The crooked heart of mercy

"Ben wakes up in a hospital with a hole in his head he can't explain. What he can remember he'd rather forget. Like how he'd spent nights as a limo driver for the wealthy and debauched... how he and his wife, Maggie, drifted apart in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy... how his little brother, Cola, got in over his head with loan sharks circling. Maggie is alone. Again. With bills to pay and Ben in a psych ward, she must return to work. But who would hire her in the state she's in? And just as Maggie turns to her brother, Francis, the Internet explodes with a video of his latest escapade. The headline? Drunk Priest Propositions Cops. Francis is an unlikely priest with a drinking problem and little interest in celibacy. A third DUI, a looming court date.... When Maggie takes him in, he knows he may be down to his last chance. And his best shot at healing might lay in helping Maggie and Ben reconnect--against all odds."--

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of LGBTQ+, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.