Bless Me Father

Bless Me Father

Bless Me Father is a psychological chase thriller set around the issue of faith - losing it and regaining it - in the midst of the current sexual abuse scandal tearing the very fabric of the Catholic Church. Focusing on both the hunter and the hunted, the novel explores the loss of spirituality each experiences while it also traces the effects of the scandal on Catholics in general. Shadowed always by the shame and humiliation he experiences as a youth, John Condon, a war veteran and high school English teacher, plans his revenge against the Catholic Church. One by one he eliminates allegedly abusive priests as well as a leading American bishop. Matched against the clever, resourceful killer is Mike Fallon, an F.B.I. agent who, in the process of losing his first wife, has also lost his spirituality. Now newly married to a fellow agent, both he and she face difficult adjustments in raising his three children and in dealing with the internal politics of the Bureau. As the search for the priest killer intensifies across the country, John Condon finds new purpose in the person of Maureen Riley, a fellow teacher who helps him deal with his past. But is it too late? The novel explores the choices facing practicing Catholics today, is rife with inventive incident, and is evocative of the political, social, and physical atmosphere surrounding the scandal.¿ It also offers a rogue's gallery of interesting primary and secondary characters.