Sunrise After Dark

About the Book

Randall Kent, only child born to a self-made real estate developer is forced to face himself and the harsh reality of  responsibility when his father and doting mother are killed in an auto accident.  He must abandon his care-free world of self indulgence and  selfish gratification of  one night stands and stag parties to assume the responsibility  of running his father's prosperous business.

While engaged in the battle to assert himself and mend the crack in the comfortable agnostic veneer he had encased himself for years, he crashes with a small group traveling in a chartered plane on his way to Porto Velho, Brazil.  Six of the nine people on board survive only to find themselves hopelessly lost  in a remote section of the forest.  Strangers at first, they band together  to fight the perils, bury their dead and try to maintain a will to live.

During the tedious and perilous days and nights,  Kent shares his thoughts with two Mormon missionaries enroute to Bolivia on the same plane.   Out of the search for hope and the help of his friends, his dormant faith is kindled by the need to reach beyond himself.  A life long friendship between the agnostic and Brad the missionary  is born during these trying times.

When an escape  from their forest prison opens up by the chance encounter with a primitive native, Chukka, Kent and his fellow passengers are led on a precarious path on the way to deliverance.  Chukka becomes infatuated by  one  of  the passengers, the temptress, Francine,  and agrees to guide her and  her chosen paramour, Preston,  back to his camp with the promise that he would return for the others.  When Kent and the others arrive at the intended rendezvous at Father Francisco's  mission, Francine, Preston and her mysterious silver metal case are missing .

The loss of  his beloved, Francine, turns Chukka from a deliverer to an enemy.   All are in danger as Chukka threatens to revenge his loss by raiding Father Francisco's camp.   By accident Kent imbibes a near-lethal dose of a psychedelic  potion being prepared for  the locals for a defense against Chukka and his followers.   The experience has a lasting effect on him.  Eventually, Kent and his three companions make their  way back to Manaus to ultimately separate and resume their individual lives.

As a result of a promise made to his missionary friend, Brad, Kent spends time with Brad's family in Idaho where he meets and falls in love with Brad's sister, Ellen.  Their worlds are far apart, but as Kent's faith grows, his love for Ellen increases.  This love is sorely tested by the unrelenting intrigue of  the mysterious disappearance of Francine  and the missing silver case.    Kent's friends add to his struggle by their efforts  to dissuade  him from the fulfillment of  his faith.  His love for Ellen and his increasing religious understanding prove to be equal to all challenges.

Of  the nine tortured souls on board the small plane on that fateful flight into the bowels of  the Rain Forest, only three survived.  Each of  their lives was dramatically altered  in  the crucible  of  this harrowing adventure tempered by  the annealing fire of  their individual experience.

About the Author

The zoram Spectrum Brevin Howard Gary Monroe was completely content with his life. He was still young, had a clever partner, a successful business and a beautiful wife. He had hopes of having a family even though his wife was not yet ready. His prospects of continuing to have good fortune were excellent until he and his friends made the fateful decision to prolong their boating vacation in southern Utah and drive farther north for sight seeing on bicycles where they met Hank Zoram. Enchanted by his personality, the friends agree to accompany him on a mysterious quest. What was thought to be an exciting but harmless adventure, resulted in a discovery and tragedy that became a boon to his friends and a nightmare to Gary. Sit back and watch as Gary fights his way through a maze of personal doubts caused by an insidious foe determined to thrust him into a battle that challenges his core values.