Note: This is the first review I have done for Thomas Nelson. It has taken a long time to get done because it took three months for the book to arrive!
‘Holding fast’ is a true story, told by the wife of Kelly James, an architect and keen mountaineer who died following a tragic accident on Mount Hood, (near Portland, Oregon) just before December 2006. The book is well-written, engaging and intriguing. I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a number of colour photographs, some poignantly from the camera of Kelly James which was recovered after his death.
The account is pretty harrowing and very real, and the pictures help to bring the words to life. As it is not known precisely what happened to Kelly and his two friends who perished, there is a little artistic licence in the opening of the book which struck me as odd initially, but it began to make sense as the evidence for events was unfolded. I’m being guarded here because I don’t want to spoil it for a potential reader.
The one point I feel is a little weak in the work is the lack of explanation of precisely why Kelly James and his wife believed themselves to be Christians. The book is tragic, and the faith of the family shines through, especially in the dignified public statements of Kelly’s brother, himself a former professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. The book is inspiring and encouraging. It is profound and worth your time – but I would say that due to the vagueness of sentiment regarding the way of salvation that I’d not recommend it to a non-Christian friend in the hope of it pointing to Christ. That said, I commend this book. Buy it, read it, weep if you will, be inspired by the testimony, and give God the glory.
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