Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crusade against evil, December 11, 2008
Reviewed by Mary Durfor for RebeccasReads (12/08)
From the haunting Acknowledgment and the heart-felt Author's Note that begin this novel, the reader is immediately captivated by the writer and thrust into Billy Ray Hawkins' young life. Its Billy Ray's painful but useful lack of certain moral fiber which allows him to carefully plan and execute the demise of his abusive stepfather. Billy had had an early and very close relationship with his deceased father, who had provided hours of lessons regarding such things as how a pendulum really works, and by age fourteen Billy had become quite proficient in putting these lessons to practical (albeit lethal) use. With a complicated plan involving a swing on the giant live oak tree in the yard at their house on the bayou, and an alligator named Joshua, the stepfather was soon dispatched.
Billy's long and complicated relationship with his "soul mate," Jenna, begins when they are school chums. Their true psychic connection leads him to always show up at the right moment and "save" her in adverse or painful situations. Jenna can always sense when something is not quite right with Billy or his life. She becomes a medical student, and she endures visits by the dark, vaporous overwhelming presence of Billy, crowding her mind, leaving the feeling of invasion behind.
As a seminary student, Billy is haunted by the deviant sexual and especially pedophilic activities of an alarming number of priests, bishops, and even an arch-bishop, all of whom are handled in the same way by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church: reorientation training, and payoffs to the innocent victims' families, with reassignment to another parish, another school, a different state, always moving them, hiding their transgressions, never disclosing any of the pain and suffering caused by their actions.
Billy's close professional relationship with the Monsignor of the seminary, Monsignor Montalvo, began his long and torturous slide down the slippery slope of seeking revenge, meeting out punishment to the priests with prurient pasts and presents, always making sure he had a moment to let them realize why they had to die, and leaving a rosary to symbolize the Catholic Church's mentality of Get Out Of Hell Free cards, the practice of confession, request for absolution, penance to be performed, and eventual complete forgiveness of the act, no matter how horrendous it was. Billy descended into that place where he needed to cleanse his own mind of the detritus remaining after each termination episode, as he recognized the beginnings of the sensations of power and invulnerability.
The author has an expert knowledge of church workings, FBI proceedings and work practices, as well as those of local police forces in large cities around the country. His crisp yet warm characterizations of the players lead the reader into the desired storyline instantly. The introduction of Brother Miguel, a quiet, computer-savvy seminary student with some of the same fury at the deviant priest-handling history as Billy and Monsignor Montalvo, brings the reader even closer to the pain that is driving these good men to contemplate and execute terrible actions to attempt to right terrible wrongs. Along with the author, Detective Janss, all of the members of Task Force 20, and the concerned priests, I too became a partner as I read this book in this attempt to rid the world of a system that fostered and indeed helped the pedophile priests expand and grow. The lifelong purpose of the Monsignor, Billy, and Brother Miguel was to improve the priest-candidate vetting process, to no avail, at least throughout the reading of this excellent book. I hope that the process has since improved, with psychological testing and evaluation, as well as extensive background searches, so that the priesthood might improve and all children everywhere can hope to be safe, at least while in God's house, in the care of the priests who have vowed to serve.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves crime novels, church intrigue, and who would like, at least for the time reading, to be a part of a crusade to rid the world of systems which allow and foster evil in any incarnation.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking but justifiable, July 30, 2007
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (7/07)
Not much is known about Aaron Baker Cole; he is as much a mystery as the book he wrote. Some things I did manage to find out. Aaron Baker Cole cut his teeth on technical writing in the fields of space technology and national security. So I was not surprised that there was not a lot of information available. I'm sure the sensitive nature of his previous assignments warranted a classified cloak. I do know he lives and writes somewhere in southern California and has written another book, "Forms of Madness."
"Necessary Evil" has a most intriguing plot. It deals with a young man's crusade to rid the world of pedophiles. But the strange twist is that it is not about your average, street-version pedophile; it deals with pedophiles within the clergy, those that the Catholic Church has either elected to relocate or turn a blind eye to.
Aaron begins by telling us about William (Billy) Hawkins, a young man who lost his father at an early age and had to contend with a stepfather that would beat up on his mother. So after putting up with this violence for quite some time, Billy decides to do something about it. What he does propels Billy into a maze of intrigue. The story of Billy Hawkins just gets better and better from here on in.
What Billy does to an attacker outside his girlfriend's dorm is just another stepping stone in his quest. For Billy, that quest becomes an almost obsessive compulsion to rid the world of bad priests. Mr. Cole has not held back any good traits in the development of his main character Billy Hawkins. Billy has charisma; he is very likeable, but he is also cunning and very cold. He has no mercy on the pedophiles in the clergy and is ruthless in his judgment of these sick individuals.
With a very sad ending (in my opinion), Billy achieves what he started out to do, with the unexpected help of a most unlikely accomplice. The ending, though sad, was most righteous and very welcomed. Different from what you'd see in a movie or in today's society, it was the "Icing on the cake." I thought "Necessary Evil" was a most-talented exhibition of mystery writing that I have read in a long time. It was very enjoyable and compelled me to read more with every turn of a page.
I highly recommend "Necessary Evil" to all that like a good detective novel. This book had quality printing and great content I gave it my highest rating of an A+.
|
|
|
|
