Review by Leelou -- Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello
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- Latest Review: Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello
Review by Leelou -- Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello
[Following is a volunteer review of "Betrayal of Faith" by Mark M. Bello.]
Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello, is a well written book on a very timely, yet controversial topic. The story revolves around the Tracey family and the Catholic Church's failure to take appropriate action after the Tracey boys are sexually assaulted. Jennifer Tracey, a widowed mother of two young boys, is a devout parishioner and very active within the Catholic Church. The Tracey family has built close relationships within the church community, especially after the death of the boys’ dad. One of those relationships is with Father Bill, who took the boys under his wing and spent time with them.
The boys are devastated when Father Bill is transferred to another parish and Father Gerry takes his place. Kenny, eleven years old, and Jake, nine, do not feel as comfortable around Father Gerry as they did with Father Bill. Jennifer makes the boys go on a camping trip with Father Gerry and the other boys from the Church. Once they return she can tell something is wrong but can’t quite put her finger on it. The boys become angry, sullen and disrespectful. Jennifer begins to suspect something happened on the trip. The Church “helps” by providing a psychologist for the boys to talk to. Dr. Harold Rothenberg gets the boys to finally open up. Once light is shed on the violent act that took place, Jennifer hires Zachary Blake to take this case public so that Father Gerry can never victimize children again. Blake, though, has fallen on hard times since Jennifer last saw him. At first he’s all about the path of least resistance, looking for the quick buck, but then, as he gets to know the family he sees how important it is to Jennifer that the case is made public so there are no more victims.
This reader appreciates that the action starts right away without a lot of build up to get to the plot. From the first page, the reader “hits the ground running” and becomes involved in the story. Within the first chapter the reader gets the idea that the two young boys become Father Gerry’s victims. Bello does a great job of showing how Father Gerry chooses his victims, and the Father’s inner dialog justifying why he does what he does is almost chilling. As the story unfolds Bello takes great care describing the inner workings of the Catholic Church and explaining the legal-ese used during the investigation and trial.
The author develops each of the characters with careful consideration. He lets us see and feel Jennifer’s guilt over her decisions. We see Zachary Blake’s initial “woe is me” attitude change to one of determination to get justice for these boys. Even Father Jon Costigan wrestles with his indecision in the beginning, realizing that if he had tried to push back against Father Gerry being assigned to his parish, this assault would not have happened. There are a few characters that play important parts within the story that this reader found to be lacking. The character that is “The Voice” felt like he was being built up to be evil per se, and with no doubt, he was. However, “The Voice”, by the climax of the story fell a little flat for me. He played a prominent role in the entire story but felt unfinished at the end. At times, the dialog between some of the characters seemed unrealistic, and on more than one occasion I thought to myself, “Conversations don’t flow like that between normal people”.
Betrayal of Faith gets a 3 out of 4 stars simply due to the “flow” of conversations between characters and the underdevelopment or anti-climactic ending for “The Voice”. The very real topic of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and the alleged cover-ups that we hear about in the news these days is a sensitive subject and Mr. Bello handles them with great care and detail.
This book is well written, appears to be professionally edited and tackles a topic that most authors would shy away from. It would be appropriate for older readers and those not easily offended or sensitive to this subject matter. It would also be appropriate for fans of legal thrillers and justice served. There is strong language dotted throughout the story but it is not overdone and does not seem to be gratuitous. There is no explicit sexual content between the characters but the sexual assault is described by the boys and may be inappropriate for some readers due to the nature of the assault.
******
Betrayal of Faith
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello, is a well written book on a very timely, yet controversial topic. The story revolves around the Tracey family and the Catholic Church's failure to take appropriate action after the Tracey boys are sexually assaulted. Jennifer Tracey, a widowed mother of two young boys, is a devout parishioner and very active within the Catholic Church. The Tracey family has built close relationships within the church community, especially after the death of the boys’ dad. One of those relationships is with Father Bill, who took the boys under his wing and spent time with them.
The boys are devastated when Father Bill is transferred to another parish and Father Gerry takes his place. Kenny, eleven years old, and Jake, nine, do not feel as comfortable around Father Gerry as they did with Father Bill. Jennifer makes the boys go on a camping trip with Father Gerry and the other boys from the Church. Once they return she can tell something is wrong but can’t quite put her finger on it. The boys become angry, sullen and disrespectful. Jennifer begins to suspect something happened on the trip. The Church “helps” by providing a psychologist for the boys to talk to. Dr. Harold Rothenberg gets the boys to finally open up. Once light is shed on the violent act that took place, Jennifer hires Zachary Blake to take this case public so that Father Gerry can never victimize children again. Blake, though, has fallen on hard times since Jennifer last saw him. At first he’s all about the path of least resistance, looking for the quick buck, but then, as he gets to know the family he sees how important it is to Jennifer that the case is made public so there are no more victims.
This reader appreciates that the action starts right away without a lot of build up to get to the plot. From the first page, the reader “hits the ground running” and becomes involved in the story. Within the first chapter the reader gets the idea that the two young boys become Father Gerry’s victims. Bello does a great job of showing how Father Gerry chooses his victims, and the Father’s inner dialog justifying why he does what he does is almost chilling. As the story unfolds Bello takes great care describing the inner workings of the Catholic Church and explaining the legal-ese used during the investigation and trial.
The author develops each of the characters with careful consideration. He lets us see and feel Jennifer’s guilt over her decisions. We see Zachary Blake’s initial “woe is me” attitude change to one of determination to get justice for these boys. Even Father Jon Costigan wrestles with his indecision in the beginning, realizing that if he had tried to push back against Father Gerry being assigned to his parish, this assault would not have happened. There are a few characters that play important parts within the story that this reader found to be lacking. The character that is “The Voice” felt like he was being built up to be evil per se, and with no doubt, he was. However, “The Voice”, by the climax of the story fell a little flat for me. He played a prominent role in the entire story but felt unfinished at the end. At times, the dialog between some of the characters seemed unrealistic, and on more than one occasion I thought to myself, “Conversations don’t flow like that between normal people”.
Betrayal of Faith gets a 3 out of 4 stars simply due to the “flow” of conversations between characters and the underdevelopment or anti-climactic ending for “The Voice”. The very real topic of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and the alleged cover-ups that we hear about in the news these days is a sensitive subject and Mr. Bello handles them with great care and detail.
This book is well written, appears to be professionally edited and tackles a topic that most authors would shy away from. It would be appropriate for older readers and those not easily offended or sensitive to this subject matter. It would also be appropriate for fans of legal thrillers and justice served. There is strong language dotted throughout the story but it is not overdone and does not seem to be gratuitous. There is no explicit sexual content between the characters but the sexual assault is described by the boys and may be inappropriate for some readers due to the nature of the assault.
******
Betrayal of Faith
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Betrayal of Faith by Mark M. Bello
