Child prostitution, bonded labour, racial violence, homelessness, genocide. As medical students we come face to face with these realities through electives, work, travel, or simply on a daily basis via the news and media. As Christians we are called to respond: 'Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow' (Is 1:15-17). Yet despair can often lead us to inaction rather than action.

Gary Haugen, in his role as director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda, and as president of the International Justice Mission in Washington, has perhaps seen more injustice than most. He offers us his insights from personal experience and through the stories of others. He speaks of our God of justice, the God who hates injustice and rises up against it.

The author writes clearly with the mind of a lawyer. The arguments against injustice are presented in a logical, coherent manner, with a certainty that is based on biblical truth. Every argument is supported by Scripture, words with ambiguous meanings (like justice and injustice) are defined in the light of what God has to say, and we are left in no doubt about the need for action.

This is no pie in the sky theological exposition that leaves you feeling as if you should do something, yet not knowing what that something is. Haugen offers practical guidance on the ways in which we can be instruments of God's justice, to speak up for those who have no voice: by praying, by supporting justice organisations with our time and money, or by raising awareness in our churches and communities.

Good News About Injustice is an easy read in the traditional sense, but in all other ways there is nothing easy about it. As individuals in the body of Christ we are all called to act, to rise up against injustice. We are to be obedient to God's call, to stand in the gap and intervene on behalf of those who suffer. I commend this book as one that will challenge and transform you, bringing you to a clearer understanding of our God of justice and the need for obedience to him. Its stories may at times bring you to tears, anger and outrage - yet we are called not to despair but to hope, not to inaction but to action. We are reminded throughout of the hope we have in God and our duty to bring that hope to others.

Reviewed by Juliet Brown, a second year student at St George's Hospital medical school, London