by Creston Mapes (Author), Drew Bott (Narrator), Rooftop Press (Publisher)

An Audiobook

  “Little do they know, I can hear and see everything” is how this tragic, hopeful, and very suspenseful book begins.  Creston Mapes writes I AM IN HERE with several POVs (points of view), but the main characters are Hale, 18 years old and presumed brain-dead from a bus accident, and his father, Douglas, who is in a financial mess so deep there is no hope of getting out.

Three years earlier, Douglas’ wife died from cancer.  It tore him up so severely that he lost his job and even forsook his God.  Still troubled, he remarried a woman whom he barely knew.

Then, just a year ago, his youngest son was killed in a bus accident, returning teens from a church retreat. His oldest son was left alive but brain-dead. The medical bills, equipment, medicine, nursing care, and remodel to accommodate the boy’s living at home, burned through all his savings and multiple bank loans. Desperate, Douglass borrowed $20K from a loan shark to meet pressing bills. Now, they want it all paid, plus $10K in interest… in 48 hours.

Hale, the injured teen, hears and sees everything that goes on around him in his hospital bed. He sees his desperate father and hears the loan shark’s ultimatum but cannot speak or act. And there is a threat that “something” might happen to either the father, the boy, or his older sister, if the money is not paid.

Only Hale’s best friend, Gilbert, a firm believer in God’s grace and power, knows for a certainty that Hale can hear and see. He talks to him and encourages him to BELIEVE.

After that setup, the rest of the book is about Douglas’ escalating desperation, actions, and how others respond. With most of his wild plans, I cringed and yelled, “Don’t do it!!”  But what would I do in his place?

There are injuries, several shootings, a killing, and multiple threats to the boy that seem terrifying if I were in his place.  But Gilbert….Gilbert comes through for Hale and the family — not with money, but with faith. Impossible, but God is at work.

I recommend this book but be prepared to read until it’s finished. (The tension really is unbearable!) You may wish for a slightly different ending, but it’s good.  God is good. 

The audiobook narrator does a good job with all the character voices.