Synopsis:
John Reimer, a Mennonite preacher in Lakeview, Chicago, might be on the downslope of his ministerial career. At least that’s how he feels most days. Then one morning in March a hungover waitress at the Melrose diner tells him to look into the murder of a bike messenger at North Pond—and begs him to keep the cops out of it. Before too long Reimer is making tracks through Chicago, asking a lot of questions, and leaving many people uncomfortable.
Reimer encounters a menagerie of characters in his beloved city—among them a brooding detective who trusts Reimer’s instincts; a Moody Bible Institute drop-out trying to stay on his antipsychotic medication; a charismatic alderman; and the church moderator, Nancy Huefflinger, an attorney who knows when to swagger and when to turn on the charm. Complicating things is Reimer’s despair for his wife Vi, in hospice with an incurable neurological disease, and whose condition has shaken his faith to the core. When Reimer figures out that whoever killed the young man at North Pond is coming after him, too, he must summon all his inner resources—including some he didn’t learn in seminary—if he wants to survive.
About the Author:
David Saul Bergman is the pen name for the collaboration of Daniel Born and Dale Suderman. Born is the author of The Birth of Liberal Guilt in the English Novel: Charles Dickens to H. G. Wells. A former vice president at the Great Books Foundation, he teaches literature at Northwestern University's School of Professional Studies. His essays and articles have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, and Literature & Theology. Suderman (1944-2020) was a Vietnam veteran and graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He served as an administrator for Mennonite Voluntary Service, as owner and operator of an independent bookstore, and as an addictions counselor for the Salvation Army. He also wrote a regular column, View from Afar, for the Hillsboro Free Press in Kansas. His publication credits include Books & Culture, The Common Review, and Mennonite World Review.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.