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xterminal's review
2.0
Josh Webster, Faith Killer (Zebra, 1991)
The best thing about this book by a longshot is the title. If you pick it up, just stare at the cover for a while, then put it down and walk away. Because once you're inside, you'll find there's nothing worth having.
Faith Killer is a serial killer novel written from the point of view of someone very, very heavily involved in 12-step programs. So much so that his characters veer off into long mental dissections of how horrible their lives were before coming to 12-step Nirvana. So much so that the good guy and the bad guy actually have a confrontation on treatment methods for addicts. No, people, I can't make this stuff up. To top things off, the "mystery" of who the killer is is spoiled by... the book's title! A truly brilliant piece of marketing THAT was.
Compared to [Leslie Whitten's] The Fangs of the Morning, however, Faith Killer does have some worthwhile elements. Webster is a bit better at drawing his characters, and they're actually somewhat realistic when they're not being warriors for Bill W. (Actually, in retrospect, they're realistic then, too; I've met a few of them IRL who really do talk and act like this.) The action does move along well enough most of the time, and when you're not waiting for the inevitable recovery-spiel shoe to drop, there are a few absorbing parts. Unfortunately, they all lead to predictable places; guess what happens to the alcoholic cop? heh. * 1/2
The best thing about this book by a longshot is the title. If you pick it up, just stare at the cover for a while, then put it down and walk away. Because once you're inside, you'll find there's nothing worth having.
Faith Killer is a serial killer novel written from the point of view of someone very, very heavily involved in 12-step programs. So much so that his characters veer off into long mental dissections of how horrible their lives were before coming to 12-step Nirvana. So much so that the good guy and the bad guy actually have a confrontation on treatment methods for addicts. No, people, I can't make this stuff up. To top things off, the "mystery" of who the killer is is spoiled by... the book's title! A truly brilliant piece of marketing THAT was.
Compared to [Leslie Whitten's] The Fangs of the Morning, however, Faith Killer does have some worthwhile elements. Webster is a bit better at drawing his characters, and they're actually somewhat realistic when they're not being warriors for Bill W. (Actually, in retrospect, they're realistic then, too; I've met a few of them IRL who really do talk and act like this.) The action does move along well enough most of the time, and when you're not waiting for the inevitable recovery-spiel shoe to drop, there are a few absorbing parts. Unfortunately, they all lead to predictable places; guess what happens to the alcoholic cop? heh. * 1/2
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