From Publishers Weekly
Dangerous secrets unravel as two Catholic priests rekindle their forbidden romance in this steamy suspense tale from Schiefelbein (Vampire Vow). For Fr. Chris Sieb, manager of St. John's Diocesan Center in Kansas City, the return of his old school-boy crush, Fr. Jack Canston, from Montana after 25 years is both a thrill and a day of reckoning. Their overwhelming feelings for each other lead Chris to reconsider not only his vow of celibacy but also his faith in his calling. The shocking suicide of another gay closeted friend, Fr. Eddie Gerhardt, who felt his homosexuality needed to be cured for him to be a good priest, adds more fuel to Chris's midlife crisis. Both Chris and Jack must find the courage to make some hard choices. Schiefelbein presents the dilemma of gay priests with sensitivity, exploring the nature of faith in God and love: Faith means loving when you don't feel like it. It's not letting fear decide what you do. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Booklist
Father Chris had a thing for Jack when both were teenage Catholic seminarians, and neither years of separation nor their sacred ordinations with attendant vows of chastity keep them apart when Jack is transfered to Chris' Kansas City diocese. Now middle-aged, the two embark on a dangerous affair in the midst of the church's attempt to purge itself of anything gay as its pedophile scandals multiply. Though pedophilia and homosexuality are not the same, the archbishop doesn't trust congregants to make such fine distinctions as he launches a witchhunt recalling another era's Inquisition. A suicide, slashed holy vestments, and extortion replace the piles of murder victims usually found in mystery fiction. Here the mystery's core is the disclosure of the underlying secret that compels Jack's erratic behavior, and the struggle within Chris' soul, not between sacred and profane love but between his heart's desires and what is realistically possible with Jack. With delicate grace, Schiefelbein compassionately limns the all-too-human yearnings and shortcomings of clerics in this quietly moving novel. Scott, Whitney
