A soap opera filled with people indulging in bad behavior. Fans of the Black family’s misplaced haloes will love this latest...
The Black family is ecstatic: Son Matthew and his girlfriend, Racquel, are about to deliver the very first grandchild. But squabbling between the two grandmothers threatens to irrevocably divide the family.
The 10th in Roby’s (The Reverend’s Wife, 2012, etc.) series following the adventures of Rev. Curtis Black (a potentially reformed adulterous minister) focuses on his third wife. Unfortunately, Charlotte is an egocentric, paranoid, mean-spirited woman, which makes for an unpleasant reading experience. Jealous of Racquel’s mother, Vanessa, and her access to the baby even before it is born, Charlotte is determined to get her fair share of face time. She wants Curtis to baptize the child, even though Matthew and Racquel have decided upon Pastor Collins; she wants the child called Matthew the Second, even though Matthew and Racquel have chosen Matthew Jr.; she wants to plan his resume, even though Matthew and Racquel plan to give him a loving, accepting extended family. Vanessa tries to block Charlotte, bristling not only at her domineering behavior, but also at her husband’s obvious attraction to Charlotte. The two grandmothers’ animosity erupts into an altercation at the baby shower, which sends Racquel into premature labor and Vanessa into taking even higher-security measures. Charlotte responds by plotting vengeance. The baby does deserve a better mother, right? Meanwhile, Curtis has troubles of his own as mysterious, threatening messages arrive. Who’s trying to blackmail him? Who’s trying to destroy his financially lucrative Deliverance Outreach church? Burdened with stiff exposition—summarizing both Charlotte’s and Curtis’ many transgressions—and flat dialogue, Roby’s tale plods along, punctuated with occasional outbursts of excitement.
A soap opera filled with people indulging in bad behavior. Fans of the Black family’s misplaced haloes will love this latest installment.Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-455-52606-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...
Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.
Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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