Product Description

Young Toby Matthews, eight years old, undeniably has miraculous powers. But where did they come from, and how did Toby become the center of a new cult?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #604003 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-19
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .94" h x 5.53" w x 8.50" l, .95 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 340 pages

From Amazon.com
Since Frank Peretti penned his groundbreaking Christian suspense novel This Present Darkness back in the '80s, he's been often emulated, usually without much success. Enter this supernatural page-turner, The Prodigy, which raises the bar for the genre. Gansky weaves theological questions about spiritual forces in contemporary culture into a thrilling saga that will keep the reader hooked from the first pages. Six-year-old Toby, a child prodigy from the backwoods of North Carolina, has strange powers. Toby walks through a hospital corridor, and patients with incurable illnesses are suddenly healed. Storms melt away at his words. He diagnoses and cures the innermost mental and physical afflictions of strangers. When Toby and his unusual gifts are noticed by those seeking money and power, disaster is inevitable.

Deeper questions underlie the text. Does God still perform wonders in today's world--and does he work through individuals, including children? Is there a dark side to the spiritual realm that can manifest itself? Although the ending is a bit of a shoot-em-up, good guys vs. bad guys- type of resolution, this novel provides a chilling look at greed, religion, and spiritual phenomena framed in fictional form. Expect some goose bumps. --Cindy Crosby

From Publishers Weekly
Demons, greed, and theological questions about wondrous healings and miracles intermingle in this chilling tale of suspense. Gansky, a clergyman who most recently wrote Distant Memory, combines a flair for atmosphere with supernatural events that will raise a few goose bumps for fanciers of Christian mystery and suspense. In a lonely cabin in the hills of North Carolina, an unwed teenage mother gives birth to a son, Toby. The tension builds as he evinces an unusual intelligence that belies his heredity and environment. Strange things occur when he is six years old, Toby walks down a hospital corridor, and patients are suddenly healed; he speaks to a tornado, which dissipates; he diagnoses physical and mental ailments with just a glance. It's not long before a popular radio talk-show host seizes on Toby as a potential gold mine, and things spin out of control as the boy is cast as a Messiah figure. Despite the intriguing story line, there are some glitches and occasional clich‚s. Toby's mother is transformed from hillbilly to polished sophisticate in only a year and a half, which is a bit of a stretch, although Gansky is careful to note that she still shows traces of her previous life. The novel disintegrates slightly in its second half, ending with a predictable showdown between the villains and the good guys. Despite these flaws, however, Gansky's credible thriller should gain him some new fans.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Six-year-old Toby Matthews is a prodigy. He intuitively grasps the way things work and constantly amazes his mother, Mary. Her problems start when she takes Toby to the hospital after his finger is smashed in a car door. The doctor is stunned at how quickly Toby's finger seems to be healing, and when Mary takes her son and slips out through a patient wing, Toby heals the sick people just by walking down a hallway. This "miracle" brings the boy to the attention of Richard Wellman, an unscrupulous radio host who sees Toby as a New Age "Messiah" and his ticket to money and power, and Thomas York, a divinity student who sees God as a philosophical challenge and Toby as a case study. As a supernatural creature stalks Toby, Thomas discovers the depths of a faith he didn't know he had as he teaches Toby about Jesus and the Bible. Gansky's J.D. Stanton mysteries (A Ship Possessed, Vanished) offer a more spine-tingling, terrifying journey into the supernatural aspects of the Bible, but The Prodigy will appeal to readers awaiting the next Frank Peretti.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.