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Heading Home
The Bible makes it clear no one knows the day or the hour of Christ's return. But it doesn't say we won't know the month. Or the week. When every Christian simultaneously receives a message that Christ will return sometime in the coming week, the world is thrown into stark panic. Two old friends, hardened combat veterans from the closing days of the Vietnam War, set out on a suspenseful quest to redeem that time. What they don't know is that they and their entire church have been targeted for satanic annihilation.
- GenresChristian Fiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
John Robinson
7 books6 followersJohn Robinson has been writing professionally for over a decade, with five novels commercially published. These include Until the Last Dog Dies, When Skylarks Fall, and To Skin a Cat, all through David C. Cook/RiverOak Publishing; Heading Home, Sheaf House Publishers; and The Radiance, Musa Publishing. John is also a member of the Authors Guild, and for three years was on faculty at a nationally ranked writers conference held near Santa Fe. There he taught tracks on plotting, theme, dialogue, and character development.
John has a background in broadcasting and journalism, and so he is very comfortable in dealing with all aspects of the media. He also has an active on-line presence, which includes moderating a large writers website, as well as enjoying a stint as a regular columnist on the blog, Author Culture. In addition, John is a member of such diverse sites as AbsoluteWrite, deCompose, and James Lileks’ blog, who is a popular columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Finally, John is close friends with his mentor, writer James Scott Bell, author of the popular Plot and Structure, published by Writers Digest Books.
John has a background in broadcasting and journalism, and so he is very comfortable in dealing with all aspects of the media. He also has an active on-line presence, which includes moderating a large writers website, as well as enjoying a stint as a regular columnist on the blog, Author Culture. In addition, John is a member of such diverse sites as AbsoluteWrite, deCompose, and James Lileks’ blog, who is a popular columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Finally, John is close friends with his mentor, writer James Scott Bell, author of the popular Plot and Structure, published by Writers Digest Books.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 22, 2011
Classified as a Fiction/Thriller, the description is only half right. A Christian propaganda piece that requires readers to forgive its lack of plot, exposition or character development in the name of “spreading the word”, it begins as a “buddy” story taking place in VietNam in the 1970’s but then jumps to the present day without a real thrill in sight. A world of black and white values with characters that are either: Christian and “good” or non-Christian and “demonic”, the story goes down-hill in a hurry. The anti-intellectual, conservative political viewpoint is thinly veiled as the happy Christians await the “rapture” when they’ll really be happy…AND prove their moral superiority. I’ve never been able to figure out why some feel that a narrow, self-serving and conservative reading of the Scriptures allows them the exclusive title of “Christian”.
November 17, 2017
If you knew that Jesus would return next week, what would you do between now and then?
Good question, isn't it?
This book illustrates that oft-pondered question very well. While I don't agree with everything in it, I have to give the author much credit for doing a better job with the "end times" than Jenkins and LaHaye did with Left Behind.
This book is especially timely after recent events in the news; you'll see why if you read it!
Good question, isn't it?
This book illustrates that oft-pondered question very well. While I don't agree with everything in it, I have to give the author much credit for doing a better job with the "end times" than Jenkins and LaHaye did with Left Behind.
This book is especially timely after recent events in the news; you'll see why if you read it!
November 9, 2010
Heading Home is the first in a new series from John Robinson, author of the Joe Box series. It is a near future tale uniting Vietnam War era events with today.
From the publisher: No one knows the day or the hour of Jesus’ return. But what if you knew the week? When every Christian simultaneously receives a message that Christ will return within the coming week the work is thrown into stark panic. Two old friends, hardened combat veterans from the closing days of the Vietnam War, set out on a suspenseful quest to redeem that time. What they don’t know is that they—and their entire church—have been targeted for satanic annihilation.
If you knew for sure that the end of the world was coming up sometime this week, what would you do? For Nick Castle, Vietnam vet and business owner, the answer is he’d go on one last mission to catch up with his former unit and make sure they were headed in the same direction he was when that end came. Nick had turned his life over to Christ after being wounded while serving. “Ratcheting up his witness” came when he heard the enigmatic message. He enlists his brother in Christ, CT Barnes who had also been in the service, to find their former mates. What they found instead was a war that was out of this world.
