Andie Oliver is a faithful woman--to God, to her handsome husband Joe, and to televangelist Reverend Calvin Artury, a Godfather in a Mafia of holy men. Raised in the 1970's to be subservient and submissive in the tradition of the Bible-belt South, she becomes a prisoner of that tradition. As a reluctant member of Artury's evangelical megachurch, the House of Praise in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Andie's dream of children, home, and marriage falls apart after Joe is hired by the ministry team.
Vivid and tragic, Televenge exposes chaos in the megachurch, and embraces those who discover their destiny in unconditional love in a world fraught with fear and intimidation. Fighting for redemption for her family and herself, Andie confronts the very definition of evil personified. Evading ruthless adversaries who will go to any lengths to protect Reverend Artury, Andie battles the darkest side of televangelism. With more twists and turns than the Blue Ridge Parkway, Televenge takes you from the Piedmont South to the Hawaiian Islands, to Nigeria, and back to the high country of North Carolina.
In pitch-perfect voices, Pamela King Cable's emotionally rich debut novel creates four extraordinary characters. Suspenseful and deeply moving, Televenge will be one of the most talked about books of the year.
I am not as far in this book as I planned or hoped to be because my reading schedule was thrown off this week by the VIRUS OF DOOM ( you name it: flu, fever, laryngitis--- I had it ). I do want to speak to what I have read thus far, though, in hopes of enticing you to check out a book with a plot that I was at once curious and sceptical about. The first writer that comes comparatively to mind is Mario Puzo: the setting, the amalgamation of a family answering to a higher power ( in Puzo, a Mafia don, in Televenge, the tightly-constrained world of holy order of televangelism) and the rapid-paced suspense that weaves you into the plot and plants the seed of an almost impersonal sense of danger. You feel for Andie. You want her to succeed. You want to transcend the line blurring fiction and life and steal in and warn her, coax her, speak to her and plot with her.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the novel thus far is the way it looks at religion as a trap: a redemptive trap, yes; but one with a very profuse sense of chaos. With a patchwork quilt of intriguing locales and a convoluted sense of grace and family and hope beneath a sinister web, Televenge is so thoroughly unique. As I said, I am not finished yet; but have no doubt that this would make a fabulous ABC miniseries. The time, the colour, the mystery and the magnum opus of crime and suspense in the name of God are just the type of clashing and chaotic fodder for interesting and speculative televised spectacle.
TOUR STOPS
Wednesday, November 13th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Wednesday, November 21st: Speaking of Books
Thursday, November 29th: A Fair Substitute for Heaven
Sunday, December 9th: My Book Retreat
Monday, December 10th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Thursday, December 27th: My Bookshelf
Friday, January 4th: Broken Teepee
Monday, January 7th: Fiction Addict
Wednesday, January 30th: West Metro Mommy
With thanks to TLC for the review copy.
2 comments:
Here's to getting better! Thanks for a great review! Enjoy the rest of the book, drink lots of hot tea, and get well soon!
I'm glad you're enjoying this one so far.
Thanks for being on the tour. Feel better soon!
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