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ncrabb's review
2.0
Let me try to get the silliness over first. This book really disturbed me. Yes, much of my disturbance had to do with the content; but I'm also a little concerned about the nature of the writer. I don't picture a bishop in my faith writing the kind of books this priest once wrote. Please don't misinterpret anything; I'm not taking potshots at Catholics nor am I denouncing the organization's leadership. I'm simply pointing out that the writing style and content created by this priest seemed dissonant to me. Some of you who read this will roll your eyes and attempt to remind me that these priests are, after all, human beings. They are subject to the same winds that blow across the rest of us. I get that. But I still found this unharmonious at best. I may even read another book in this series, and within the week, I will read the first book in a second series he wrote. I want to have a better understanding of his personal lay of the land, so to speak, before I create some hardened-in-stone judgment.
This has all the trappings of a good locked-room mystery. They find wolf Quinlan dead, and he did not die of his own hand. The office in which he died, a kind of museum to his various collections including a sword and knife collection, remained locked throughout the evening. How, then, did someone get inside and kill him late in the night? There is no shortage of suspects. During that evening he managed to anger his wife, his children, and his mistress. Any one of them would have had ample reason to thrust the medieval short sword into his ribs. It's clear that someone did.
The story gradually unfolds told from the perspective of the main characters. These are all people that Father Blackie Ryan interviews. Their stories are mesmerizing in most instances, and this is a fascinating all be it lust-filled read. I guess that's the part that troubled me most. Here's this Catholic priest writing about perfectly shaped breasts and the symmetrical roundness of female butts. It makes for compelling reading in sections, but I must confess to not being able to overcome my sense of dissonance and conflict. Quite frankly, the guy had some crummy things to say about his church. Maybe that's the kind of priest to which members of that faith gravitate? I have no idea how it really works. What I will tell you, now that I have whined more than I had intended, is that the end of this is wonderfully suspenseful. I'm sure had I been wired to a biofeedback machine that I would have blown its circuitry as I approached the end of this book. The suspense is absolutely riveting. It's why I will revisit this series and start the other one. I need to stop thinking about the source of the material and perhaps learn to do a better job of just enjoying the ride? Not sure how that's going to work. I couldn't help but contrast my experience with this book with conversations I had the same evening with the leader of my local congregation. I was grateful for those conversations; they were uplifting and positive. They were a sharp contrast to what I had been reading all day.
My own unfortunate perspective aside, this is a book that many of you will both read and thoroughly enjoy. I can see how it became a best seller when the publisher released it back in the 80s. Please be advised that there are some horrific words here used to single out homosexuals. It's the kind of stuff you would have heard back in the 80s and not so much as blinked at. The son of the dead man comes out, and dear old macho dad doesn't have a lot of positive things to say about it. Greeley doesn't flinch at including some of the language here. They involved Father Ryan initially because the family felt that Quinlan deserved a Christian burial. He had strayed from his Catholic roots and joined a Satan-worshipping congregation. This was another throwback to the 80s. It reminded me of all those ridiculous Geraldo Rivera programs in which he breathlessly unveiled the details of satanic cults that allegedly existed in every neighborhood in the country. It was Father Ryan's job to determine that Quinlan had returned to the faith in his final hours, thereby ensuring that the church would not force him to lie with the infidels in another section of the cemetery.
I'm prepared to read the second book in this series. I suspect I will experience the same dizzying in congruence and dissonance. But we'll see. This was far from a waste of my time. I was not disappointed or angry that I had opened it. The plot, though slow, includes lots of memorable scenes.
This has all the trappings of a good locked-room mystery. They find wolf Quinlan dead, and he did not die of his own hand. The office in which he died, a kind of museum to his various collections including a sword and knife collection, remained locked throughout the evening. How, then, did someone get inside and kill him late in the night? There is no shortage of suspects. During that evening he managed to anger his wife, his children, and his mistress. Any one of them would have had ample reason to thrust the medieval short sword into his ribs. It's clear that someone did.
The story gradually unfolds told from the perspective of the main characters. These are all people that Father Blackie Ryan interviews. Their stories are mesmerizing in most instances, and this is a fascinating all be it lust-filled read. I guess that's the part that troubled me most. Here's this Catholic priest writing about perfectly shaped breasts and the symmetrical roundness of female butts. It makes for compelling reading in sections, but I must confess to not being able to overcome my sense of dissonance and conflict. Quite frankly, the guy had some crummy things to say about his church. Maybe that's the kind of priest to which members of that faith gravitate? I have no idea how it really works. What I will tell you, now that I have whined more than I had intended, is that the end of this is wonderfully suspenseful. I'm sure had I been wired to a biofeedback machine that I would have blown its circuitry as I approached the end of this book. The suspense is absolutely riveting. It's why I will revisit this series and start the other one. I need to stop thinking about the source of the material and perhaps learn to do a better job of just enjoying the ride? Not sure how that's going to work. I couldn't help but contrast my experience with this book with conversations I had the same evening with the leader of my local congregation. I was grateful for those conversations; they were uplifting and positive. They were a sharp contrast to what I had been reading all day.
My own unfortunate perspective aside, this is a book that many of you will both read and thoroughly enjoy. I can see how it became a best seller when the publisher released it back in the 80s. Please be advised that there are some horrific words here used to single out homosexuals. It's the kind of stuff you would have heard back in the 80s and not so much as blinked at. The son of the dead man comes out, and dear old macho dad doesn't have a lot of positive things to say about it. Greeley doesn't flinch at including some of the language here. They involved Father Ryan initially because the family felt that Quinlan deserved a Christian burial. He had strayed from his Catholic roots and joined a Satan-worshipping congregation. This was another throwback to the 80s. It reminded me of all those ridiculous Geraldo Rivera programs in which he breathlessly unveiled the details of satanic cults that allegedly existed in every neighborhood in the country. It was Father Ryan's job to determine that Quinlan had returned to the faith in his final hours, thereby ensuring that the church would not force him to lie with the infidels in another section of the cemetery.
I'm prepared to read the second book in this series. I suspect I will experience the same dizzying in congruence and dissonance. But we'll see. This was far from a waste of my time. I was not disappointed or angry that I had opened it. The plot, though slow, includes lots of memorable scenes.
mefrost's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
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