Robert Liparulo has made a name for himself among thriller fans with Comes a Horseman and Germ and the like. But lately, Robert has felt God leading him in a different direction.
His previous adult thrillers were heavy on action, adventure, and the fight between good and evil—but, as the author freely admits, somewhat light when it came to acknowledging God’s influence in the world and in the lives of his characters.
“As I prayed,” Robert shares, “I sensed God telling me it was time to go another direction, to take a new, bold stance in proclaiming His sovereignty in everything that happens, to rip down the veil and show His inextricable presence in all we experience—unreservedly and unapologetically.”
The result is my new book, The 13th Tribe (Thomas Nelson). “My goal was to make a story that felt so real that the supernatural and faith elements were simply a part of the ride.”
And a ride it is. The 13th Tribe is an exciting, suspenseful tale wrought with complexities about faith, God, love and justice. What if during the time of the Israeli exodus a group of people sinned so greatly that God condemned them to immortality? Dubbing themselves the 13th Tribe, they become vigilantes determined to win God’s favor by killing sinners. “Originally I had a central theme in mind—you can’t earn heaven,” Robert says. “God’s grace is given to us, and all we have to do is accept it. Then other themes presented themselves— primarily our struggle to grasp God’s holiness and how even our good intentions can be twisted when we insist on abiding by our own limited logic instead of God’s righteous wisdom.”