“The Carpenter’s Son: A Novel.” By John Gray. Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2025. 240 pages. Paperback: $22.00; Kindle: $9.99; e-Book: $9.99.   

At one time or another, I think most people have tried to imagine what it would have been like to live in the time of Jesus. If we were in that crowd that Scripture describes, for instance, and saw His miracles, how would we have responded to Him and what would we have made of His teachings? Would we have been followers, or just curious bystanders?  

Of course, some two thousand years later, we have an advantage that the people of Jesus’ time didn’t have; we know who He is and what He came for. So, it might be even more interesting to imagine what we would do if Jesus showed up in person in our own time. Would we recognize Him? Would we be any better at listening to His teachings than were many of the people in first-century Judea?  

Such is the premise of John Gray’s latest book, “The Carpenter’s Son.” It begins with a traffic back-up on the Rip Van Winkle bridge in upstate New York. A distraught woman is on the bridge, threatening to jump, and another woman, seemingly a bystander, offers to intervene to prevent that. When the officer at the scene tells the second woman to “stay in your car,” she in turn tells him a most remarkable thing. “I was sent to this bridge tonight to help this woman.” “By whom?” the officer replies. And that’s when things really begin to get interesting. “God sent me,” she says. “He’s a personal friend. Long story.”  

A long story indeed; it is, in fact, the story that Gray spends the rest of the book telling. It is difficult to give out too many details about a novel – one runs the risk of giving the entire plot away – but suffice it to say that an itinerant carpenter shows up out of the blue in the greater Boston area and miraculous things begin to happen.  

As the novel unfolds, we encounter a diverse group of people who are all, in some way or another, broken and in need of healing. Not surprisingly, the helpful bystander-sent-by-God who is named Brooklyn, emerges as the main character. We find out quite quickly that she is an award-winning professional journalist for the Boston Globe. Gray, too, is an award-winning professional journalist in upstate New York. However, that’s where the similarity between the two of them ends, at least initially. While Gray is a devout Catholic, Brooklyn is an avowed atheist, not about to be snowed by a con artist. In fact, she is working on a story for the Globe about con artists, people who either fake illnesses or talents to take the gullible public for all they’re worth. However, events begin to take a very unlikely turn for her when she discovers that these people are not at all who they appear to be, but for a profoundly different reason than she imagined. 

And it’s all because of “The Carpenter’s Son.”  

In his acknowledgments at the end of the book, Gray states that “If ‘The Carpenter’s Son’ helped bring you closer to Jesus, then my many hours at the keyboard will certainly be worth it.” I think most readers will come to the conclusion that Gray accomplished his goal. In a world much in need of hope, this story will go a long way toward giving people that very thing. Through the lens that Gray creates, the modern reader gets a glimpse of why so many people two thousand years ago dropped everything to follow this man named Jesus, and why we can – and should – continue to do so today. 

Highly recommended. 

Author bio: 

John Gray is an Emmy Award-winning television journalist in upstate New York. He is the author of three popular children’s books, “God Needed a Puppy,” “Keller’s Heart,” and “Sweet Polly Petals,” and the Chase Harrington novels: “Manchester Christmas,” “Chasing Manhattan,” and “Chasing Rome.” 

John always donates a generous portion of book sales to help others. A father of three, he lives near Albany with his wife, Courtney, and their several rescue dogs with special needs.