree with what I think the author is trying to say. Unfortunately, the message is either lost in clunky prose, unrealistic dialog, and repetitive storytelling or it is preached - literally a chapter is a pastor giving a sermon - and the reader is hit over the head with it. I also thought that 2042 was a little too soon for the kind of sweeping changes that have taken place, not only in government policy, but in attitudes and beliefs portrayed in this novel.

Fatherless is told through several characters, most frequently Julia, a strong, independent woman of the world and journalist. She is the ideal woman of 2042, unbridled by significant relationships or figure-ruining offspring. She is assigned to report on an old friend's husband, Kevin, a politician who has made the unpopular decision to be married and have kids.

The novel is loosely centered around the story of a disabled boy named Antonio. When he makes the decision to be "transitioned" (this novel's fancy word for assisted suicide), the unexpected consequences are far reaching.

Another side-story mostly served as a distraction and memory test, as I had to remember who Matthew was every time he was brought up again. He is seemingly unrelated to anybody else in the book, but is facing the decision of whether or not to "transition" his mother in order to use her assets for his own education rather than her long term care.

This story has incredible potential and a great message hiding in there, but it was a struggle to get through the poor writing. Statements were repeated as questions in dialog, characters were bland and unbelievable, and the whole thing just felt so contrived. It gets dreary and repetitive. There are actually sections where an event happens, then we are told about it again as two people talk about it, and then we are told AGAIN because journalist Julia writes an article about it!

I will not be reading the sequel because no matter where this story goes the writing is just too substandard to tolerate. I was being slightly generous giving this three stars. For a thought-provoking novel based on the possible futuristic consequences of devaluing human life, try Neal Shusterman's Unwind instead. (My review of it can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....) It is much more balanced and skilled storytelling.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read a lot of "ok" books, quite a few "good" books, even some exceptional books...and then...then there are awful books.

THIS IS AN AWFUL BOOK.

The writing is stilted and horrible and elementary. The plot is a very thin and ineffective veil to cover a sermon delivered by an extremist. The author can't set aside a personal agenda long enough to tell a story.

I should have trusted my initial instincts after reading the author's note, but a good story combined with good storytelling sometimes manages to present an "issues/agenda/preachy" book in an inventive and clever way.

THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES.

By page 70, I was so completely disgusted that I created a whole new bookshelf on Goodreads dedicated to books I can't or won't finish because they are literally not worth the paper they are printed on nor the bandwidth used to host them online.

I want my $1.99 + tax back please.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope this book remains fiction, but I can see it becoming reality. It takes place in the not-too-distant future where all children are "pre-screened" before birth and the elderly are "transitioned" if either is seen as a "debit" to society. It's a very scary prospect, indeed. This book is very well-written and explores these topics through the eyes of its characters' lives. The characters are all well-developed and the story flows well. I highly recommend it.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fatherless marks the start of a new career for Dr. James Dobson as he and co-author Kurt Bruner who begin a trilogy of dystopian novels with the first installment.

Fatherless takes place in the year 2042, as the United States continues down its trendline of lower fertility, longer life spans and retirements, and a social safety net that requires large number of workers for each retiree or disabled user to survive.

Predictably this system is teetering on the verge of collapse as the United States population begins to decline in 2041. In 2038, to address the issue, Congress passed the "Youth Initiative" a system of "voluntary" euthanasia (euphemistically called transitions) by which citizens can end their lives and transfer their wealth to younger healthier individuals boastings hundreds of billions in savings.

Freshman Congressman Kevin Tolbert from Colorado wants to reverse the trend from depopulation and proposes legislation to restore tax credits and gains influence with an influential fiscal conservative who wants to be the next President but may have a hidden agenda. Tolbert also wants to undermine the influence of the transition industry. Julia Davidson at thirty-four year old journalist whose career is on the wane and hopes to make a comeback. Her editor assigns her to uncover the details of Tolbert's plan and to portray it as a fanatical religious "breeder" plot to encourage a return to the dark ages. She hopes to use her friendship with Tolbert's wife Angie as an in to access to the Congressman. As she digs deeper, she begins to uncover startling secrets.

Fatherless can be viewed two ways: as a dramatization of what the future looks like or as a novel. Lets take a look at what Fatherless suggests about the future first.

Dobson and Brunner suggest realistic and perhaps even milder than realistic results of current cultural and policy trends. America has developed into an immediate gratification nation with little ability to grasp what the long term results of its actions are.

For portraying the results of our politicians' mad demagoguery on entitlements that pretends the system is sustainable, Dobson and Bruner deserve a medal.

