Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Terror by Night by Terry Caffey (Book Review)




Title: Terror By Night
Author: Terry Caffey

Publisher: Tyndale

About the book: In one evening, Terry Caffey lost everything. His wife, Penny, and his sons, Matthew and Tyler, were brutally murdered; his home was burned to the ground, and his sixteen-year-old daughter, Erin, was in jail, charged with three counts of capital murder.

In one year's time, God would restore it all.

At 3:00 a.m. on March 1, 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter's former boyfriend standing in the bedroom doorway with a gun. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry's wife and wounding Terry six times. As he slipped toward unconsciousness, Terry heard his son crying upstairs. More gunfire followed. When he regained consciousness, he felt the searing heat of his burning house.

Terry knew it was too late to save his family, but he had one thing to do before he died. He fought to stay awake and escaped the burning house through a bathroom window. As terry stumbled and crawled four hundred yards through pitch darkness, he asked God to keep him alive long enough to identify the killer, and then to let him die.

God allowed Terry to identify the murderer, but He didn't let Terry die.

What happened next is nothing short of miraculous.

Terry by Night is the emotionally gripping story of a daughter's ultimate betrayal, a father's unfathomable forgiveness, and a miraculous discovery that would restore one man's faith, spare two young lives, and restore peace to a small Texas town. (back cover)

My thoughts: Terry Caffey thought that things were going well with his family. They were having some trouble with his daughter, and the boys she had been choosing to date, but he felt like this was under control and he was preparing to be ordained by his church in a month. Erin had broken up with her last boyfriend about a month before and there hadn't seemed to be any repercussions - until the night of March 1.

As it states above, on March 1, 2008, Terry's wife and sons were murdered, he was shot and left for dead, and their house was burned to the ground. He survives, but for months doesn't want to face up to anything or anyone - he even decides how and where he is going to take his own life. He passes the nights away with the front door barricaded and The Discovery Channel on and spends his days in a medicated stupor.

At the end of his rope, he goes to the spot where his house used to stand and cried out to God that he needed to know why he was spared. It is at this time that he sees a piece of paper leaning against a tree. This paper was scorched around the edges, but despite having been outside in the elements for three months, was readable. The first complete sentence on the page was incredible - "I couldn't understand why You would take my family and leave me behind to struggle along without them. And I do believe that You're sovereign; You're in control." Talk about a message from God.

It doesn't happen overnight, but Terry slowly makes his way back to God and begins to witness and tell his story. Everyone should read this book and see how even in the worst of life, God is there and does have a plan. He is in control.

The page that Terry found was from a book called Blind Sight by James Pence. Please stop by later today to see my review of that book also.

~This book was provided to me for review by Kathy Carlton Willis Communications.~

Terror By Night
Publisher/Publication Date: Tyndale House Publisher, Sept 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3476-9
288 pages


3 comments:

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

That is a powerful review and book. I really want to read this. Books like these just fill me up. Thanks!

Renee said...

another book to add to my TBR list

bermudaonion said...

Holy cow! What a story.

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