Robinson had a little trouble figuring out where the story actually began, and chose a lengthy, dramatic scenario from the Vietnam War combat unit’s mission to rescue survivors of a doomed outpost. He switches to the modern day battle for Nick’s family business, then back again to try and tie up some loose threads. I could have easily started at chapter 18 and enjoyed the images of the two time periods intertwined from there. Each chapter is short, just a couple pages, and Robinson uses plenty of words to tell the story. His descriptions of the men’s battles were particularly gripping and his dialogue entertaining.
Robinson doesn’t mince gore, suggestive language or racial joking mockery, which may offend some readers. As in the thriller genre, the story is told mostly through action and tension, leaving the characters’ messy internal emotions for the reader to guess at. For fans of suspense and action, and those who hung of Robinson’s previous works, Heading Home is another intriguing attempt to analyze what might happen at the end of days. It certainly is thought-provoking.
I received a copy of the book from Title Trakk for this review.
From the publisher: No one knows the day or the hour of Jesus’ return. But what if you knew the week? When every Christian simultaneously receives a message that Christ will return within the coming week the work is thrown into stark panic. Two old friends, hardened combat veterans from the closing days of the Vietnam War, set out on a suspenseful quest to redeem that time. What they don’t know is that they—and their entire church—have been targeted for satanic annihilation.
If you knew for sure that the end of the world was coming up sometime this week, what would you do? For Nick Castle, Vietnam vet and business owner, the answer is he’d go on one last mission to catch up with his former unit and make sure they were headed in the same direction he was when that end came. Nick had turned his life over to Christ after being wounded while serving. “Ratcheting up his witness” came when he heard the enigmatic message. He enlists his brother in Christ, CT Barnes who had also been in the service, to find their former mates. What they found instead was a war that was out of this world.
Robinson had a little trouble figuring out where the story actually began, and chose a lengthy, dramatic scenario from the Vietnam War combat unit’s mission to rescue survivors of a doomed outpost. He switches to the modern day battle for Nick’s family business, then back again to try and tie up some loose threads. I could have easily started at chapter 18 and enjoyed the images of the two time periods intertwined from there. Each chapter is short, just a couple pages, and Robinson uses plenty of words to tell the story. His descriptions of the men’s battles were particularly gripping and his dialogue entertaining.
Robinson doesn’t mince gore, suggestive language or racial joking mockery, which may offend some readers. As in the thriller genre, the story is told mostly through action and tension, leaving the characters’ messy internal emotions for the reader to guess at. For fans of suspense and action, and those who hung of Robinson’s previous works, Heading Home is another intriguing attempt to analyze what might happen at the end of days. It certainly is thought-provoking.
I received a copy of the book from Title Trakk for this review.
August 20, 2010
Just when you think the Last-Days genre has been pretty much exhausted, John Robinson slips one in under the radar that knocks your socks off. Clearing the high bar he set in his previous novels, he infuses brutal force into his prose and remains steadfastly unapologetic in his message--both of which are essential to pull off a story like "Heading Home."
Mr. Robinson does a great job of working on two planes of spirituality simultaneously in this story of healing and redemption. You've likely already identified the higher plane from the first sentence of this review: the redemption of mankind and the healing of a created order groaning and suffering as it eagerly awaits revelation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19-23). The second plane is at the personal level, and it's where Mr. Robinson excels at the storytelling. While God is attending to the cosmos, Nick Castle and CT Barnes are hard at work on the ground. Christ's return is imminent, and there's no time to lose as these closest of friends seek out former comrades-in-arms from their days in Viet Nam. Nick and CT consider it paramount to witness to the men with whom they shared the most intense days of their lives before it's too late. That's what you do for your buddies. It's what you do for God.
But there's a new battle looming, one with potentially devastating consequences. While Nick and CT search for their old friends, a satanic cult has targeted their home church for destruction, including their families, their dearest friends and themselves. No one is aware of the plot until the cult lauches its attack at the crux point of the story.
You. Will. Not. Want. To. Miss. The. Final. Showdown. Oh no, you will not.
In short, "Heading Home" achieves in one concise, high-powered novel what it took "Left Behind" to do in--how many volumes did the series finally turn out to be? All due respect and credit to Messrs. Jenkins and LaHaye, but, honestly, I gave up somewhere around number three or four. Sorry if that offends any die-hard LB fans; chalk it off to my limited attention span. In any event, if you ran the marathon with "Left Behind," you'll enjoy the sprint with "Heading Home." And it will leave you breathless.
