Heaven’s Prey by Janet Sketchley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The storm that 46-year-old Ruth Warner braves to attend her weekly prayer meeting is a perfect opening to Heaven’s Prey, a debut novel by Nova Scotia native Janet Sketchley. Ruth’s husband Tony can’t understand why she would go out on such a night to pray for Harry Silver, the serial killer who abducted, then butchered their beautiful niece Susan.
But Ruth’s nightmares of Silver’s destiny without salvation drive her, especially now that he has escaped from prison and other Susans may be in danger. Little does Ruth guess, when she stops at a convenience store on her way home, who will soon be in Silver’s clutches.
Heaven’s Prey is suspense at its most gripping. In it Sketchley makes us face our worst nightmares in the company of a depraved man with no compassion, seemingly no conscience, and a deep-rooted hatred of God and everyone associated with Him. At the same time we delve, through flashbacks, into Silver’s past, following his rise to stardom on the NASCAR circuit even as his addiction to pornography spirals him into a world of obsession and lust.
Sketchley’s vigorous prose places us squarely in each scene, whether it’s tied up in an isolated Nova Scotia cottage or careening around racetrack obstacles: “Danger came from what he couldn’t see. …The tire rubber would delaminate in long strips and flail his chassis to bits” – Kindle Location 1702.
Though the subject matter is edgy, I appreciated Sketchley’s avoidance of gratuitous and disturbing description. What comes through in this bite-your-nails tale is the possibility of redemption. God, the tireless pursuer intent on capturing even the worst of sinners, is the real hero of this story. Discussion questions at the end of the book help readers debrief and make sense of what they’ve just lived through.
Explore Heaven’s Prey in more depth through the book’s page on Janet Sketchley’s blog. There you can also sign up for her newsletter so you’re in the loop for the release of more books in the Redemption’s Edge fiction series.
I received a copy of Heaven’s Prey as a gift from the author for the purpose of writing a review. This review was first published in Faith Today (January/February ’14).
Violet Nesdoly 