Is death the end of life, or only the beginning?

Are heaven and hell real?

Does it matter how you live your life?

Retired NCIS special agent Dan Lucas’s chance meeting with atheist professor Ben Chernick turns into a marathon test of wills over the meaning of life and death. Does God really exist? Is Jesus Christ really the savior of the human race? Is science ignoring the mounting evidence that life continues in another spiritual dimension? Dan argues his case by revealing his research using counterintelligence operational methods to expose the truth about near-death experiences and other divisive topics. A battle of the minds enduring through a night of peril ends in a final showdown that no one could foresee.

Who will you believe?

Final Departure is an entertaining yet thoughtful and informative message: Take eternity seriously or you’ll have a really long time to regret it. Spurred by his interest in near-death experiences and similar phenomenon, Walton pieces together the research from a number of different disciplines, secular and Christian alike, into a sobering novel about life and death as well as heaven and hell and the evidence that supports the existence of both.

Jeff Walton’s work is a departure from the traditional Christian apologetics book or Christian inspirational novel. Set in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the story begins with retired NCIS special agent Dan Lucas, who gets stranded overnight by an ice storm and then ensnarled in a contentious, often raucous marathon debate about God and the meaning of life, with fellow traveler Ben Chernick, a college professor who has neatly excluded the Almighty from every facet of his life.

The tack taken by Walton, though, is different. He injects the analytic mindset and steely determination of a counterintelligence professional into the Dan Lucas character. Through Lucas, we glimpse into the hidden world of NCIS counterintelligence and combating terrorism operations and investigations.

Walton, a retired 29-year NCIS veteran and self-avowed Christian, injects some of his personal history into the story to give it authenticity.

Not preachy, and certainly not shy, Final Departure focuses the reader’s attention on who gets into heaven and who misses the cut—and the chilling results the latter produces. It also poses some hard questions about how life originated and developed on earth as well as what impact, if any, evil really has on mankind.

Through his characters, Walton calls out what he perceives to be a secular, antireligious bias in our culture—a bias that prevents today’s society from considering real-time events from a supernatural, biblical perspective.

Distressing, yet at the same time reassuring, Final Departure gives the reader layers of action and themes that touch on some of life’s most profound questions: How did we get here? Does it matter how we treat others? What is the real meaning of life? Tightly woven with a backdrop of human tragedies and edgy side forays into drug abuse and crime, the story pulls the reader along as the main characters bare their souls and allow the reader access to their core beliefs and thoughts about betrayal, remorse, forgiveness, and love.

Final Departure is a statement and a challenge. If you can, disprove the author’s assertions projected through Dan Lucas. But keep your mind open and be objective. What you read may change the way you live. Walton believes that Final Departure will take you on a journey with no return flight. He might even get you to the destination he has in mind.