With how overwhelming Old Goat Books is, my novel choices obviously came down to #1 genre, and #2 how cool the cover looked. The Suspect by Michael Robotham fit the bill. The thing that has struck me the most in the first part of this two-part novel was the use of the word “OK”. I decided that the author either does not own a thesaurus, or he’s using OK on purpose. OK is used so often at times that it occurs two or even three times on a single page.
“I saw you on the news. You were very brave.”
“I was terrified.”
“Is he going to be OK-the boy on the roof?
“Yes.”
“Are you going to be OK?”
(pg 54: The Suspect Robotham)
The use of OK in this novel really mirrors the mood of the plot. Joseph O’Loughlin, a psychologist, is our main character in the novel. He has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He has cheated on his wife and feels guilty. He only has one child because he and his wife can’t seem to have another. His career is pretty much at a standstill when he gets roped into helping investigate a murder case. The victim is one of his past patients, and he suspects one of his current patients to be the murderer. His life has brought his spirits down to being OK on a good day.
This got me thinking about how the world has become “OK”. We as a society have stopped caring. If someone asks you how you are you say “good, you?” and they say “good”. Conversation over. If you stray from those very strict guidelines of accepted conversation you clearly have something wrong with you. You’re not OK. You need to be OK. Everyone is. You can’t be “great”, “happy”, or “dandy”; you’re OK. Truly Joyful people are condemned in the World today. If you’re having a great day people always try to remind you of how terrible life is, of what a mess the Earth is. News never shows anything that’s positive! It is always the bad things that people want to hear about. These things help them stay in their bubble of misery. It keeps them OK at best.
As Christians we need to make sure that we don’t fall into this trap. There are so many Christians who have no joy at all. They’re just OK. A follower of Christ has the opportunity to be more joyous than anyone else on Earth! We get to know and have a relationship with our amazing Creator!
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
James 1:2-3
