Austin Boyd

Faced with her father’s mounting medical bills, a heavy debt load on their struggling farm, and a list of familial woes, Laura Ann McGehee makes a decision that she feels will save the family farm, despite its questionable morality. Desperate to bear the child she and her husband never had, single mother Sophia McQuistion arranges a pregnancy that is beyond her physical capabilities. Together these two women have mothered a child, but whose is he truly?

Modern reproductive technology has show more brought with it a host of ethical and moral concerns that even the church has been hard pressed to deal with. The rapid spread of such technologies has brought to surface many challenging questions that even Christians rarely ask themselves before plunging head-first into the quest for a child – no matter the cost (both moral and financial).

In Zondervan’s new series The Pandora Files, author Austin Boyd seeks to explore some of the issues raised by new life-related technologies. In the first novel Nobody’s Child, Boyd explores the issues of egg donation, artificial insemination, and of carrying a child to term made up of the life-giving genetic contributions of two separate people – neither one the mother carrying the child. It may seem bizarre but it is an all too real fact of modern life in our culture.

This is a richly textured story filled to bursting with the details of life in rural Appalachia. It gets off to a slow start, but slowly and surely draws readers into the weft and warp of its fabric. The story can be a bit more wordy than needed at times (too many similes and metaphors) – it almost seems to be striving to be literary fiction, but doesn’t quite make it.

Around halfway through the story I did become personally engaged with the characters and was brought to tears at times. This is very much a story of the women, the choices they make, and how it affects their lives. There are also some interesting details about the medical procedures used and potential legal ramifications that are not commonly known. This is a series that has been needed for some time in my opinion.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com show less

Character development and storyline are believable and really good with some tender moments. He has a lot going on in the book to keep one turning the page wondering what is really going on. You can tell by reading it that the author knows his stuff, especially, since he was a "navy pilot, nuclear wea[ons officer, and spacecraft engineer," among many other fascinating credentials, and that is what makes "The Evidence" believable.

Three astronauts take off for mars after a rover there encounters another robot--not of earch origin. Is this, as it claims, a messenger from the "father race"? The three astronauts, two men and one women, must face the isolation of space during the many months of the journey--which may lead to their undoing. Meanwhile on earth, a terrorist is on the loose and the FBI is trying to chase him down--as there may be a connection between him and the messengers from the "father race".
This story show more was OK, but it seemed very unbelievable in both the plotline (all this is supposed to take place in 2012, and I don't believe a mission to mars could ever take place then) and the way the characters reacted to what was happening. show less

Needs editing