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Perfect | 
 enlarge | Author: Harry Kraus
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $5.78
You Save: $9.21 (61%)
New (36) Used (13) from $3.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 48158
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 031027284X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780310272847
ASIN: 031027284X
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Publisher's Return MULTIPLE COPIES AVAILABLE. PLEASE READ AMAZON'S SHIPPING RATES AND ESTIMATED DELIVERY TIMES BEFORE ORDERING.
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Product Description
Wendi Stratford has the perfect life, including her perfect job as an accident reconstructionist. The problem is, it’s all a sham, and Wendi is tired of the emptiness. But after her plan to escape ends in a horrible accident, Wendi probes the wreckage—and makes a frightening discovery. Someone is out to commit the perfect murder. Wendi’s.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Comical November 13, 2008
While this book held my interest, the best word I can think of to describe it is "farce." It was quite humorous. The author had the main character more expert in sleuthing than the detectives. Accidents and not-so accidents abound and people were dropping off like flies. I supposed the book to be about forgiveness and grace and while it was in there, it was more of "who done it?" and "why?" Very little to do with the former.
 Good suspense November 11, 2008
I picked this book up not realizing it was Christian literature. When I did realize it in chapter 2, I was disappointed because I had recently finished another Chistian novel which had prejudiced me against this type of writing. What I didn't want was a story where the author used the hand of God to resolve the story's problems rather than have the characters manage using their own resources. Fortunately, no magic tricks were needed as the protagonist worked through the events in a realistic manner and came to a new understanding about her faith. Good writing and high on the can't-put-it-down scale.
 Great book! August 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I couldn't put this book down! It was suspenseful and emotional and grabbed my attention from the very beginning. I think all of us can relate to feeling "fake" sometimes and the desire to break free from our "perfect little images" and be real. Wendi has to put on a "show" to a level where it makes her feel like it is killing her to be so pefect all the time. Wrapping herself in blame and shame and feeling that God is disappointed with her. She has no concept of grace. Her world begins to unravel as strange events begin to occur around her. But it is in the unravelling of her life that she finally finds the answers she's been looking for. A terrific book that spoke to my heart and my own longings to drop the masks and live with freedom in God's love. So not only was it a good suspense and story, it was a story that packed in a powerful message of grace.
Suspense and themes of grace and forgiveness wind throughout Kraus's latest thriller July 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The talented Harry Kraus (COULD I HAVE THIS DANCE?) crafts this absorbing, suspense-filled story of a doctor's wife who has the perfect life and everything money can buy --- but finds it is not enough to quell her guilt over her past.
Trophy wife Wendi Stratford is the daughter of a minister who works as an accident reconstructionist. She is frustrated with her high-driving surgeon husband, Dr. Henry Stratford, and in love with her piano teacher, Jack Renner. She's also carrying a boatload of guilt over an incident in her past that helped land her mother in a wheelchair in a nursing home. Add to that her pressure over being the perfect child, and Wendi is about to leave everything and do what she wants --- and have the man and the adulterous fling she desires.
But events intercede. After Jack is hospitalized in a horrific accident and slips into a coma, Henry does the surgery necessary to bring him back from the brink of death. Then, Jack's parents and fiancee, Yolanda Pate, show up and end up bunking at Wendi's home while Jack recuperates. Jack wakes from his coma but seems to suffer from amnesia. When Jack's fiancee dies in Wendi's bed --- from an overdose of pills prescribed by Henry --- evidence begins to point to Wendi, or possibly Henry, as the murderer.
Henry has his own set of problems. Frustrated by his wife's lack of attention, and vulnerable to temptations that lurk right around the corner, he's ripe for an affair. When his resident physician, a sultry blonde, flirts with him and then is killed under mysterious circumstances, the plot thickens further. Do we really know who Henry is? Drugs, affairs, amnesia and guilty cover-ups all wind throughout the plot until its chilling conclusion.
One complicating theme is Wendi's sister Rene, the typecast rebellious daughter, who shows up pregnant and HIV-positive on Wendi's doorstep. Wendi, who is unable to bear a child of her own, must decide if she wants a new start with Henry and adopt her sister's child, or continue to wait and see if Jack regains his memory --- and if they'll renew their fledgling affair. And her marriage is not easily dismissed. Henry's attentions toward her prove confusing. She muses during one scene, "Yes, he worked late and made me fight for second place, but he was compassionate and thorough with his patients, something that gave me comfort since he was the one in charge of Jack. The pendulum of my heart stood still, threatening to arc in the opposite direction from the one I'd been on: an arc towards loneliness, emotional isolation, and divorce."
Point-of-view changes are smooth, and there are some surprises lurking in every chapter. Kraus portrays Henry as a multi-faceted character impossible to dislike, even when he's covering up his myriad mistakes and obsessive compulsive in his mannerisms. The author does a great job showing, not telling. One interesting way he does that is to have Henry check himself in the mirror every morning in the same sequence (hair, tie, jacket, pants and zipper. Then his zipper again.) It's these kinds of scenes that tell us more about the characters than if he spelled out all the details for us about their personalities.
When Wendi gets involved in the investigation of Jack's crash, it unleashes a hornet's nest of troubles. Right up until the end, we're never quite sure if Henry is a sympathetic figure, or something more sinister. The ending is complicated in that it neither wraps up all the loose ends neatly nor leaves us hanging in a satisfactory or unsatisfactory way --- you decide. Faith fiction readers who enjoy a good tale of suspense will find plenty to like in Kraus's latest novel.
--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby
A Great Read! June 14, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I just finished reading Perfect. What a fantastic book...full of suspense, as well as speaking of God's grace. I just want to encourage everyone to read his books....they are all great. I can't wait to read his next book!
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