D: Deadline by Randy Alcorn

Deadline begins with three men, Jake, Finney, and Doc—who have been best friends since they were young boys—watching football together on a Sunday afternoon. They have been through grammar school, high school, college, the Vietnam War, marriage, kids, divorce, and grief together. Their Sunday afternoon tradition of football and pizza is a favorite, but none of them realize this is the last one they will have. Tragedy lurks just around the corner, and it will change everything. I don't want to spoil the book, so I will stop there.

The main character, Jake, is an extremely liberal newspaper columnist. As the book moves toward its conclusion, everything in his life, including his political and religious beliefs, gets turned upside down. As a reader, I became invested in what would eventually happen to this man. You can't help but sympathize with him and cheer him on.

My only complaint about the story, is that somewhere in the first half of the book, the author begins to jockey back and forth between Finney's experiences in heaven and Jack's experiences on earth. At first, it was interesting to read about the discoveries Finney was making, but eventually, I just started to skim those parts in order to get back to the chapters about Jack. I love thinking about heaven, but in this particular book, I was more interested in Jake than I was in Finney. Nothing bad could ever touch Finney again, but not so with Jake. His life was hanging in the balance, and I was with him every step of the way.