Salvation Boulevard

by Larry Beinhart

Book Overview

Some cases test a private investigator's wits, others test his courage, and still others, his character. In Salvation Boulevard , P.I. Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests them all, and then... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568584113
• ISBN13: 9781568584119
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Nation Books
• Length: 351 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

More of this wonderful writer

I have regularly checked for new Beinharts for years, ever since the wonderful Tony Casella trilogy (and why why why are they out of print?) and to find this so soon after the wonderful "The Librarian" was a joy and a treat. Beinhart's books bear reading and rereading, with his sophisticated take on politics and society underpinned by wonderful plotting and characters you care about. He writes like an angel and he is both funny and profound - this book has a born again cop trying to do what's right and honest even though it means acting against the pastor and church that saved him. It is as good as any of his books - and that's saying something.

Religion's dark shadows

I enjoyed Larry Beinhart's "Salvation Boulevard" more than any book I've read in a while, dropped everything and stayed up to 1 a.m. to finish it. The first person protagonist is an evangelical Christian, member of a Texas megachurch, ex-cop and ex-alcoholic private detective. He's working for a Jewish liberal lawyer, who is defending an American Muslim student accused of murdering an atheist college professor who was about to publish a book on the human need to cling to religious illusions. I'm an atheist raised as a fundamentalist Christian, so I was uncomfortable at first finding myself inside the mind of an evangelical Christian. But that's the protagonist, of course, not the author. Anyway, I was already hooked. The story unfolds over the wreckage of our legal system left after eight years of Bush's "war on terror" and the Bill of Rights. Using the Muslim student's arrest - he's already being called a terrorist - as the case in point, the detective's charismatic superstar minister paints a picture of holy war between "them and us," and the church brings every kind of pressure on the detective to drop the case. The detective, who believes the student innocent, is having trouble with his faith. And I'll leave the rest of the story for you to enjoy, while I read the author's other two books, "Wag the Dog" and "The Librarian."

A Thinking Thriller-- Thank God!

Here's a book for all of us who missed a subway stop trying to finish Crime and Punishment, and have been looking to repeat the experience ever since. Beinhart, too, melds a meditation on religion into a novel of nail-biting suspense. More importantly, to those of us who see red when we hear the word fundamentalist, Beinhart creates a believable protagonist who allows us to understand why people turn to megachurches -- a feat I would have have honestly said was impossible. Who says a novel of ideas can't be fun?

BEINHART READERS, REJOICE!

You probably won't find Larry Beinhart signing copies of his new novel, SALVATION BOULEVARD, at a mega-church near you. That's because Beinhart takes American right-wing Christianity by the scruff of the neck and shakes the tar out of it in this rip-roaring, disturbing post-9/11 tale of deception, greed, xenophobia, faith, doubt, apostasy and murder. Carl, a former cop, his wife, Gwen, and his adolescent daughter from a previous marriage, Angie, belong to the Cathedral of the Third Millennium, a 6,400-member fundamentalist mega-church built of glass and steel and shepherded by the Rev. Paul Plowright. (Give you one guess who the bad guy is.) Renouncing drugs, alcohol, casual sex and thinking for himself, Carl gives Plowright credit for saving his life and Jesus the glory for saving his soul. Harboring nary a doubt (uncertainty is for the faithless), Carl abides, for a time, in the love of God, family and the flock at CTM. But abiding time starts ticking down when Carl is hired to investigate a murder that leads him into temptations of the flesh and the spirit. Here's how Carl describes his situation, "Look, I'm a Christian working for a Jewish lawyer who's working for an Islamic kid to find out who really killed the atheist. It's America, right?" Beinhart, whose previous novels include WAG THE DOG and THE LIBRARIAN, both must-read page-turners for political junkies, takes aim this time at scoundrels behind stained glass windows who've had it coming. For a high-speed excursion of America's search for meaning in these strange times, take SALVATION BOULEVARD. Beinhart will have you hollering "Amen!"

Don't Plan on Sleeping Once You Start This Book

Yep. This is one of those can't put it down once you start it novels. The author, who wrote the book the movie Wag The Dog, was adapted from, has come out with a sure winner that kept me up waaay past my bedtime. Beinhart is a very savvy political observer in the real world, writing for huffingtonpost, opednews and other political sites. But he is brilliant when it comes to weaving stories that are built upon the politics, the characters and issues of the day. Salvation Boulevard is a mystery and a.... not a thriller, though it has plenty of thrilling moments, not an adventure, though the story takes you on quite a ride... I'm not sure exactly how you'd categorize it. A theopolitical action story? Beinhart walks you into the world of the evangelical right wing megachurch, into the mind of its members and its leaders and he creates a very believable collection of characters who learn to love, hate or despise. Even if you're not interested in politics, there's a great story here. I understand it's been optioned to be made into a movie and that's not at all surprising. It should be put on the screen and when it is, it will be a hit I'll be sure to watch.