EVERY NOW AND THEN by Karen Kingsbury

A story of two people who lost someone they loved on 9/11, and how they each dealt with that loss.  Alex Brady lost his Dad, who was a New York fire fighter and who died in the Twin Towers.  He shut out all the people who cared about him, moved to California, and made it his goal to eliminate evil in the world and prevent tragedies like 9/11.

Holly was Alex's girlfriend when that fateful day happened, and although she tried hard to be patient and wait on Alex to handle his grief, Alex eventually sent her away and that relationship died.  Now Holly is in California working for Oak Canyon Estates and selling houses that are being built.  The problem is that an environmental terrorist group has targeted that sight, during the fire season, to make a statement and burn it to the ground.

This was a well written story that helped you see the struggles Alex was going through and kept you on the edge of your seat at times during a few harrowing action scenes.   I liked how the author helped us all to see "how Christ never intended for people to rid the world of all bad things, but for people to deal with the evil inside themselves".  I felt real peace for Alex when he realized what his Dad had lived all his life; "He believed that trouble was a certainty in this world, but he was not to worry because God had already conquered the evil in this world".

I will give a warning near the end of this story have some Kleenex handy, because if you are like me, you are going to need several of them.  This was part of a series, but you can easily read it as a stand alone.  It does touch base with people from the other two books, and it is always good to read about how people are doing from other stories.  It was a story I finished reading, but didn't forget about when I put the book down.  A story I will think about "every now and then".