Book Review: Lamb of God, Reprobation Series Book 4, Catherine Fearns
Mystery/Thriller: Lamb of God, Reprobation Series Book 4, Catherine Fearns
Blog Tour July 24, 2023
The Reprobation Series boldly claims territory on land most authors avoid. We at Scintilla grew up in the church, went to religious colleges and seminaries, even spent over a dozen years in church ministry positions. Our path has taken us away from paid positions in the church, but that deep respect for the spiritual life continues to guide and inform us. Catherine Fearns takes faith, church, and spiritually boldly and without apology. Her characters have very different approaches to faith. All of them, though, are very aware of the vibrancy and passion faith can give to a person–both good and bad.
No longer “Sister Helen” since she left the company of the cloister, Helen is loving her new life. Teaching religion at the university, wearing Goth makeup and heavy metal band t-shirts, and dating the Satan-worshiping front man of a metal band known for their blasphemous lyrics, she has taken quite the turn from her austere former life. Yet, she remains a regular worshiper at her local church, even leading the choir. She may have stepped away from her calling, but her yearning for God is still strong.
No longer DI, Darren has taken a sabbatical to study theology at the university. Raised in a severe evangelical home, one considered by many to be a cult, Darren was cast out by his family when he told them he was gay. Despite his atheism and his anger at the church, Darren has been profoundly affected by some of the cases with religious aspects that he and Helen had worked on, and studying theology seemed like an opportunity to get some answers.
When a homeless woman is found in a beach cave showing signs of long-term confinement and spouting religious dogma, both Darren and Helen feel drawn to the case even though their official involvement in those matters has ended. When a pile of bones is discovered in the same area, bones which in some cases date back centuries while others are only a few decades old, it raises even more questions. Darren does not believe in coincidences. He may not see the connection but he knows it is there.
Fearns reaches deeply into church history, secret societies, forgotten ascetic practices, and contemporary worship styles in her novels. Her characters are searching for God, questioning God, rejecting God, accepting God, ignoring God. In short, they are behaving as normal people recognizing they have a spiritual aspect to their lives. They may not share a common belief structure, they may find some of the dogma and practices of others wrong or shallow or manipulative, they may or may not find meaning in their search for the eternal, but all of them are searching for something. Fearns does not proselytize, she does not judge, she does not editorialize for or against any faith. Rather, she embraces the reality that many, perhaps most, people seek meaning for their own lives in the embrace of a spiritual community, participating in something larger than themselves. Combine that with an excellent plot and a well-written story and you have a novel that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.
Our thanks to Zoe-Lee O’Farrell for our copy of Lamb of God in exchange for our participation in this blog tour. The opinions here are solely those of Scintilla. For other perspectives on this novel, check out the other bloggers on this tour.
Book Review: Lamb of God, Reprobation Series Book 4, Catherine Fearns
Thank you so much for taking part in the tour x
Love this review – thank you so much for your open-minded approach to the religious aspects of my book.