Sister Eve and the Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton – Steer Clear, Don’t Waste Your Time or Money

I hardly know where to begin my review about Sister Eve and the Blue Nun by author Lynne Hinton.  An alternate title for this book might be Sister Eve the Lying Nun. 

This is the second book I’ve ready by Lynne Hinton.  I like mystery and suspense novels, especially by Christian authors that weave their Christian faith into the storyline and characters.  This book does not even come close to that.

My objections?  The first thing that caught my attention was that the main character Sister Eve lied; repeatedly lied throughout the story.  Purposeful and intentionally lying by a nun seemed rather incongruent with a character who is supposed to be a person of faith.  The character doesn’t express any grief or sorrow over her sin.  She doesn’t seem to acknowledge or be aware that lying is bad or that it’s a sin that Christ died for.  Not only does this character lie, she steals, compromises a crime scene and hopes that Father Oliver, the head of the monastery, will remain silent about her senseless and wrong actions.  Secondly, throughout this book Eve makes the stupidest decisions and she lacks common sense.  She needlessly puts herself in danger and refuses to accept help or seek help when she needs it. 

For brevity’s sake I’ll wrap up my objections.  Eve, for no explained reason seems to have a serious mistrust of police.  She is prideful and arrogant in thinking she is the be all and end all in solving crimes.  So much so that she not only compromises the crime scene but she steals a key piece of evidence.  What didn’t make a lick of sense is that once she established that someone had been murdered she didn’t have a sense of urgency on calling the police or concern that there may be a murderer lurking about and she may not be safe.  That’s just the beginning for Eve’s stupid decisions.  This book was painful to read.  More than anything Eve was irritating and not someone I want to read about. 

Obviously, when I read a book about a nun I know that there may be things from the Catholic faith brought up.  I found the differences between Protestant Christianity and Catholic faith disconcerting.  For example, when Eve was praying to the saints, but not to God. 

It seemed as if the author was agenda driven about women and the church.  In this story Eve expresses thoughts that women are oppressed by the church.  Late in the story, another character concurs with her feelings. 

There was nothing much of Christian faith shared in this book.  There was a scene that seemed reminiscent of new age philosophy when Eve is injured.  It doesn’t square with Biblical Christianity.    

Was there anything likable in this book?  I did like Eve’s dad Captain Jack.  He seemed to care about his daughter and had some common sense. 

All in all, I thought this book was bad, really bad.  Theologically, it’s out to lunch.  The main character does things that don’t make any sense.  I was sorely disappointed by this book. 

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this book.  Steer clear, don’t waste your time or money on Sister Eve and the Blue Nun by Lynne Hinton.  

I would like to thank BookLook and Thomas Nelson Publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.