Stephen Drew is a disillusioned pastor in Vermont, where
homicides are rare. When one of his
parishioners, Alice Hayward, and her husband die in an apparent murder-suicide,
he decides to take a break from his profession.
His narrative is the first of four sections, in which we learn that
Alice was a battered wife who had an affair with the pastor. The narrator of the second section is the
local prosecutor who soon discovers that Alice’s husband’s death was most
likely not a suicide, and Stephen himself comes into the crosshairs of her
investigation. The third narrator is
Heather Laurent, an author who believes in angels and writes about them. She is drawn to the Haywards’ deaths, because
her father killed her mother and then hanged himself. Other than that, her role
in this novel is something of a puzzle, but there is a dichotomy between her
belief in magical beings and the pastor’s waning faith. The final section is narrated by Katie, the
Haywards’ 15-year-old daughter, who was spending the night with a friend after
a concert when her parents died.
Although the identity of the perpetrator did not surprise me, the juicy
plot is full of other twists and turns that make for a gripping read. This novel may not totally succeed as a
whodunit, but the pastor is a fascinating character, as he navigates the
suspicion that surrounds him and the doubt that haunts his ministry.
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