God Only Knows

By Xavier Knight

Book Overview

Julia Turner, an ambitious educator in her mid-thirties, leaves a high-profile job in Chicago to return to Dayton, Ohio to serve as superintendent of Christian Light, the K-12 private school system from which she graduated two decades earlier. A single mother with an ugly divorce and a complex childhood in her rearview mirror, Julia views her mission as a chance to contribute to her hometown and conquer the demons from her past. But she never expects to confront the one sin she and her childhood friends agree to bury as teens-the accident that left Eddie Walker hospitalized and incapacitated. Meanwhile, Detective Peter Whitlock, Eddie Walker's older bother, is still determined to find the person(s) responsible for his brother's condition. As an unrelated investigation leads to another woman who is involved in the accident, the responsible parties must decide whether they will keep their dark secrets, or tell the truth and let God decide the outcome.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446582395
• ISBN13: 9780446582391
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.0" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Well written...

Fourteen-year-old Eddie hated the private Christian school. He hated his four African American classmates even more, Julia, Toya, Cassie, and Terry. Eddie had a crush on pretty Cassie. When Eddie attacked Cassie, the other three girls came to her defense. Each of the girls had grown into successful young women. Julia Turner returned to Dayton to serve as a superintendent to Christian Light School, the private Christian academy she attended in middle school. Detective Pete Whitlock, Eddie's brother has never believed it was an accident. He is determined to discover what had really happened that day long ago when his brother was hit by a truck. The "accident" left him physically and mentally impaired. The detective had homed in on Cassie. Secrets have a tendency to come to light. God Only Knows is a tender read. The characters are all well developed and come to life on the pages. Xavier Knight is a talented author. He shares a message from God without being preachy. This book is multi-layered. There is a study guide included in the back of the book. This would make a great book study for a small group. This book will stay with the reader long after they close the cover.

Urban christian fiction packed with mystery, romance and faith

God Only Knows by Xavier Knight is a dramatic romance laced with mystery. Julia Turner and Cassie Duncan's friendship was cemented one night twenty years ago that ended with a classmate in a vegetative state, and the two girls along with two more sworn to secrecy for life. But one girl breaks her vow, leaving the others in danger. When Cassie is threatened by a police detective to release the truth about her involvement if she doesn't give in to his blackmail demands, she and Julia team up to discover what really happened that night and tell the truth before it has the opportunity to shatter their lives beyond repair. In this midst of this crisis, Julia reconnects with the high school crush her broke her heart. Knight's writing is tight and fast-paced, and his terrific dialogue keeps the story moving as well. There is a wonderful message about redemption and letting go of the past.

A Good Read

This book starts out as a flashback and centers around Eddie and his brother Peter. The book gains twenty years in the next chapter and focuses on Cassie and her current situation with her separated husband, Marcus. He had an affair with a much younger co-worker and Cassie and her eldest son are having a hard time with that. The couple is in the middle of reconciliation when the story begins. The couple's eldest son, M.J. is at a crossroads in his life with God and trying to stay away from the wrong crowds. Another main character that is introduced is Julia Turner, who is a best friend of Cassie. She is on the school board of the Christian Light School where they attended twenty years previously. The story unfolds around an event from the past that is long forgotten that is brought up again. Each character has their own memory of what happened that day, but the time the pieces of the puzzle are put together, the initial memory cannot be fully complete. A detective Whitlock starts poking around Cassie and has information on the events that took place years before involving his brother, Eddie. He blackmails Cassie threatening to throw her son in jail if she doesn't give a full confession to incapacitating his brother in an attack at the school. Cassie and Julia meet with the other girls who were involved in the attack on Eddie and discuss their options. Most of the girls have spent their lives since this happened involved with the church and have asked for forgiveness. Nobody wants to confess what happened until it gets more heated with the Detective. Cassie's son M.J. starts hanging out with Dante, who is a Cassie's nephew and a known drug dealer. During this time, Marcus has an altercation with the Detective and is thrown in jail. M.J. and Dante confront the Detective and get into a gun battle with him. Both Dante and the Detective wind up in the hospital, and M.J. goes into hiding. Cassie has no choice but to go to the hospital and agree to confess against what happened to Eddie in exchange for no involvement with her son in the gunfight. Cassie had typed up a resignation letter and was going to resign from the board and face her fate. Jake, one of the boys from the school steps forward and recounts what really happened. As Cassie was being attacked from Eddie and the other girls appeared and beat him up in self-defense, Jake was hiding in the bushes and saw it happen. He felt guilty by leaving and knowing what Eddie had done, or could have done to Cassie. He gets into a fight with Eddie, and we learn that he was the cause of Eddie's accident. In the end, the girls ask for forgiveness from Eddie's mother, Edna and they go to Eddies' room to pray for him. I think this book would be great for group discussion and I really did enjoy this book. There are a lot of good bible quotes in the book as well.

entertaining contemporary character study

The four African-American women (Julia, Toya, Cassie, and Teri) met when they attended the same almost all white Christian Light School in Dayton, Ohio two decades ago. Each has found success in their chosen field, but what unites them is a tragic memory from their days at the school. Eddie Walker attacked one of the girls, but with help from the others, he was the one who became debilitated. Now Julia Turner is coming home to become superintendent of Christian Light School. They hid the truth, but Eddie's brother Police Detective Peter Whitlock still investigates the accident. His efforts prove fruitful when he finds links to Cassie; forcing Julia to decide whether she must reveal the truth of what happened when she was thirteen years old, but owes her three friends an opportunity to voice their opinions as to whether the truth will set them free. This is an entertaining contemporary character study starring best friends dealing with a traumatic incident twenty years ago that haunts each of them differently. Their lives and that of others (besides obviously Eddie) like Pete were shaped by that tragedy and their immediate actions. Each of the foursome know if they remain silent nothing will happen to them; however Julia's conscience makes her question whether silence is right especially when an obsessed Pete goes after Cassie. Although the final denouement seems unlikely detracting from an interesting tale, fans will enjoy Xavier Knight's deep look at how one major disturbing event as a teen shapes the adult even though two decades have past. Harriet Klausner

What Happens In The Past, Doesn't Always Stay In The Past

Julia Turner and Cassie Gillette are childhood friends. Friends who shared a fatal night with fellow classmate, Eddie Walker, that left him in a vegetative state. Neither of the women have shared their involvement in the tragedy. The racial tension that surrounded their school, Christian Light, would have surely exploded had these young black girls revealed they may have had a hand in the accident of a white classmate. Will the truth ever surface? Will their lives change forever? Julia is dealing with the issues of her past and being a single mother to her niece. She moved back to Dayton, Ohio to help keep Christian Light open. When Eddie's brother, Detective Peter Whitlock, surfaces with threats to get more information about the night his brother's life was shattered, Cassie and Julie have to decide if they will come clean with their involvement. They soon decide to give it all to God and let him take total control over the entire situation. God Only Knows by Xavier Knight is a suspense that will have you turning the pages until the end. The characters are so compelling and you find yourself rooting for them. You cannot decide if you want them to tell the truth or not. Knight draws upon his unyielding faith to create a realistic, believable and compelling story. I highly recommend this book for fans of C. Kelly Robinson aka Xavier Knight. Reviewed by Donnica Copeland APOOO BookClub Sista Talk Book Club