| John Donohue Writing about culture, identity, and action |
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| The Binding |
Faith is a cry for connection, and each life is a tale of links
forged or bonds broken. For three men thrown unexpectedly
together, each day dawns as an opportunity to create a new
life and each night brings the memories of things to atone for.
Each has a violent past, and each has come to the cold shore
of Lake Ontario to search for some peace.
Dolan has been many things: a Marine, a specialist in quick
reaction force tactics for maximum security prisons. Now he’s
seeking to put that life behind him. An old service friend is now
the abbot of a small monastery. Dolan shows up at the Abbey
gate with the first hard blast of a winter snow. He’s warned that
the monastery is no place to hide. Dolan knows that, but hopes
that he can find himself in a place where nobody would look for
him.
Jeff Matthews is an Episcopal Priest. He grew up in the area, a
bright kid with musical talent who wanted nothing more than to
leave. When he was sixteen, an older man came and rented
his mother’s barn. He taught Jeff watercraft and drafting and
how to work wood. He shared some old memories and what he
thought was wisdom. He made Jeff care. And when the old man
committed an elaborate suicide, it marked Jeff forever. Twenty
years later he is an earnest priest, caring for a congregation
and serving as the chaplain for the county jail. But he harbors
a dark secret.
Guzman is a leg-breaker developing something that is a real
liability in his line of work: a conscience. He’s got one last
assignment to complete, the price of being allowed to walk
away from the crime family he serves. It’s a simple job: the
elimination of a charismatic and once popular evangelist whose
new call to reject the material world is proving an
embarrassment to the profitable national organization he is
affiliated with.
When the local Sheriff seeks Dolan’s help with a local religious
sect, Dolan is drawn into the investigation of the most hideous
of acts: the ritual killing of a child by his own father. What
would compel a parent to such a deed? Dolan looks to the sect’
s leader, Brother Micah, for explanations. Micah had been a
wildly successful star of a lucrative televangelism organization,
and is now a wild-eyed charismatic figure. And a murder
suspect. Dolan, a man struggling with questions of faith and its
hold on us, explores the belief of the sect members, sure of
their identity as God’s elect, waiting the imminent arrival of the
End of Days. He works with Jeff Matthews, the prison chaplain,
to unravel the twisted ideas that caused the murder. And as
both men are drawn deeper into the investigation, they learn of
how ill health, despair, and a longing for the life to come can
lead people down dark paths.
But evil takes many forms, and the notoriety of the crime leads
to television coverage. A newly paroled convict glimpses Dolan’
s face on the TV screen. They have met before, and the
convict’s smoldering rage burns brighter as he travels toward
Dolan, bent on revenge. And hovering on the periphery of the
TV news cameras and crowds surround brother Micah is
Guzman, looking for his chance to strike the preacher down
and his ticket out of town.
forged or bonds broken. For three men thrown unexpectedly
together, each day dawns as an opportunity to create a new
life and each night brings the memories of things to atone for.
Each has a violent past, and each has come to the cold shore
of Lake Ontario to search for some peace.
Dolan has been many things: a Marine, a specialist in quick
reaction force tactics for maximum security prisons. Now he’s
seeking to put that life behind him. An old service friend is now
the abbot of a small monastery. Dolan shows up at the Abbey
gate with the first hard blast of a winter snow. He’s warned that
the monastery is no place to hide. Dolan knows that, but hopes
that he can find himself in a place where nobody would look for
him.
Jeff Matthews is an Episcopal Priest. He grew up in the area, a
bright kid with musical talent who wanted nothing more than to
leave. When he was sixteen, an older man came and rented
his mother’s barn. He taught Jeff watercraft and drafting and
how to work wood. He shared some old memories and what he
thought was wisdom. He made Jeff care. And when the old man
committed an elaborate suicide, it marked Jeff forever. Twenty
years later he is an earnest priest, caring for a congregation
and serving as the chaplain for the county jail. But he harbors
a dark secret.
Guzman is a leg-breaker developing something that is a real
liability in his line of work: a conscience. He’s got one last
assignment to complete, the price of being allowed to walk
away from the crime family he serves. It’s a simple job: the
elimination of a charismatic and once popular evangelist whose
new call to reject the material world is proving an
embarrassment to the profitable national organization he is
affiliated with.
When the local Sheriff seeks Dolan’s help with a local religious
sect, Dolan is drawn into the investigation of the most hideous
of acts: the ritual killing of a child by his own father. What
would compel a parent to such a deed? Dolan looks to the sect’
s leader, Brother Micah, for explanations. Micah had been a
wildly successful star of a lucrative televangelism organization,
and is now a wild-eyed charismatic figure. And a murder
suspect. Dolan, a man struggling with questions of faith and its
hold on us, explores the belief of the sect members, sure of
their identity as God’s elect, waiting the imminent arrival of the
End of Days. He works with Jeff Matthews, the prison chaplain,
to unravel the twisted ideas that caused the murder. And as
both men are drawn deeper into the investigation, they learn of
how ill health, despair, and a longing for the life to come can
lead people down dark paths.
But evil takes many forms, and the notoriety of the crime leads
to television coverage. A newly paroled convict glimpses Dolan’
s face on the TV screen. They have met before, and the
convict’s smoldering rage burns brighter as he travels toward
Dolan, bent on revenge. And hovering on the periphery of the
TV news cameras and crowds surround brother Micah is
Guzman, looking for his chance to strike the preacher down
and his ticket out of town.
