Trade Paperback
320 pages
Apr 2006
Zondervan

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

Ron Hamilton pastors a mega-church in Los Angeles and his work against pornography is a thorn in the side of residents who don’t want their city cleaned up. Then a porn star’s body is found in a squalid motel room and Ron is arrested and charged with her murder. The media has a field day.

Dallas Hamilton believes in her husband’s innocence—until the evidence starts to pile up, all pointing to Ron. The broken man behind prison bars seems far from the man she married. With her present and future crumbling simultaneously, Dallas embarks on a desperate search for the truth. And then her past comes to call.

Jared Hamilton, an ex-Marine haunted by the depravity he’s seen in Iraq, wants nothing to do with the dad who pushed him aside in embarrassment during Jared’s rebellious teen years. He’s here for his mom. But even her love can’t heal the images pulsing through his brain, the anger in his fists, or the purposelessness he feels in his life.

Using rapid-fire plot, twisting intrigue, and characters so real you want to meet them, James Scott Bell once again proves that he is a master at courtroom drama. The edgy subject matter provides a wake-up call to the church without becoming graphic, though the book is more suited for adults than teens. A strong redemptive message with a bit of the supernatural only leans toward preaching a time or two, amazing in a novel that focuses on a pastor’s family and a church. Read it for the characters, read it for the action, just make sure you read it. – Katie Hart, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

Murder, betrayal, and a trial that feeds a media frenzy.

Can one woman stand against the forces that threaten to tear her family apart?

Pastor Ron Hamilton’s star is rising. His 8,000-strong church is thriving. His good looks and charisma make him an exceptional speaker on family values. And his book on pornography in the church has become an unexpected bestseller. Everything is perfect.

Until a young woman’s body is discovered in a seedy motel room. The woman is a porn star. And all the evidence in the murder points to one man: Ron.

With the noose tightening around her husband’s neck, Dallas Hamilton faces a choice: believe the seemingly irrefutable facts—or the voice of her heart. The press has already reached its verdict, and the public echoes it. But Dallas is determined to do whatever it takes to find the truth.

And then a dark secret from Dallas's past threatens to take them all down.

As the clock ticks toward Ron's conviction and imprisonment, and an underworld of evil encircles her, Dallas must gather all her trust in God to discover what really happened in that motel room . . . even if it means losing faith in her husband forever.