A TWINKLE IN THE EYES OF GOD

Helping his daughter track down her missing husband, a California man revisits his complicated past in Pearce’s (Where Fools Dare To Tread, 2019) second installment of his thriller series. 

Monk Buttman has strained relationships with multiple family members, including his nearly 30-year-old daughter, Rebekah. So he’s surprised when she calls him, concerned about her husband, Farrell. Monk flies to Virginia with his girlfriend, Agnes, and quickly learns that Farrell is gone. Evidently, he wanted to join a mysterious church. The father-and-daughter team learn that a couple of congregation members who had wanted to leave committed suicide. Rebekah questions their deaths and cryptically mentions someone called “the Angel,” who may have scared Farrell into fleeing. Monk’s search for Farrell leads him, Agnes, and Rebekah west through various states. Along the way, Monk encounters some of his estranged family: his religious mother; his commune-running father; and his ex-wife (and Rebekah’s mom), Astral. The trip ultimately prompts scrutiny—primarily from Rebekah—about Monk’s Christian faith, or lack thereof. As the hunt for Farrell continues, it turns dangerous. Ties to a murder-suicide lead to more homicides and threats against Monk, Agnes, and Rebekah. Pearce proficiently manages abundant characters, whose relationships anchor the story. They often argue at length about religion, which has the unfortunate effect of sidelining the storytelling. These recurrent discussions, however, astutely connect Monk’s past with his current task of finding Farrell. The flawed hero earns some points by admitting his mistakes. His disloyalty to Agnes, however, makes him nearly unlikable. There’s not much on the mystery front, and when Monk stumbles upon several bodies, he remains peculiarly blasé. Nevertheless, the thriller conveys a general sense of dread, as readers know from the opening scene, that one character is doomed.

A measured but engrossing story overloaded with religious discourse.