Review of Truth and Evil

[Alicia Salanick]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Truth and Evil" by G. Edward Martin.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Truth and Evil by G. Edward Martin is a brief fictional story about a young soldier, formerly a farmer, fighting for the Germans in World War II. The story takes place primarily on the Russian front. At the opening of the story, the hero chooses to commit a horrible crime in a dark cellar and then immediately dies. He finds himself before God and is given a second chance. God returns the soldier to the moment before his crime, and he tries to choose a different path. The story follows the hero as he repeatedly tries to find a course that serves God. The story feels like a very long parable, although it is quite short for a novel.

I liked and agreed with some of the conclusions the soldier comes to over the course of his interactions with God and the Devil. Here are a few that resonated with me: we cannot serve two masters, we must choose to serve God or serve the Devil; a small action that serves God can have a domino effect, cascading to create a better outcome for all; freedom to choose between good or evil is what makes us real - after all if we didn't have the freedom to choose, we'd be no more than robots, programmed for some predetermined outcome.

I would rate this book five out of five stars. It's very well written, the author's message is clearly relayed, and the pacing of the story is quick and kept my interest the whole time I was reading. On the negative side, the moral is a bit simplistic and didn't necessarily add to the discourse around the battle of good against evil. However, some things don't really need to be expanded on and are really quite simple. We have the freedom to choose our path in this life, and at every turning, we must choose a path of goodness - even if it's more difficult, the end result is a better life. I would recommend this book in particular to anyone with a casual interest in philosophy or theology.

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Truth and Evil
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