However, they look at other trendlines as fatherlessness and single parent homes become more the norm leading to a generation where the vast majority of people are as the book title implies: fatherless. The consequence is insecure women and immature and angry men in numbers that even more alarming than today.

Another trend is illustrated in the character of Matthew Adams. Adams is a harried wanna be college professor whose college career is stalled by caring for his ailing mother. He wants her to transition so that he can inherit her money before it's spent carrying for her as she goes through dementia. He's a thoroughly unsympathetic character. However, the predicament he's in was caused by his mother having him late in life without a husband, ensuring that he'd bare the brunt of the burden should her health decline before he'd been able to even begin his professional career.

Fatherless suggests some serious consequences for trendy childlessness and single parenthood, that there is a price to be paid for the en masse decisions of today's twenty and thirty somethings. The ideas are politically incorrect but nonetheless accurate.

Fatherless is also noteworthy for a shift in conservative Christian books. In prior decades, a book like this would be most likely to put godless liberals or radical environmental as responsible for bringing about euthanasia. However, Fatherless casts fiscal conservatives as the villains who view one million "transitions" a year as merely good fiscal policy that saves money on entitlements. Indeed, those who are draining entitlements by breathing are called "debits," which could have been something a former spokesman for the Romney campaign came up with. Debits are not only considered to be the elderly but the disabled who are carefully weeded out of the gene pool through genetic testing. The drop in the disabled population leads to cuts in special education and even less opportunity for children.

The shift from Dobson is worthy of note and probably is something Christians should consider. "Conservatives" who value money more than God and more than people should not be viewed as allies. If libertarianism and austerity at any cost are embraced, Christians could find the cost could come at the sanctity of human life as death can be quite economical and voluntary euthanasia is a perfectly plausible solution as a fiscal solution to relieve an overburdened entitlement system.

The idea of "debits" is key to the "transition industry" as Tolbert describes it, those who are elderly or infirmed are made to feel guilty which each breath they take, as society led by fiscal conservatives, declares their lives worthless. However, God declares all lives sacred.

Other shifts are believable extensions of current trends as society begins to look down its nose at "breeders" who have too many children and forego getting designer babies. This is a rational extension of our current culture where parents who have more than three or four children are often looked upon as nutcases and the same for couples who don't use birth control. In Dobson and Bruner's 2042 this disdain is now on parents who have more than two children and whose children aren't designer babies.

On a positive side, the authors use the marriage of Kevin and Angie Tolbert to send a couple of powerful messages. First is that Christian marriages ought to be a witness to those around us. Secondly, they exalt sexuality in the Christian marriage, hitting back against a cultural suggestion that Christians are prudes who only have as much sex as they have to. It should go without saying that the authors don't get graphic or lewd, but they don't shy away from the topic.

Given the believability of the book's portrayal of the future, it should serve as a cautionary tale of the danger our country is in. If the authors are right and we have something like 25 years until the worst of it, there are steps that can be taken by Christians individually and corporately to fight against it.

Perhaps, the biggest step that many could take is to stop judging families that have what they think are too many children. I've been in Evangelical small groups where Catholics and Mormons have been mocked for their large family sizes. Whatever, theological differences we have, certainly that sort of thing is wrong. In addition, I've had a relative who declared of a couple he thought was having too many children, "When the Good Lord said to replenish the Earth, he didn't mean for you to do it yourself." Such sentiments feed into an anti-life and anti-human belief system and need to stop.

Of course, aside from the book's predictions and social commentary is the question of Fatherless as a novel. Here, the book is a bit of a mixed bag. While Dobson and Bruner are multi-published authors, neither has written fiction before.

On one hand, the book does work in some dramatic situations, but it may have trouble living up to its own hype.

Fatherless' description compares itself to Hunger Games. While both take a look at dystopian futures, Fatherless spends a lot of time analyzing and explaining issues that led the country to the verge of economic and cultural collapse while Congressman Tolbert advocates for solutions to them. If anything Fatherless is what Hunger Games would be like if it were on C-Span.

Fatherless lacks many of the hallmarks of dystopian fiction. If there is a cabal, it's little different from modern PACs that exist and manipulate government today, nor does there appear to be a sinister grand design behind this other than a misguided attempt to get a fiscal house in order.

Fatherless also some basic writing craft mistakes that took me out of the story. In one scene in a restaurant, we were told what motion every character did and what they meant by it when we should really be shown the actions and if written right we can judge for ourselves what they meant. While jarring, these kind of mistakes were not everywhere in the manuscript.

