Beneath the Surface By Jeni Grossman Covenant Communications, year. Quality Paperback: 271 pages. ISBN: 1-57734-828-1 Suggested retail price: $14.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Jeffrey Needle

Beneath the Surface is, in one aspect, one of the best popular-level Mormon books I've ever read. Extraordinarily well written, suspenseful, often surprising and deeply heart-felt. But in one respect, it unfortunately devolves into a wrongly-motivated and ill-informed reflection of miseducation and badly-formed theological ideas.

The story takes place in the town of Griggsberg, just outside Kansas City. At one time a sleepy rural burg, Griggsberg has become the home of Midwest Christian College, with the attendant growth in population and student activity.

Craig Dennison is pastor of the local megachurch; his wife Miranda is a noted gospel singer. Their children, Hanna and Gabe, live in the shadows of their famous parents. While Hanna is adjusting well, Gabe is rebellious and always getting into trouble.

One day, a local girl goes diving in an area not frequented by other divers. There she discovers the bloated, dead body of a man. An investigation into the death begins a chain of events that will ultimately uncover a plan, hatched a decade before, to cover up another death and to bring financial gain to several prominent citizens of the town.

Behind all this is the death of one of the town's residents, ruled an accident at the time. The family is convinced that his death was intentional, and they will go to any length to re-open the investigation and discover the truth.

As a mystery/suspense novel, Beneath the Surface is superb. There are plenty of thrilling moments, plot twists and unexpected turns to keep the reader riveted. But there are, as mentioned above, problems which I shall describe here:

1. As might be expected, there is a Mormon family in this town. (Another Mormon character comes into play later.) The Dennisons are Evangelical Protestants. In the first fifty pages or so, the depiction of these families is flat and not realistic. The Mormon family is perfect in every way. The Evangelical family, with the exception of Hanna, is hopelessly dysfunctional, and, ultimately, evil. Yes, there is some redemption in the end, but why exaggerate the story? What is the point? Life isn't that simple. No family is perfect. It served no purpose to depict the family in this way.

2. In two places, Hannah wanders into areas of theology. Her first journey happens as an early-teen, as she confronts her minister-father about the Council of Nicea and the doctrine of the Trinity. She has many questions, and has raised some issues that confuse her. The problem here is that her questions sound like something out of a bush-league anti-Trinity tract. All the old canards are there -- the confusion of "person" and "substance," the idea that Nicea taught that Jesus was his own father. What a blow to an otherwise excellent book! On one level, you hardly expect an early-teen to be thinking in such terms. It's just not realistic. And surely an early-teen isn't going to echo the misconceptions of the ant-Trinitarians -- such ideas just don't arise from a reading of the history of Nicea. Grossman ought to know better -- heck, she has a master's degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary! I just don't get it.

If you can get past these problems, Beneath the Surface is well worth reading. The book is populated by interesting characters, and chronicles nicely the transition of a small village to a thriving college town. Older teens and adults alike will find it exciting and remarkably well written. I hope she will write more, and in the future be more careful in her theological speculations.

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Jeff Needle
July 7, 2004