Review by tsic -- The Narrow Gate by John Servant

[tsic]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Narrow Gate" by John Servant.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Narrow Gate by John Servant is a fiction story about the rise and fall of a prosecutor turned politician. It entails the tragedies associated with political ambition, wealth and power. It also exemplifies how it is not too late to attain salvation in ones life.

The story is narrated through the eyes of a journalist, John Kelly, who was assigned by his boss, Frank Barry, to write an article for a major metropolitan newspaper concerning the real truths pertaining to the life of an alleged scandalous US Senator, Joe Jay. The story unfolds from an upstate hospital where Joe was lying on his deathbed with a nun, Sister Francis, besides him as his only visitor on her knees praying. John was intrigued by the passion of the old nun for the perceived corrupt politician. His intuition as a journalist told him there was more to the story of the senator than he already knew. He immediately sort to find out about the compassion of the nun for the senator and how she was related to him. What happens next is the thrilling tale of Senator Joe Jay's life.

The story of Joe's life is reminiscent of many politicians who choose to sacrifice their time, money and even personal religious belief system just to win votes and hold influential positions in society. As stated on page 9 of John Servant's book, The Narrow Gate, "many a successful man had thrown his values and his family under the bus on his climb to the top". Through the story it is clear that fame and success does not necessarily guarantee happiness in ones life. For Joe, he not only lost his marriage but also his son as well as his good standing as a reputable prosecutor. The sad part is that even when there are people to guide us along the way, like Sister Francis was to Joe, often times it is very easy to lose track due to the many temptations that come with fame and success. The good part is that it does not matter how far we have gone down the bad road, we can always find our way back. Salvation is always possible whenever we are ready and willing to turn our lives around.

I have not found anything negative about this book except that I would have loved to read the story a little bit longer than the 115 written pages. Perhaps this even goes to show that the author did a very commendable job to tell his story within those few pages.

I will rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is well written and edited, I did not see any unnecessary errors. The language used is very clean and clear for anyone to read. I therefore recommend this book to all those who like reading books with a message as I end with this quote from page 4 of the book, "So it is that’s seemingly small items can teach large lessons, if only we were attuned to grasp them".

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The Narrow Gate
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[Vivian Jabeya]

I love the fact that this book actually depicts what happens in real life.

[Mtibza eM]

Great review! Keep up the good work.

[MsH2k]

It sounds like the author has presented this important message in a clear and engaging way. Thank you for your thoughtful review!