While the characters began pretty flat and stereotypical, the authors did manage to flesh them out once Julia met with Angie and Kevin with the development on Julia Davidson very well done in making her complex character with very mixed motives.

Perhaps, the book's biggest flaw was that it didn't advance much in regards to the main plots. Much of the book was spent on Kevin's "bright spots" proposal to increase fertility rates, but the measure seemed like whistling past the graveyard. More than anything, Dobson and Bruner introduce concepts and characters without having them do much. Hopefully, we'll see a more forward-moving plot in Childless which is due out in October.

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free To Thrive

By Julia Davidson (RAP Syndicate)

A friend of mine recently informed me she wants to have a child. She's not religious, but her parents are devout Catholics. They have an opinion on the matter. Actually, two opinions.

First, they want their daughter to find a partner (husband to use their word) before becoming a mom - something less than 25% of women do for good reasons I've covered in earlier columns. (Why do religious fundamentalists criticize our generation for avoiding parenthood yet complain when single women choose motherhood?)

Second, my friend's parents disapprove of a practice that has become standard medical procedure, even among heterosexual domestic partners. In vitro selection (IVS) brings enormous benefits to parents, children and society. But they've cautioned their daughter against 'engineering her child" by vetting common genetic imperfections. They believe IVS puts humans in place of God and fear we have become "picky shoppers" rather than "grateful recipients" when it comes to the "gift of life."

Caving to parental pressure, my friend postponed her selection appointment. I suppose I should celebrate the decision. One fewer carbon footprint polluting the planet. But I hate to see her give up something she wants just because her parents view technology as a moral bogeyman.

These are the facts. Eight out of ten women who wish to have a child use in vitro selection, otherwise known as common sense. In our day and age, why would anyone risk giving birth to children with costly health challenges? Women no longer have to fear receiving bad news after the birth of a child due to unforeseen disabilities and complications. Only children born to parents who opt out of the genetic vetting process risk the heartache, burden and expenses associated with the most common disabilities and age-related illness. Those expenses, by the way, will end up hitting federal and state budgets as "faith children" survive their well-intentioned but misguided parents. You and I will inherit costly care and medical obligations associated with our aging parents and grandparents.

If my friend decides to have a child, I hope she will give the baby the freedom to thrive by eliminating the risk of unnecessary disease and disability. I only wish we could give the same freedom to those of us already burdened by both." (excerpt pg 81-82.)

It's the year 2042 and while the world struggles to come to terms with a failing economy in every country, they notice that this is the first time the scale are tipping downward. This is the first time that senior citizens outnumber the younger generation. This places a burden on not having enough productive hands necessary to maintain the standards of productivity while the high cost of caring for seniors is skyrocketing. The only solution is to provide transition services to those who have become more of a debit than an asset to their families and society. They can opt out of life through volunteering to transition and leave their wealth behind to their families. But surely something like this is only for fictional novels right? Or is it?

Best selling author and speaker of Family Talk, Dr. James Dobson has teamed up with Kurt Bruner to write the novel Fatherless, which was inspired by the foretelling of the ominous trends discussed in this novel by the late Chuck Colson. They use this information to write a very chilling story of what could happen when the very old outnumber the very young. With a decline in marriage and parenthood fueling an unprecedented drop in fertility, then the growth in global population will soon end, then reverse. We are already seeing this happen in places like Japan and Russia. Just what importance is there in a world where growing up with the protective love of a father becomes the exception rather than the norm? I think these two brilliant authors have given us a taste of what may lie ahead of us in the future if we continue this pattern.

I received Fatherless by Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner compliments of Faith Words, a division of Hachette Book Groups for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are my own unless otherwise noted. While this is a fictional based novel, we are seeing more approval for physician assisted suicides among the terminally ill or aging that simply want a way out rather than liquidating all their financial assets. What happens then when people stop having children or opt to avoid getting married when they can have a baby in a lab and thus move on with life without the benefits of the family unit. Through a variety of characters this is the premise of Fatherless. This is the first book in the series with Childless and Godless being added to the series. Just the opening and closing stories alone are chilling in their future implications. I easily give this a 5 out of 5 stars for every single person to read, especially believers who know the truth that comes when light is revealed in dark places.

[Brenten Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s enough truth, logic, and/or reasonable possibility in the pages of this book to make it mildly depressing. Set in the near future, Dobson and Bruner paint a rather bleak future of the world, with a few rays of hope sprinkled in for good measure. The media serves as something of a mouthpiece for the political agenda of the day and the pressing issue at hand revolves, unsurprisingly, around the sanctity of life. The twist, however, is the debate has shifted from life’s beginning to the end.

