From Peril to Light was a quick and easy book to read and difficult to put down. The story is dynamic, suspenseful, innovative and enlightening. Reading it opened my mind and my heart to accepting that I have been harboring personal biases against certain people and social issues. The authors, Jim and Alan use quotes that are thought provoking.... " You can't learn anything if you are not really listening." "You can't really learn anything if your tongue is wagging." "You can't learn much by talking to yourself." Jim and Allan have an innovative way of presenting the subjects of diversity, connectivity and the differences in people. It is difficult to imagine one reading From Peril to Light without evaluating their current perspective on how they view people and social issues. This book will be placed on an easy to reach shelf in my bookcase..
From Peril to Light is a well-written, absorbing, quick moving novel. The very interesting plot is enhanced by the authors’ excellent character development. The book is compelling for both the story told and the thought-provoking ethical dilemmas presented. While readers are entertained, they will find value for today’s world.
“From Peril to Light” offers an exciting plot, but more importantly it presents a way forward for a divided society. Through a cast with diverse backgrounds, the authors demonstrate craftily how we can all listen and learn from each other and escape our current the peril and paralysis. Rather than viewing life as a zero-sum game where one can only win if another loses, they demonstrate how we can all “win” if we work together, each contributing his or her unique talents for the benefit of each other. Never was such a message more needed and more welcomed. “From Peril to Light” shows again how fiction can be both fun and offer fundamentally vital lessons for life.
Riveting! Suspenseful! Intriguing! Fascinating characters! From Peril to Light has it all. If you only read one book this year, it should be From Peril to Light. If you read a dozen books or more, it should be on the top of your list. This powerful book was incredibly difficult to put down. I found myself wrapped up in the intricately woven plot and set of finely crafted characters. As the story unfolds, the authors provide great insight into the perspectives of each diverse cast member through their poignant stories. I was left guessing how the story would end until the last page.
A novel for the times. Jim and Alan bring an intensely human aspect to the divided world in which we live. Sure to leave the reader asking themselves questions about judgement, fairness, and morality. A must-read!
James and Alan Bourey have teamed up to write From Peril to Light, a fictional book that contains real life lessons every reader can relate to in confronting some of our most critical social issues of the day: racism, religious divisiveness, and bias against immigrants. While a quick and easy read, the book catches the reader off guard at times with its compelling philosophical journey, combined with the tension that only comes with a good dramatic story. Once I started reading it, I didn’t want to put it down, an all-too-rare treat in contemporary stories. The authors provide the reader a chance to really peer not only into the souls of the book’s protagonists (two brothers struggling to live the American dream) but also creatively dives into group dynamics and a collective consensus building effort of a group of strangers thrust into a high stress environment. This book is ready made for book clubs or classes seeking a way to enjoy a good read followed by a robust discussion on the story’s implications for society. Just thinking about it hastens a feeling that it’s time to read it again!
Heartwarming, thought provoking and clever! Twin brothers James and Alan Bourey have given us an exciting story about an attempted crime that goes sideways. As the characters overcome numerous disasters and examine their deepest fears, they discover and deal with their own feelings about the many relational issues we all face today. This novel is a booster shot for humanity!
From Peril to Light is an intricately plotted novel written by mirror-image twins James M. and Alan D. Bourey: an intriguing biographical detail that they weave into the story through its troubled protagonists, twenty-year-old Black twins. The pair are intent on procuring a large sum of money to meet an urgent need, but from a Raleigh bank where they, unfortunately, do not have an account. As a violent storm approaches around closing time on a Friday afternoon, the masked Elijah and Isaiah Robinson slip into the bank lobby just as the guard is locking the door with twelve people still inside. They all are about to be pressed into a weekend-long adventure together, an unlikely event that should never have happened much less proceed and conclude as it did.
A fast-paced story that unfolds like a thriller, From Peril to Light is a novel that also captures the seemingly impossible in our society: that twelve people of diverse nationalities, religions, sexual orientations, and social classes not only tolerate but embrace each other to the degree that they demonstrate their newly discovered affection in selfless actions.
The Boureys’ book is an invaluable exemplar and handbook for those committed to breaking through the gridlock that has become the norm for human interaction.
