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Saving Grace by Greg Cochran tells the story of Jacob Brodie, a pharmaceutical executive from Chicago, who while on a family vacation in Pacifica, California encounters an angel during a solo fishing trip. The angel reveals the existence of a mysterious task he must complete before the end of his trip. After the visit, Jacob awakes from an oceanside nap only to realize that the task has commenced with the transporting of his body back in time 60 years to Pacifica circa 1938.

                 Cochran does a great job of cleanly taking the reader back in time. Although a lot of the time is spent inside Brodie’s head while he discovers the time and location of his new surroundings, plenty of care is taken to ensure the reader experiences 1938 Pacifica as it might have been.

                 This is my first time travel read. I enjoyed how Brodie meets up with his great grandparents, his father as an infant and the town’s people during their prime. It was interesting to see the origins of his relatives’ personalities. Jacob’s scuffles with the younger version of his grandfather were particularly entertaining. 

                 Guided by the angel in a land familiar but before his time, Brodie discovers his task through visions and a kinship with the town’s reverend who also experiences visits from the same angel. Reverend Hershey, a man Jacob would befriend in his own time, helps sort out the calamity that has befallen the town’s children over a period of two years. The book delivers a wallop by incorporating demon possession, salvation, and the search for life’s purpose. Particularly unexpected was the development of an interracial relationship between Jacob, a Caucasian man and Susan, a widowed mother of Chinese descent. The relationship never physically progresses beyond handholding; however, emotionally the relationship endures for Susan’s lifetime.

                 While the sermons grew heavy-handed at times, it was interesting to read how Jacob would complete his task and return home.

                 Even though Cochran introduced enough reasonable suspects to muddy the waters and keep the reader guessing, the author chose to focus on only one suspect revealed through angel-induced visions. The book’s tension could have been heightened with the power of suggesting other potential suspects, which would have made the book a longer and more in depth read.

                 The majority of the book was spent in 1938, so when the task was complete and Jacob returned to his own time, the picking up of his life in 1998 felt artificial. The reader is told of his behavior prior to his time travel and given examples of how it changed afterward. It would have been more powerful to witness his old behavior in action at the beginning of the book.

                 Cochran tightly fastens up all potential loose ends; however, it seemed like an effort to make the book longer because there were several natural end points that were not utilized. I was glad to find out what happened to Susan, her daughter and the town’s people of 1938, but Jacob’s constant self-effacement seemed self-indulgent, self-centered and self-serving.

                 Since the reader witnesses a strong connection between Susan and Jacob and never gets a true sense of the relationship between Jacob and his wife, Susan’s self-imposed life of spinsterhood spent serving God and craving a life with Jacob that was not meant to be was just sad.

                 Saving Grace, in its clean and fast-paced manner, was a nice introduction to the time-travel genre. It was an enjoyable read, which leaves me looking forward to more time-travel fare. As a result, it earns 4 out of five Sable Seals.

Publisher: Amira Press

Format: Print , Ebook

Price: $12.99, $6.00 

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