Due to an ever-growing national deficit, citizens are treated as assets and debits. Productive members of society live as they do today, but the elderly, sick, and disabled are labeled as burdens. Burdens are encouraged to participate in a booming national program, known as transitioning. The transition process, which is essentially assisted suicide as a business model, is marketed as a responsible, even heroic action to take, because it will free future generations from the financial constraints of caring for you in your decline.

The book opens with a transition gone awry. An 18 year old boy who had struggled with severe disabilities his entire life consents to transition in an effort to provide financial and emotional relief to his family – mother and brother. During the procedure, however, his mother, who doesn’t agree with his decision, breaks into the clinic and tries to prevent the transition from occurring. In a scuffle with security staff, she hits her head on some equipment and is killed, losing her life in a desperate struggle to prevent her son from sacrificing his. A lawsuit ensues and the story begins to unfold.

Dobson and Bruner weave together several lives from across political and societal boundaries. There’s a young congressman making a name for himself with a controversial agenda and his family, for whom this agenda is personal. There’s a famous reporter-turned-columnist trying desperately to salvage her career while battling personal demons that may or may not relate to her career. There’s a young man, caring for his ailing mother, hoping to attend college, aspiring to be a professor someday, and pondering life’s most difficult questions. And tying it all together is the single storyline of a nation facing an economic crisis and a moral dilemma.
Keep in mind, this is a grown-up book, engaging in a grown-up conversation. As such, the content addresses the nature of these themes and reflects the decline of moral values across the board. I don’t read romance novels (of any flavor), so I don’t have the best baseline, but I was surprised by some of the vividly detailed “romantic” sequences included in the book. Though, not erotic by any stretch, I was taken aback, almost like a child covering his eyes during a movie, complaining about a kissing scene.

All in all, FATHERLESS is a compelling read offering a (sadly) realistic look at a near-future reality. It contains a bit of everything, something to quench the tastes of most any reading appetite. Intrigue, suspense, theology, romance, and heart-wrenching “Hallmark” moments. It’s all there and it paves the way nicely for the (now-anticipated) sequels scheduled in the nearer future: CHILDLESS and GODLESS.

- from TRudATmusic[dot]com[slash]raw (2/7/13)

[Victor Gentile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner in their new book, “Fatherless” Book One in the Fatherless series published by FaithWords brings us into the lives of Kevin Tolbert and Julia Davidson.

From the back cover: The year is 2042, and the long-predicted tipping point has arrived. For the first time in human history, the economic pyramid has flipped: The feeble old now outnumber the vigorous young, and this untenable situation is intensifying a battle between competing cultural agendas. Reporter Julia Davidson-a formerly award-winning journalist seeking to revive a flagging career-is investigating the growing crisis, unaware that her activity makes her a pawn in an ominous conspiracy.

Plagued by nightmares about her absent father, Julia finds herself drawn to the quiet strength of a man she meets at a friend’s church. As the engrossing plot of FATHERLESS unfolds, Julia faces choices that pit professional success against personal survival in an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world.

FATHERLESS vividly imagines a future in which present-day trends come to sinister fruition.

Welcome to the future and a horrific future is what is has turned into. There are not enough young people to sustain the overabundance of elderly and this is causing a great drain on the economy. To combat this the government offers the elderly a chance to voluntarily commit suicide and pass their inheritance over to the young. Tolbert is the senator that wants to change things, Julia is the reporter assigned to help bring him down. The authors are exploring what the trend is to the view of the elderly and their needs and it is, indeed, frightening. They also explore the impact on society when the father is absent from the home. Add to this disturbing view is the role of government on society. This is social commentary all wrapped up in a fiction thriller. Make no doubt about this the lives of practically everyone are in very great danger and it gets progressively worse as the story unfolds. Danger, action and adventure are all rolled up in a very exciting read. These are wonderful characters that live and breathe on the pages and you care deeply for them. This book does not disappoint at all. I enjoyed it and I am so looking forward to the next book in this series.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from FaithWords. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Teresa Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disturbing, haunting, concerning--this book worried me far more than more graphic dystopia novels that are so common right now. They all portray a horrible future where we struggle to survive, but at least the reader can find comfort in their improbability. This book, however, simply takes current trends and carries them a step or two down the road, all the name of "personal freedom." It's 2041. The United States, like many other developed countries, has reached the tipping point. There are more elderly people than children to replace them. The hands that once held up the nation are now seen as holding it back, as selfishly hanging onto their assets. Assets that could be used for the young who need so much (along with a certain amount for the government, of course.) It's all in the way you say it, of course. It's not "euthanasia," it's "transition." It's not "dead grandparents" it's a "youth initiative." The brave souls who volunteer for transition leave their heirs with needed money, while removing themselves from the government's programs. It's win-win...except of course of the one who's being transitioned. Naturally no one is coerced...except by the media, and by the increasing labeling of the elderly as "debits." And the children that would be needed to balance things out? Well, folks who have them are derisively called "breeders." Those who hold with marriage and family are held up to ridicule. Only a stupid woman would so degrade herself. And the media is the main force in continuing this fiction. Julia is a journalist whose job is to take down a new initiative that might stop some of the "progress" that has led to this situation. Yet the happy marriage of her old friend, who has 3, count 'em 3, children bothers Julia. She begins to wonder about the "free" lifestyle everyone has, with children carefully genetically selected to breed out any sickness, and interchangeable partners. The thing is, unlike most futuristic novels, this creates a very real future. No high tech devices, just a natural continuing of trends we are seeing even now. It is truly frightening, and very compelling. I'm not sure I'm going to be brave enough to read the next two books.

