U-TURN IN THE FAST LANE
By Rebecca Dye Heron
Joshua Press. 171 pages. £9.95. ISBN 1 894400 18 6
(distributed in the UK by Evangelical Press)
This well-produced book about Don Heron is nice to handle and very readable.
Its striking cover says: 'One man's journey back to God - Stolen cars. Fast money. Espionage - With crime and money enveloping his life, Don thought he was invincible. Then came a sharp knock at the door. An early-morning arrest was the beginning of a whole new chapter - one that would gradually lead him back to God. But Don had to face his past É and serve time in Montreal's notorious Bordeaux Prison.'
Compulsive reading! I was gripped and thirsty for the next chapter. Yet, this is sane and solid, not sensationalist. Heron's gospel - preaching father witnesses his son's graduation from clandestine industrial espionage, through property and insurance, to criminally trading expensive stolen cars.
We learn early of Don's rejected Christian background. Bite-sized chapters reveal this prodigal's past, his loving wife's sadness, his abandonment of God, the power of parental testimony, and prison as a crucible of his faith.
During long uncertainty after initial police enquiries, Heron comes back to Christ. His life starts to change. Then he is charged on 78 counts, later reduced to 38. His Christian lawyer's mitigation, after guilty pleas, reflects his changed life. Don serves just two months of a surprisingly short six months' sentence. His factual account of that two months' imprisonment takes the lid off prison life.
Don Heron learns he has thyroid cancer, causing surgery, treatment and uncertainty. His trust is now in the One who made him take that 'U-turn in the fast lane'.
Gerard A. Chrispin,
Director of Day One Prison Ministries
