Hush Hush

Hush Hush
By Becca Fitzpatrick
Published by Simon and Schuster

There is no safe place from becoming a creature of darkness. Just because you are an angel, doesn't mean you won't succumb to evil. But is there redemption for those who were the most holy and now fallen?

That is the overall faith premise of Hush Hush. However, the reader is left with so many unanswered questions and quite a bit of misuse of romantic love that the motivation may or may not be in place for book two Crescendo (Hush, Hush) in this series. And can anyone tell me where the title of this book comes from?

Becca Fitzpatrick has written another young adult fiction novel about angels. Perhaps part of my angst over this novel has to do with the fact that I am now more adult than young. But even a teenager would have to see the problem of a mother allowing her teenage daughter to have so much freedom without any adult supervision -- not to mention they live in a house in the country (Maine this time around) after the father has just been murdered. Don't think this is a great situation for a latch-key kid. I also have a problem with the romantic lead who is a fallen angel named Patch. Don't get too caught up on his name as the young protagonist is named Nora Grey. Although he is centuries old, you would not be able to tell based on their names. And perhaps not their behavior, either.

At this point you can probably guess most of the plot: boy has been looking for girl for hundred's of years, has given up hope, then she comes into his life at a point where he has begun a downward spiral of no return. I won't tell you how it ends (i.e. how she saves him), mostly because it is hard to see how it is a happy ending after all. But with the next title, who can tell?

What I found most disturbing is the image of God's own messengers being so weak and vulnerable. Perhaps you have heard of the Nephilim (read about them in Genesis 6) and the weakness of the angels when seeing good looking humans. Fitzpatrick tries to make a compelling fictional case for the continued  presence of these angelic "mistakes" in our world today. But don't go looking for any godliness or even goodness in these persons. Even the angel who is supposed to be good has fallen in love (pun intended) and tries to harm our protagonist for her own selfish reasons. It is not going to be God who saves but God's creatures (human and angel alike) who are about the work of salvation.

Reading a book such as Hush Hush reminds me of the One who really does offer salvation.

Happy reading!

Amelia


Copyright 2011 Amelia G. Sims