Author: Clayton Dunham, Ph.D

ISBN: 1598002007

The following review was contributed by:  NORM GOLDMAN:  Editor of Bookpleasures. Here are More of  Norm Goldman's Reviews       

To read Norm's  Interview With Clayton Dunham, PH.D CLICK HERE

Crosses: A Christian Executive Story As Told By Angels, the debut novel of Clayton Dunham, follows the nightmarish ordeals of a Chief Information Officer (CIO), Peter Stone, as recounted by his guardian angel, Ardama. As the novel unfolds, we learn that Stone was hired as CIO by Canterbury Health in order to apply his insightful expertise in turning around the company’s ineffective and dysfunctional information technology (IT) department.

From the very onset Peter is obliged to contend with the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Claude Lowery, who has a passionate aversion to him and will do everything in his power to make sure Peter does not succeed. No matter how hard Peter tries to get along with Claude and his lieutenants, nothing seems to please them and he is endlessly being challenged on many levels. Moreover, as Claude occupies a very authoritative position in the company, he can, with stroke of a pen, change any department from a profitable operation to a loser and he has no qualms of doing it if you threaten his power base. Regrettably for Peter, Claude believes he is a threat to him and as a result he constantly places road blocks in Peter’s way in the hope that the IT department will eventually be placed under his direct command, thus considerably reducing Peter’s influence in the company.

Dunham deftly intermingles his own Christian religious philosophy into the novel where he compares the wickedness of Claude to the Pharisees when he describes Claude in the following manner: “he makes no connection between the good he professes on Sundays and the evil he performs on Monday, any more than the Pharisees made any connection between their strict adherence to the law and yet the hate that made them crucify Christ.” In addition to having to deal with Claude, Peter receives very little support from his boss, the company’s CEO, Gary, who perhaps feels that the changes and innovations Peter intends to implement  may likewise threaten his status or even his job.    

Peter is portrayed as a good Christian executive however he is not beyond reproach as he has succumbed to the addiction of pornography. Dunham’s characters are expertly drawn depicting meanness, evil, confusion, hypocrisy, jealousy, that is very often prevalent in today’s competitive corporate political environment.

We are constantly left wondering how Peter could withstand the constant onslaught emanating from Claude and his co-workers.

Dunham manages to cleverly address this issue by interweaving the helpful intervention of Peter’s guardian angel and his unwavering acceptance of God’s radiant love that ultimately assists Peter through his agonizing experiences with his fellow employees, attesting to the fact that the Almighty has a plan for us all. We all in one way or another must face unexpected troubles in our lives, and the manner in which we respond and cope is one way we show our faith.

The story’s weakness is that at five hundred and twenty nine pages it is too long by at least a third, as its momentum is dissipated by too much ink being devoted to the practices and dealings of the IT department and the infighting between Peter and Claude. Although, I have to admit that I did learn a great deal about the challenging work of Chief Information Officers as well as the unremitting clashing of executive personalities, the boardroom intrigue and the undercutting that Dunham, who himself is a CIO, exposes in the novel.  

Devotees of contemporary Christian fiction will not have too much difficulty in embracing this ambitious novel, though many liberal secularists as well as members of other faiths will probably be turned off by a great deal of its evangelistic preaching.