Salvation Boulevard

eBook, 351 pages

English language

Published 2008 by Nation Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-56858-411-9
OCLC Number:: 191926269

Some cases test a private investigator's wits, others test his courage, and still others, his character. In Salvation Boulevard, P.I. Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests them all, and then goes on to test his soul. A professor is dead and a suspect-who has confessed-is in custody. But nothing is what it seems. After all, the dead man is an atheist professor, the accused an Islamic foreign student, the defense attorney a Jew, and the detective a Born Again Christian. As Carl gets deeper and deeper into the investigation of the death of professor Nathaniel MacLeod, his most basic beliefs and relationships are tried and his world is turned upside down. The mega-church, the pastor, and his new wife who have redeemed Carl from a life of grim debauchery insist on his dropping the case. But he can't stop searching for the real killer and the truth-no …

Some cases test a private investigator's wits, others test his courage, and still others, his character. In Salvation Boulevard, P.I. Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests them all, and then goes on to test his soul. A professor is dead and a suspect-who has confessed-is in custody. But nothing is what it seems. After all, the dead man is an atheist professor, the accused an Islamic foreign student, the defense attorney a Jew, and the detective a Born Again Christian. As Carl gets deeper and deeper into the investigation of the death of professor Nathaniel MacLeod, his most basic beliefs and relationships are tried and his world is turned upside down. The mega-church, the pastor, and his new wife who have redeemed Carl from a life of grim debauchery insist on his dropping the case. But he can't stop searching for the real killer and the truth-no matter what the personal cost. Salvation Boulevard is a page-turning thriller in the tradition of John Grisham and Richard Condon that grapples with the ecstatic and entropic nature of religious faith in contemporary America.

8 editions

technicat reviewed Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart

An ambitious blend of Patriot Act madness, big religion, drug lords, sex, academia, and the usual hard-boiled antihero with a tortured soul

No rating

Somehow I hadn't noticed there was a movie of this book made with four of my favorite actors, but having just read the wikipedia synopsis, I think it's safe to say the book is better. Somehow, the film lords extraced a "comedy thriller" out of this brooding meditation on faith, and lack of, and corruption, no lack of, and sex, same, all packaged in a pretty decent mystery with enough action to satisfy the thriller part. Movie-wise, I think they should try again.