The Judge Who Stole Christmas by Randy Singer (2005. Tyndale. ISBN 978-1-4143-3566-7)
I’m not much for Nicholas Sparks inspired sentimentality. So when someone (can’t remember who but, likely my wife) gave me a copy of Singer’s slender tome about an African American law student named Jasmine who fights for the town of Possum’s right to display the creche at Christmas in the town square, I was apprehensive. In fact, the book languished on my stack of “to reads” for a few years until, bored out of mine and with no other unread fiction to tackle, I picked it up.
Singer is a lawyer and at times, his lawyerlyness creeps into his prose. Crisp, genre diction gets bogged down by legalese and courtroom scenes that are, well, a tad predictable. Still, the story has its moments and a few of the characters, including Jasmine, struck a chord with me. Unfortunately, the male protagonist, Thomas Hammond (who plays Joseph in the creche) and his wife Theresa (who plays Mary) seem to be cut out of rather stiff cardboard: Not at all real, to quote the Velveteen Rabbit.
This is not to say that this “quick read” isn’t worth spending some time with. There are enough positives to be found in the plot and characters to make spending a weekend in Possum worth the effort.
3 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