[Jesse Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Copied (in part) from my review at - http://www.coffeewithdad.com/2013/04/...

The truth is, the foundation of the country is under attack – and fatherhood is in decline.

That’s the basis of a new novel by Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner. I’ve read non-fiction books by both of these authors and found their insights useful but I couldn’t see either of them writing fiction. Nonetheless, they did a fantastic job of writing a compelling story while underlining the potential problems created as we devalue family.

In Fatherless, they fast-forward less than 30 years – which makes the possibility of the story all the more scary – to the point of the population tipping point. The point where the United States (and the rest of the world) has more elderly than young and present day trends come to sinister fruition.

The authors do a great job of painting a world where the infirm and elderly are not only seen as debits, but are called debits. A world where men stop bothering to try to have children instead taking up the life of a playboy. Marriage is only for “breeders” and to have children is seen as wasteful.

While both of the authors are Christian, I think the book can appeal to a larger audience. It’s not preachy, it’s action driven, and grapples with many sides of these deep ethical issues. The one down side is that there are too many characters too quickly, some of which get very little play. This is likely the result of them being set up for the next book of the trilogy, but I’ll have long forgotten them by then.

While I think that Dobson’s dystopian world has merit I’m not so sure we’re that close. Our actions at this point certainly aren’t helping the next generation, but if we can begin thinking about possibilities like the ones he paints, we can make sure that we leave a better legacy.

[Teela · Rating 3 out of 5]

When offered the opportunity to preview this new piece of fiction written by co-authors, James Dobson and Kurt Bruner, I jumped on it. I’ve read several of Dr. Dobson’s parenting books and was anxious to accept this offer.


The year is 2042 in a very somber America when for the first time in our history, the elderly outnumber the healthy and vigorous young are at a minority. How will this debt riddled America pay for the health care needs of her ever growing population of senior citizens and those wounded or broken and disabled that are considered a debt to society? One way is to change the law and allow the elderly or those that are a liability or debt to society to end their own lives. The very beginning of the book opens with an invalid who has just turned 18 in a place where he is being administered the lethal concoction that will allow him to slip into a sleep leading out of this life and into the next. (right here, I decided it was going to be laborious for me to finish this book! I don't read horror nor watch it on TV and even though I know that this is a very real issue that could come to fruition, I do not like to read or think on these things and do not choose them for my own entertainment) So, I must be truthful and say that I had to skim the rest of the book to even make it through, because of the opening scene and the horrific impression it made on me.

You, as a reader, may enjoy reading about reporter Julia Davidson (who has father-less issues herself) and a young congressman, Kevin Tolbert who find themselves facing their own dilemmas as they delve more and more into this heart broken story and this world now FATHERLESS.
I received this book from hachette in exchange for my honest review.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a proposed trilogy by Dr. James Dobson. It is also his very first fiction story. The story is set in the year 2042, and America has finally followed other countries to where the number of workers contributing taxes to the government is now out-numbered by those who are receiving help from the government. The story vividly imagines a future in which present-day trends come to sinister fruition.

Rather than spend down the finances that the elderly or ill have on their own needs, you now have the option to volunteer to transition from life to permit someone younger to have your assets for their use. Traditional marriage is long gone, and those who marry and produce children -- especially more than one child -- are called breeders. Most women have children without the benefit of having the men active in either their life or that of the child, and therefore the children are referred to as fatherless. Finding a man and a woman who are in love with each other is truly rare.

