Book Review: Not By Might by Al Lacy

Al Lacy is one of my favorite authors.  He has written many exciting and inspiring stories about Christians living in the West during the 1800's.  Not only is he a successful writer, but he is also a preacher and an expert on the King James Bible as the inspired Word of God. (In fact, he will be coming to my church to speak in November.)

Not By Might is #8 in a series about nurse Breanna Baylor who is married to John "The Stranger" Brockman, the main character in another popular series.  John Brockman is now the Chief Marshall for Denver, CO.  Not By Might features several interwoven stories offering danger, suspense, soulwinning, altruism, and even a miracle!  The book opens with a notorious gang making plans to kill the US Marshall Executive Administrator Chester McCarty who put the head of the gang Duke Forster in federal prison some 14 years before.  The informant of the Marshall's whereabouts is a government employee who secretly befriended the gang's leader when he was in prison.  Once Chief Marshall Brockman messes up their plan to kill McCarty, he becomes the gang's main target.

Meanwhile, nurse Breanna Brockman goes to another town help a lady who had recently given birth and was still having much pain.  Doctor Rex Rawlings who sent for her was once the fiance of a new nurse at the Mile High Hospital where Breanna works.  Their engagement was broken because Natalie, the new nurse, did not want to be the wife of a small-town doctor.  Her father, who was a small-town doctor, worked himself to death a few years before.  Both Natalie and Dr. Rawlings still love each other very much and regret not working things out between them.

Without giving anything away, you will enjoy reading how John Brockman escapes getting killed and how Natalie and Dr. Rawlings meet each other once again.  The theme of the story is taken from the verse Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might, nor by power, but my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."  It is God Who works things out according to His Will and for His Glory.

One thing I enjoy about Al Lacy's books is that you can always count on them to be exciting, very clean and appropriate, and to have a clear presentation of the Gospel.  Years ago, when Bro. Lacy was with another publisher, he was asked to write in scenes with bad language and intimacy.  He refused to do so and found a publisher who would allow him to write good, clean novels.

Not By Might does well as a stand-alone novel, not needing the prior six novels to have been read to understand the story.  There are a number of characters and names in the book (from what I understand, he names many of his characters after people he knows) which at times can be a little confusing.  It would've been nice to have had a list of characters in the book to use as sort of a cheat sheet.  The only other negative thing about the book is that, in my opinion, nobody talks like that in real life.  For lack of a better word, much of the dialogue is rather mushy and somewhat stilted.  Even so, it is a good read.


Reviews on Blogging for Books can be reviewed and ranked by others.  I would love it if you would visit my review on the Blogging for Books site and rank my review.  Upon ranking my review, you will be entered in a drawing to win your own copy of this book!  Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings if you give me a bad review.  I'd rather have an honest bad review than a dishonest good review.  "Faithful are the wounds of a friend: but the kisses of an enemy deceitful." (Proverbs 27:6)

Here is the link for my review:  Not By Might by Al Lacy

FTC Disclaimer:  I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.”  I was not required to provide a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.