Customer Reviews

Plain Heathen Mischief

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Rev. Joel King, a good but exceedingly naïve man, dedicated his life to serving Roanoke Baptist Church-until Christy, a 17-year-old temptress, claimed he seduced her. Though he pled guilty when he was charged and served a six-month sentence, there is a gap between what Christy says happened, and what Joel knows happened. He believes, however, that he is guilty because there's no such thing as a "minor" sin. "There's the straight, correct, narrow route, and the rest is just plain heathen mischief." Learning that his wife has filed for divorce and that Christy has filed a $5M damage suit against him and the church, Joel, penniless, gratefully accepts help from Sa'ad X. Sa'ad, a lawyer friend of Edmund Brooks, a former parishioner now living in Las Vegas.

Edmund and Sa'ad X. Sa'ad are partners in a variety of insurance scams, and Joel is the ready-made, carefully selected dupe who gets sucked into a wild scam involving "borrowed jewelry." As the complexities grow exponentially, Joel never waivers in his religious faith but begins to question his interpretation of right and wrong and his understanding of his mission in life. Striving to accomplish long-term right by taking expedient measures which he knows are wrong, he eventually comes to new understandings about real life and the difficulty of identifying a heavenly voice in the cacophony which surrounds him.

Joel King's spiritual crisis is a only a part of this hilariously funny tale which features crosses and double-crosses, misread motives, and scammers getting scammed. The glitz and glamour of Edmund and Sa'ad's life in Las Vegas contrast with the simple life Joel has chosen in Montana, and the characters, while not fully developed, represent the full spectrum of humanity--the trusting and the cynical, the principled and the venal, and the charitable and the grasping. As insurance investigators, lawyers, local police, probation officers, and even the FBI array themselves against Edmund, Joel, and Sa'ad X. Sa'ad (who have betrayals planned for each other), the reader is thoroughly engaged, totally involved in the rapidly developing action, and constantly surprised by the twists and turns of the plot.

Well developed, and beautifully written, the novel is "A grown man's coming-of-age story," filled with the irony of a good man and "moral leader" whose absolute interpretation of what is right leads him to jail at the beginning of the novel and whose subsequent growth and sense of redemption occur through his criminal behavior. Fun, focused, and captivating, this is one of the most enjoyable novels I have read all year. Mary Whipple

If you're a "serious novelist," do your best to bore people to death -- otherwise they might not realize you're serious. Make sure the reader knows you're dealing with weighty themes, like the meaning of life, by examining every minor issue with pages of analysis and carefully wrought ruminations. Whatever you do, PLEASE don't dare entertain the reader.

I guess that means that Martin Clark isn't a serious novelist -- he's too much fun, too original, and too much stuff actually happens in his books. In PLAIN HEATHEN MISCHIEF, you've got real issues -- sin and catastrophe, faith and redemption -- but rather than give you a sleep-inducing homily, Clark just throws you in the story and captures you with great characters and flat-out fantastic writing.

Clark's hero, Joel King, is a modern day Job, someone who had everything -- or at least everything he could imagine -- who seemingly was plucked at random to become a holy punching bag. The moment Joel hits his low point is as memorable as anything you'll ever read, a breathtaking scene where I was caught between shock and laughter. That's where a lot of Clark's genius lies -- there are few writers who can genuinely knock you out of your chair laughing and yet possibly change your life, too. To compare him to Hiassen or Leonard is to miss the point. Sure, there's plot - lots of stuff happens, there are wheels within wheels, crosses and doublecrosses galore -- but Hiassen and Leonard are in essence ONLY entertainers, and Clark is the real deal. You can read PLAIN HEATHEN MISCHIEF just for -- well, the plain heathen mischief -- but it's a helluva lot more than a just a great beach read: the book will stay with you long after you've finally got the last sand out of your shoes.

Martin Clark's last book, the "Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living" is one of my all time favs, so it was a no-brainer to pick this one up, and I wasn't disappointed in the least. Mr. Clark has matured as a writer, and this book is a masterpiece. All the recent New York Times hype is proven correct on nearly evey page. Joel King is a minister who has lost his job and gets wound up in an insurance rip-off just to keep his head above water. The story follows him across the country and through events that are funny and heartbreaking. In Plain Heathen Mischief, every character is real, every situation is vivid and the plot starts in the very first sentence and races right along. This story has all the colorfulness of Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, but it is more layered, better paced and full of surprises. Mr. Clark is two for two in my opinion, and I'm ready for the next one.

Legion are the "one-hit" wonders, be they athletes with one great season, singers with one hit record, or authors with one best selling book. With his first novel, "The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living," Martin Clark delivered a fast-paced, well drawn and often hilarious tale of a judge living way too close to the edge. Mr. Clark's second book, though, proves he is an author to be reckoned with; the story is taut, the dialogue true and funny and the characters so well written that we truly know them. The book has humor,morality, travel,escapades and a satisfying, if not totally surprising, ending. It will surely end up on many Best Of Lists for 2004.

The lead character, Joel King, a defrocked Baptist minister, is certainly flawed, but he is no caricature of a Southern preacher, and we come to know and root for him in this work. The other characters, including the scamming Edmund Brooks, shifty lawyer Sa'ad, and Joel's sister Sophie, are real and well developed. Interposed with his story line, Mr. Clark weaves a morality that while unmistakeable, is certainly not overbearing.