In this first story, a leading journalist is assigned to write the story of a young congressman, whose ideas are definitely not in line with others in Washington, DC. In fact, he and his wife now have three children and will soon be expecting their fourth. One of those children, the third, has a serious illness that could affect her mental capacity in the future. This brings out the battle with those who say that genetic screening would have prevented this happening and those who believe that God will give them the child that is right for them.

There are many twists and turns in the story, including trumped-up scandal and a budding love interest. Books 2 and 3 should be really interesting.

[Anisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes the current fashion of unmarried parents to the ultimate outcome - males without strong male images creating 'guylanders'; playboys who play and leave and women who are career driven and find children a burden. The book discusses the dissolution of the family unit and the effect it has on society through a series of characters both traditional (derisively called Breeders) and modern self-centered hedonists who create then abandon their offspring (or kill them for any number of reasons), who cannot be bothered with anything not in their interests or who would take time away from their own pleasures, such as aging parents. There are centers for euthanasia called Transition Centers where people who feel useless (called Debits) to a productive society can end it all. But underlying these two directions is a deep economic price to pay. There are not enough young to create a tax base for a failing society. One of the main characters is a modern woman journalist who is secretly seeking to destroy through her column Breeders agendas while the other main character is a major political player and a traditional family man with three children, the youngest of whom he has just found out has fragile X syndrome, creating a mentally retarded child, a Debit. The struggle to do the right thing as defined by their belief systems creates tension that makes it a book I couldn't put down and read in two days.

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fatherless shows a possible reality to our current financial crisis. With Social Security dwindling and more people are living longer. It takes more workers to support Social Security than in the past. This book shows a scary parallel reality to our own if governmental policies shifted too much to the right or left.

In Fatherless, the government has shifted to offer the elderly tax incentive. Transition (suicide) is accept. Genes are being altered to have healthier babies. Handicapped is almost unheard off. However, the government has entered into a heavier deficits. The government has stopped investing on the younger generation. There are now more elderly than younger people living.

After finish Fatherless, I know there will be another book to follow on the three lives: a politician, a journalist, and a regular young adult. Two of the things that the readers will get from the book is that a human life is cheap and the pursuit of happiness in the Constitution no longer applies in this futuristic world. There are other themes in this book but I will have the readers find out on their own.

[Venecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually pretty good. Dystopian Christian fiction. . . sort of. Usually dystopian fiction is based on a new world order, not a current one. However the themes and general feel of the book is dystopian.

This book has me a little unnerved. It seems a little too easy for it to really happen. We do have an aging population plus a decreasing family size. Not as many people are getting married as there used to be, and there is a population of Guylanders already here in America. People put off marriage and even when they get married they put off child bearing even further causing and rapidly aging population with a small generation coming up to support them.

Out culture is increasingly self centered and we are encouraged to do what is right for ourselves, without considering other people. I can easily see people pressuring their elderly debit parents into an early transition so they can take over their assets and live their lives to the fullest.

These two cultural trends make this book a little too close for comfort.

I am curious to see what is going to happen in the next two books. I am definitely hooked.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept my interest and I didn't put it down until I finished. It gave me a lot to think about.

A great book for book clubs since there are many different social issues to discuss and explore. Not super heavy on the religious aspects but they are there.

Sensitive Readers Euthanasia, some religious overtones (Christian) but not heavy, rights of the disabled/elderly, references to sex but not graphic

[Callie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I still have a good-book-hangover from this one. I don't know what I was expecting going in to this book, but I could hardly put it down! The world that is painted in this book is simultaneously bizarre and chillingly possible. I cannot wait to read the next book to see what happens to the characters!

[Ellouise Tubbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read...looking forward to the 3rd one in the series. I somehow managed to read the 2nd book first and now feel a little lost lol. This series is one that, in my opinion, could come true. A lot of things going on in the world could lead to some of the things in this series. It makes me sad to think our world could think like these people.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story in a similar vein as Alcorn's Deadline. That is, a story about a specific ethical topic woven into a narrative. The characters were believable and true (with the one notable exception of Angie near the end of the book; her hesitation with the decision surrounding her pregnancy struck me as uncharacteristic of her).

