Review of:
The Believer
A Novel by Stephanie Black

Last week I was sitting at a book signing, busily signing books and autographs, and kissing babies, and scrambling to flee from crazed mobs of rabid fans. Yet, somehow, with all of those hordes of people, I managed to read the first chapter of The Believer – a novel that came out the same week as Wake Me When It’s Over.

I don’t purchase a lot of LDS fiction, for the main reason that I don’t read a lot of LDS fiction, for the main reason that I don’t have a lot of time – I don’t read a whole lot of anything. The last LDS book that I bought was nearly a year ago – and it proved to be a stinker. But the first chapter of The Believer was so interesting that I had to plunk down my hard-earned cash and buy a copy.

The novel tells the story of Ian Roshek, a surprisingly young history professor, who lives in a somewhat Orwellian dystopia, somewhere in the near future. Due to the problems of international terrorism there was a separation in the United States, with the separatists deciding security was better than personal freedom. The result was New America: a world where everything is censored, people are blacklisted for speaking out, and dissatisfaction with the system can get you arrested for treason.

Ian, through the course of his studies, stumbles onto a copy of The Book Of Mormon, reads it, prays, and believes (hence the title). The book begins just as he gets arrested, and his religious beliefs (which are outlawed) are discovered.

What struck me first about this novel was how different it is. There is, to my knowledge, nothing in the LDS market like it. Sure, there are semi-futuristic books, but, with few exceptions, they deal solely with the last days, and the advent of the Second Coming. Believer is content to tell it’s own story, which makes it vastly superior to most futuristic religious books – they’re so concerned with doctrine and prophecy that they lose sight of what makes a compelling, personal story.

I was also very impressed with Stephanie Black’s writing skill. This is her first novel, but the prose is excellent. She has the kind of grasp on dialogue, imagery, and structure that would make any author jealous. It’s far better than most of what is coming out of LDS publishers currently – even from veteran authors. Frankly, if this is the level of prose we have to look forward to, I’m very pleased with the direction LDS fiction is headed – and I think I need to step up my game a little bit!

The book wasn’t without it’s problems. The world-of-the-future seems underdeveloped. The main way we can tell we’re in the future is that everyone has pocket computers – but that’s hardly a technological leap. Likewise, elements of the dystopian society are introduced, but never followed up on. For example, someone comments about how expensive and rare coffee is, due to insanely high import taxes, but the author mentions other imported items (like Hondas and Toyotas) without a second thought. (Granted, maybe the New America state department has a really, really good relationship with Japan – and a horrible relationship with Columbia – but it seemed incomplete.) She appears to be content to describe the futuristic elements of the world ideologically and historically, but avoids the nuts and bolts of day-to-day life.

Black ends the book well, with a bit of courageous plotting and some clever ideas. I wish that I could discuss the ending, and exactly what was so good about it, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Suffice it to say that Black is an expert storyteller, who succeeds because she is unwilling to sacrifice plot and characterization for cheap sentimentality.

I hope to see more from Stephanie Black in the near future. Her ideas are fresh and new, and a welcome change from the same rehashed plots that have saturated LDS bookstores. I just hope that her next book comes out a different month from mine – I don’t want the competition.