Mr.Clark's works are often compared to John Grisham's, as both are supposedly authors of "legal thrillers." That comparison is inapt, in my opinion. Mr. Clark's books are really more character studies, of flawed and struggling individuals trying to turn things around after making big mistakes. In "Plain Heathen Mischief," Mr. Clark has crafted a winning novel that captures the difficulties of human life and the power of redemption. This is a winner for '04-read it and enjoy.

I am one of those rare Presbyterian preachers who doesn't play golf! What I do for fun is read - and Martin Clark's "Plain Heathen Mischief" is just a plain fantastic read!
Clark is John Grisham with a Phd in life and the inner struggles
of the soul. Protagonist, the Rev. Joel King, is no cutout caricature cleric. This man is real! He, like the Old Testament's King David, is "a man after God's own heart". A man who is flawed, yet faithful. Broken, yet not beyond repair. A rascal, who like the prodigal son, comes to himself; and makes his way back to the loving Father.
Clark's book should be required reading in all theological seminaries. He deals with sin seriously, and with a sense of humor and hope and the gracious possibilities of redemption.
I can't wait for Clark's next book.

Joel King, the "hero" of this novel, is without doubt one of the the most skillfully drawn characters I've encountered in fiction. Like real people, he makes you angry at times, he fails and struggles and times, he makes bad decisions along with his good ones, and he has you rooting for him in the end. He's a character who could walk off the pages he seems so genuine. This is a big book but not a preachy one, and the plot comes fast and furious but never seems contrived. I would suggest this to anyone who wants a perfect mix of literature and good, old-fashioned entertainment.

I'm willing to suspend a fair amount of disbelief when reading a novel: I know that few authors can accurately reflect human speech in their narratives, and often we wouldn't enjoy novels that did. In Plain Heathen Mischief, though, I couldn't do it. Main character Joel King is interesting, and his attitudinal shifts only seem slightly pat, but basically all of his dialogue (and others) is a series of competing monologues. More people speak seven sentences at once, without interruption, full of clever metaphors and snappiness, than I've ever met.

This is a significant negative in what otherwise is a fine caper novel, with some great turns and fun character development.

I'll certainly read another Clark novel - I enjoyed reading most of this - but I was exasperated by the end. Talk like a normal person!

Plain Heathen Mischief is probably one of the most entertaining books I've read this year, and will certainly be on my list of best top ten. As a caper story it is unsurpassed, but it is also a wonderful account of one man's loss of faith and his seemingly insurmountable efforts to get it back again. As this novel shows, losing God, can be funny, humorous, heart warming and full of calculated misadventure. The novel opens when the Rev. Joel King, a de-frocked southern Baptist minister, has just been released from county jail. He was convicted for a sexual dalliance with a seventeen-year-old that probably didn't occur. Joel's wife is divorcing him; he's lost his home, his position in society, his church, and his flock. But throughout it all he believes that God still guides his life.

Desperate and adrift with no work or suitable skills, Joel moves to Missoula, Montana, and moves in with his sister, Sophie. But things continue to worsen financially for him. In desperation he decides to join Edmund Brooks, an affable insurance scammer, and Sa'ad X, a shady African American Las Vegas lawyer in defrauding an insurance company. He naively figures that he'll have enough money to give to the struggling Sophie, a single mother, and to his former church which has suffered because of his alleged sins of the flesh. Joel, of course, totally underestimates Edmund and Sa'ad's intrigues and he begins to get far too involved in their scheme for his own liking. He tries to out maneuver them by breaking his probation and reconnecting with Christy, the super-bright, super-spoiled, drug-taking, sex-crazed child that he was supposed to have seduced. As the plot thickens, and the characters inevitably double-cross each other, Joel becomes even further embroiled in a fine art theft that involves the FBI, and a domestic violence case involving a couple who were fly fishing with him.

Plain Heathen Mischief is one page-turning frolic. Intelligent, smart, witty, and packed with lively and lovably characters, the novel is, at once, a tender coming-of-age story, while also an account of one man's battle with an uncompassionate and stultifying legal system that fails to understand him. Joel hurdles from one bungled scheme to another, as he desperately tries to cover his tracks, rationalize his actions, and make amends. Through tragedy and misfortune, Joel discovers a richer version of a god whose shadow inhabits all things. And his innate goodness and his penchant for honesty are ultimately rewarded. Throughout the novel the plot takes many unanticipated twists and turns, and the surprise resolution to Joel's spiritual and financial struggles finds the former minister far wiser than when he first dispensed advice from the pulpit. Mike Leonard July 04.

This book is great in every regard, from the writing to the plot. I'm a fan of Clark's first, the Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, but I think this one tops it. Highly recommended!

While I found this novel both funny and heartfelt, I was fixated far more by the manner with which Martin Clark deals with issues of morality. There is a tremendous tension between the black and white ideals of Joel King's baptist ministry and the utterly grey world of fraud and intrique he finds himself in after he is defrocked. This is a man who has done a bad thing; allowed himself to stray from his chosen path in mind and body. A reader with a morality like Joel King should despise this fallen man, and Joel is deeply aware of every reason why this should be so. Yet, Joel never really learns to hate himself, and neither can the reader. He is not nearly as simple of a man as he would like to believe. Despite all the pain he brings upon himself, his family, and his parish, Joel not only manages to develop a crush on his boss, but asks her out on a date in the midst of all of his problems. In other words, the more I think about this book, the more I appreciate the really great morality discussion Clark weaves into a story about insurance fraud, molestation, and the law.