The futuristic setting was handled well. Some new technology was described, but nothing that made this into a science fiction novel. Just enough advancements from our day to be believably set in 2042. And in any case, the technology wasn't a driver in the story, the morals and ethics of the people involved were. And those were constantly put to the test. We see many characters with many levels of morals and ethics, yet all are portrayed somewhat sympathetically. Not in the sense that all are are good or make good choices, but that all are valuable human beings; when they do the right thing, it is heroic; when the don't, it is tragic. No one-dimensional main characters here.

One of my favorite scenes comes near the end of the book. Julia is talking to her 11-year-old nephew, Jared, about the childhood she had with her sister, Maria, Jared's mom. Their Dad ran out on them when Julia was young. Their Mom had a few boyfriends over the years, some moved in. One, in particular, abused Maria in some horrible ways (Julia is telling this to Jared, and it is handled appropriately in the book - nothing graphic). Julia expresses regret that she wasn't able to protect her sister when they were young. Jared says, "it was not your job. It was Grandma's job." Julie quietly agreed. Then Jared corrects himself, "No, I'm wrong. It was Grandpa's job." Julia looked in Jared's face. It carried the indignation of a fearless soldier encountering a blatant coward. "He wasn't around," Julia explained. "He couldn't protect her." Jared looked away and back at Julia, "He should have been there. Daddies are supposed to protect their children."

The message of the book is strong and relevant, yet not preachy. Our culture has separated three things that should never have been separated - sex, marriage and child-raising. These three belong together, while our culture tells us we have the right to pick and choose which of these we want without taking the whole package. What happens when people start deciding that having children simply isn't desirable? What happens when people see other people as commodities that need to be put away when they are not working correctly or no longer useful? What happens when each successive generation is smaller and smaller such that the average age of the population gets higher and higher with no turnaround in sight? What does that mean for domestic policy, for communities, for families? What is a society to do about it? This book, through a narrative of characters starts to address these issues, and does so very well. This book doesn't give complete answers, as this is only book one of a trilogy, but the rest of the story is coming. I look forward to reading books two Childless: A Novel (to be released in October) and three (to be released early next year).

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, many thanks to the authors, the publisher and Goodreads for my free copy of this book to read and review.

As with any of my reviews, I will share my opinions and generalities regarding the book. I will not get into a technical review or give away spoilers if at all possible.

Had I known who the authors were in advance, I never would have entered the draw to win this book. Pretty blunt, I know, but it's the truth. Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner were both part of the Focus On The Family media family and have since moved on to other endeavors. I suppose that made me slightly biased when I discovered this fact.

I am pleased to say that I did enjoy this book a great deal. It tackles some very serious issues facing western society and America in particular. We live in a society that is aging, at the same time we are having fewer children than ever before. Who will form the future tax base and labor force to take care of all these seniors? A serious question and a very scary one. This is a novel but it deals with a very real issue that faces my generation and those that will come after me. With fewer young people the economy will suffer from the simple lack of people entering the work force, driving commerce and paying taxes. At the same time social programs will reach an all time spending high as we attempt to take care of our most senior citizens.

I find myself becoming more conservative as I age and many of my values, beliefs and fears were addressed and sometimes challenged by this story. We as a society must be careful not to fall into new prejudices as our demographics change. We must remember that behind numbers are lives. Real flesh and blood people with hopes, dreams and desires and that we must be aware of them before making judgements. The book shows how our perceptions can be skewed and manipulated. The idea that an ailing parent is a drain on resources or a "debit" seems preposterous, but is it really? As economic pressures increase this could become a very real sentiment expressed by many people. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. People committing voluntary suicide or "transitioning" is nothing new. It is an option for terminally ill people in many countries already. The idea of "transitioning" in order to no longer drain resources and leave an inheritance to the younger generation so that they have seed money for their education, business, etc. is quite frankly terrifying and I hope we never see the day that this practice would be even remotely acceptable. Again a very real scenario in a future with a large senior population, a failing economy and young people that are too focused on themselves.

The future portrayed in the book is sometimes bleak and heartless. There are "bright spots" however. We must never forget how to be caring, feeling humans. Cherishing family is one certain way to keep oneself grounded when it comes to the really important things.

This appears to be the first book of a trilogy and I for one will be looking forward to the next installment.

