THE MASQUERADE: Becoming Beka #1
Sarah Anne Sumpolec
Moody Publishers
Fiction
ISBN-10: 0802464513
ISBN-13: 9780802464514
224 pages

Rebekah Madison woke up in the early morning hours again, reliving the nightmare that had plagued her since her mother's auto accident death months earlier. Beka knew she wouldn't go back to sleep; this eerie, pre-dawn pattern had been escalating, and it frightened her. Despite the fact that Beka had a family who loved and cared for her, she felt alienated and alone. Her soul was parched and her conscience seared. She had a secret that was eating her up inside.

When Beka's parents made a crucial life change some years before and started attending a local church, doing home Bible studies and wanting their kids to join in, Beka's siblings had no trouble doing so. Each member of Beka's family got "saved," so seeing how distressed her parents were over her ambivalence, Beka began pretending to be a Christian. Though she drew the line at joining her mother and sisters for their intimate Bible study, Beka "acted" like a Christian in every other way. But she knew she wasn't one, and the masquerading grew into monstrous proportions as one lie heaped upon another.

Given her mother's unexpected death, Beka grieved alone and her lack of "faith" put her on the outside of her family's mutual ability to share and work through their tragedy. Feeling pressure from a former "friend" at school, Beka works to create a new life for herself. She tries out for a part in the school play and gets it. She meets another hurting teen, and they forge a bond. She develops an interest in a fellow classmate, and their connection forces Beka to rethink her current vacillating standards. Without really intending to, Beka follows the crowd into some experimentation with drinking, and the trouble that ensues compels Beka's father to seek professional help for her. Humiliated and ashamed, Beka continues to try to work out her problems on her own.

Finally, an adult friend intervenes and offers Beka more concrete answers to her spiritual questions than anyone else ever has. Significantly, Beka realizes that truth is the foundation for all relationships if trust is to grow, and she summons up the courage to come clean with her family. Once confession has been made, Beka forges ahead with fresh understanding and renewed hope based upon a personal decision to follow Christ. Her only question: How will her newfound faith affect her at school, at church and at home?

   --- Reviewed by Michele Howe.

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