When I first read Adrian Plass’s book ‘The Shadow Doctor’ back in 2018, it felt unfinished, so I was pleased to know that he was writing a sequel. It’s taken this long to be out in paperback, but I finally acquired a copy of ‘Shadow Doctor 2: The Past Awaits’ recently. Since by that time I had almost entirely forgotten what happened in the first book, I re-read ‘The Shadow Doctor’ just a few days ago before embarking on ‘Shadow Doctor 2’.
This book continues directly on from the previous book. Jack is feeling more comfortable working with ‘Doc’, but he has a lot of unanswered questions. The two men are different in almost every respect, other than that they both like helping people. Jack’s attempts in the past have been fairly conventional and he’s realising that his friend’s more unusual approach is often considerably more helpful.
There aren’t all that many new incidents of helping people in this book, although the first chapters chart quite a dramatic encounter with a (fictional) popular church leader, followed by quite a poignant meeting with someone who wrote to Doc in the previous book, and which gives a moving contrast.
We learn more about the Shadow Doctor’s past in this book, too, including his first name, and rather more about his life when his wife was alive. He becomes quite vulnerable and admits to some bad behaviour in the past, leading to quite a bit of discussion about forgiveness, and what it means.
Jack begins to learn to listen - to God, although the story skates around specifics - and to say what he believes is right, even if it appears to be quite bizarre at times. Doc calls this being ‘in the flow’, although more conventional Christians would call it something like being inspired by the Holy Spirit, or open to divine promptings, or perhaps listening to the still small voice. Not always easy, particularly when one hears something that seems ridiculous, and of course life isn’t always as straightforward as portrayed in this book. But Adrian Plass makes a lot of good points, and the principles are thought-provoking and ultimately encouraging.
While the first ‘Shadow Doctor’ book has a low-key Christian theme but could be read by anyone, this one is much more overtly faith-oriented. Doc preaches a sermon; quite short and unconventional, but still there’s a passage of Scripture included and some thoughts about it. Jack asks a lot of questions, trying to blend his past rather rigid beliefs with what he’s learning, and begins to learn that many things are not cut-and-dried, and that sometimes there are no answers.
I’m not sure I’d call this a novel; most of it is dialogue, with the story - including a budding romance - almost secondary to the ideas and principles being discussed. In that respect it reminded me a bit of Brian McLaren’s ‘creative non-fiction’ trilogy which started with ‘A New Kind of Christian’. However it’s a bit more light-hearted; food, crosswords and general banter feature in the Shadow Doctor books as well as important, serious conversations, and Adrian Plass’s enjoyable style shines through.
Although this book does briefly outline what happened in the previous one, in the course of the first chapters, it’s definitely better read after ‘The Shadow Doctor’. Recommended if you have any interest in the church, or in digging down a little to find more about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.
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