[Erin Forson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner craft book one of this futuristic trilogy with a powerful hook, followed by an examination of the fiscal future of the United States through the eyes of various characters. I enjoyed following each of the characters: Julia Davidson, career-driven liberal journalist who longs for more, Kevin Tolbert, fighting to uphold personal morals in a corrupt government, and Matthew, struggling to survive financially and support his ailing mother while sacrificing his dreams. Despite my liberal views, I could see myself in each of the characters from the most liberal to the most conservative. I found the idea of promoting children and families for a healthy fiscal future a sound one, and I was extremely disturbed by the idea of adults and the infirm being able to legally "transition," or die so that remaining famiy members could use their estate to pursue dreams. While my objections to the idea of transitioning might not fall in line with the book's themes, I found the whole prospect of transitioning, especially as presented in this story, abhorrent. Lastly, what woman with children or stepchildren hasn't struggled with the idea of sacrifcing career for famiy? What woman, no matter how liberal or feminist, hasn't at one point or another collapsed in exhaustion and realized that she cannot possibly do it all? The ideas in the text follow Christian ideals, yet, the reader will find the narrative far less didactic than might be expected from two Evangelical writers. If you enjoy political what ifs?, legal battles, are conservatively minded, or just open-minded, this well-crafted novel is for you.

[Jenna King · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came out at an appropriate time. I had just read about three articles before reading this book about the decline in population and its effects on the economy.

I enjoyed this book. The first several chapters were a bit confusing because he switched between the different major characters and I had a hard time following what was going on. But once I got into it, I just wanted to read it. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.

I felt that the issues he touched on--elective suicide of the elderly or disabled (he called it "transitioning"), fertility rates, genetic selection (choosing only embryos with "good" genes to weed out disabilities and chronic diseases), population decline, the disappearance of marriage, etc.--were very real issues, some of which are happening now and some of which I could see happening in the future. These are some of the exact social issues that concern me, so it was a very interesting read.

The issue of "Fatherlessness", despite that being the book's title, didn't really come up as much as I thought it would. It was more implied than actually talked about.

I would definitely recommend "Fatherless" to my friends and family.

[Julie Davis]

This is one of those thrillers which takes current trends and imagines our society in the future which is not that different in how it functions overall. This particular book is thus far focusing on those who think "transition" is a good way to help those with a poor quality of life ... with the transition from life to death. There is a Christian element, understandable when one reads about the author, but thus far I am not finding it as heavy-handed as many of that genre. And, let's face it, many thrillers are not the most subtly written no matter what their orientation.

So far, it is interesting enough though you can see fairly clearly who is going to be on which side.

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I quit because the road seemed way too obvious in this story. To be fair, it is probably NOT fair that I am currently listening to The Fellowship of the Ring. It is hard for most authors to stand up to Tolkien and win, especially thrillers because they usually are not demanded to be the same sort of complex story. Nonetheless, I quit anyway. Got to go where the passion leads me!

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the first few chapters, I almost put the book down to quit reading it because I felt bogged down in a lot of political details and it felt very negative to me. However, I'm glad I didn't give up because the plot became much more interesting. This is a futuristic novel set in 2042 and deals with some ethical dilemmas that did not seem too far-fetched but all of which involved views on the value of human life--whether it be an elderly person with dementia or an infant with a genetic disorder. The main characters in the book present totally different views on the issues which becomes the primary basis of the plot. Although I felt the novel did get bogged down with political details and felt the development of one of the main characters was somewhat lacking, I did find the book worth reading and definitely plan to read the next book in the series. This book definitely has a Christian view but is not 'preachy' and it definitely touches on realistic issues that we may all deal with at some point in the future.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites. Its a much deeper read then I like to read. Its about the world in 2042. How the world wants to get rid of the elderly and give the benefits to the young. For example: Matt wants to finish his college education to become a Professor. The only way he can after taking care of his sickly elder mother is to have her transition out. There would be no more medical bills and the estate would be free to use the money for the college purpose. Another instance was the X fragile life, a person who has disabilities. They want people to be screened for disabilities while pregnant. That way parents could get rid of the problem and the world would not have to take care of the disabled. Thank goodness there were people in this book, Kevin and Angie Tolbert who have the morals and faith that each life is precious. This book was interesting but I had a hard time getting into it.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: 1/26/15 I've finished this series, and I would like to say something to anyone trying to decide whether to read the first book, or those who have finished the first book, and are not sure whether they want to continue. I would urge you to go for it. The plot gets darker, if that's what you're wondering. But the most compelling reason I think you should go for it, is because if you don't go for it, you will miss an amazing piece of character work that will blow your mind in the third book. Anyway, it did mine. So please, give it the benefit of the doubt and read on.

I really enjoyed this book. The story and characters were wonderful, although I wasn't quite as interested in Matthew's story as I was in Julia, Kevin, and Angie's. The situation this book presents is definitely frightening because I can see it happening all too easily. As both a Christian and a reader I give this story a thumbs up, and I will be reading the next two books to discover what happens next.