Mr. Robinson does a great job of working on two planes of spirituality simultaneously in this story of healing and redemption. You've likely already identified the higher plane from the first sentence of this review: the redemption of mankind and the healing of a created order groaning and suffering as it eagerly awaits revelation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19-23). The second plane is at the personal level, and it's where Mr. Robinson excels at the storytelling. While God is attending to the cosmos, Nick Castle and CT Barnes are hard at work on the ground. Christ's return is imminent, and there's no time to lose as these closest of friends seek out former comrades-in-arms from their days in Viet Nam. Nick and CT consider it paramount to witness to the men with whom they shared the most intense days of their lives before it's too late. That's what you do for your buddies. It's what you do for God.
But there's a new battle looming, one with potentially devastating consequences. While Nick and CT search for their old friends, a satanic cult has targeted their home church for destruction, including their families, their dearest friends and themselves. No one is aware of the plot until the cult lauches its attack at the crux point of the story.
You. Will. Not. Want. To. Miss. The. Final. Showdown. Oh no, you will not.
In short, "Heading Home" achieves in one concise, high-powered novel what it took "Left Behind" to do in--how many volumes did the series finally turn out to be? All due respect and credit to Messrs. Jenkins and LaHaye, but, honestly, I gave up somewhere around number three or four. Sorry if that offends any die-hard LB fans; chalk it off to my limited attention span. In any event, if you ran the marathon with "Left Behind," you'll enjoy the sprint with "Heading Home." And it will leave you breathless.
December 9, 2010
Powerful, vivid writing with character-exclusive idiocyncracies. Realistic and painful Viet Nam scenes. Already my mind is flooded with images I will never forget. Eg. "The voice that barked the command sounded like it had been baptized in Drano."
From the raw opening scenes in Viet Nam to the promised rapture, John Robinson marches readers through to an end-time Holocaust and final glory in his novel, "Heading Home." Strong literary writing in Part One catapults the author into the ether of great classics, but the rest of the book sacrifices this powerful voice for trumped-up pacing. I was hoping for a crossover treatment that would engage and inspire fence-sitting Christians, but its authentic tone is for believers only. "Heading Home" is knock-out charasmatic Christian fiction.
From the raw opening scenes in Viet Nam to the promised rapture, John Robinson marches readers through to an end-time Holocaust and final glory in his novel, "Heading Home." Strong literary writing in Part One catapults the author into the ether of great classics, but the rest of the book sacrifices this powerful voice for trumped-up pacing. I was hoping for a crossover treatment that would engage and inspire fence-sitting Christians, but its authentic tone is for believers only. "Heading Home" is knock-out charasmatic Christian fiction.
November 2, 2011
Contemporary Christian fiction has often been criticized for being saccharine or amateurish.
What's needed are more Christian writers who ply their craft with excellence. John Robinson does precisely that in HEADING HOME.
The book is great, exhilarating fun. The central characters (VietNam vets seeking out their scattered brothers-in-arms for one last imperative rescue)are three-dimensional, funny and imperfect, doing their best in a harrowing situation and trusting God to make things right. Their camaraderie rings true;men who have fought side by side have a unique bond. The villains are vivid and VERY, VERY evil; the action is intense and the story is deeply moving.
HEADING HOME is tightly written, well-plotted, entertaining, but most of all, soaringly inspirational; exactly what Christian fiction should be.
What's needed are more Christian writers who ply their craft with excellence. John Robinson does precisely that in HEADING HOME.
The book is great, exhilarating fun. The central characters (VietNam vets seeking out their scattered brothers-in-arms for one last imperative rescue)are three-dimensional, funny and imperfect, doing their best in a harrowing situation and trusting God to make things right. Their camaraderie rings true;men who have fought side by side have a unique bond. The villains are vivid and VERY, VERY evil; the action is intense and the story is deeply moving.
HEADING HOME is tightly written, well-plotted, entertaining, but most of all, soaringly inspirational; exactly what Christian fiction should be.
November 1, 2010
Heading Home is another thought provoking read. It's not Left Behind, it's the other side of the coin. If you knew when the Lord would return, if you had a week's notice, how would you spend that time? It made me look at my personal relationship with the Lord a little differently, which is generally a good thing!
August 8, 2011
If you like books about the End Times you must read this book! Bravo, John Robinson!
July 2, 2011
Not a bad fictional book on the Rapture.
Want to read
August 15, 2010*Thanks to Sheaf House for providing a copy for review.*
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews