Have not read

Initially, this seemed as if Kerr had written an FBI serial-killer thriller. Then Prayer went through a Dan Brown global conspiracy phase. Then the tone changed to a supernatural stalking, or possibly a psychotic meltdown as part of a midlife crisis following a loss of faith.

Prayer is all of the above, and more. It struggles somewhat to pull all of these aspects together into a coherent theme, however, and some parts are outright clichéd and a little cringe-worthy.

At first the key character seems to be artfully drawn, a talented investigator, an intelligent man. Like so many of Kerr’s protagonists (yes, Bernie Gunther, I’m thinking of you), Gil Martin has problems with authority. He’s a wise-ass, confident in his own abilities and inclined towards confrontation with his superiors when he doesn’t respect them.

The events in Prayer strip away Gil’s support structure – not just the love of his wife but also his dependence upon his own intellect and the importance of belonging to an organisation. Gil relishes being part of the machinery which keeps society safe. He bends rules but he also participates in the rituals; at home, at church, at the club. Gradually, all his connections are revealed as being faint and superficial, as something infinitely more important is revealed to him.

Alternatively (and it’s not entirely obvious from the way the narrative is presented) he might just be going bonkers, seeing patterns where there are none and allowing his personal life to shatter into fragments as his sanity unravels.

There's more details on the plot and characterisation here:
http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/prayer-losing-your-religion/
but overall the novel doesn't really succeed in pulling all its disparate threads together. It veers from sentimental to spooky, and some of Gil's actions go beyond questionable and into flat-out unbelievable.

In the end, Prayer suggests that there’s something infinitely more frightening than faith, and that thing is certainty. A chilling proposition indeed… even if the book can’t seem to make up its mind exactly what it wants to be.
7/10 ( )

The first half of this book proposes a mystery which I found intriguing, and a character, Gil Martins, who I found compelling and charming. I was expecting a complicated mystery that would come together through careful detective work from Gil and his team. Instead, in the second half of the book, the mystery is revealed to be of an implausible and supernatural nature, with the story building up to a climax that falls flat. Overall, disappointing, although the potential I saw in the first half makes me think that I might really enjoy Kerr's other books, if they don't have the same religious/supernatural bent. ( )

It is interesting that just a quick flick through the reviews of this book identified the key points I want to make. The book starts well, but deteriorates (like so many novels which involve world shattering secrets) once it gets to the "big issue". The central problem is one of credibility, which is totally absent from the second half of the book. I love the Bernie Gunther books, but I now remember why I did not enjoy many of Kerr's other stuff. ( )

Former Catholic Scottish ex-pat Gil Martins lives in Houston, Texas, works for the FBI, and together with his wife is a member of an Evangelical mega-church. When he starts to have doubts, she kicks him out and his old friend the Catholic Bishop comes to the rescue, offering a place to live in the ghost town of Galveston.
Meanwhile, prominent do-gooders and Atheists are being murdered, and the bishop suspects the Angel of Death. Yes, the actual Angel of Death, invoked by an evil cult of murderous happy-clappy Christian fundamentalists. Gil visits the church, meets the suave and charismatic minister - soon revealed as a malevolent fanatic - and, soon becomes a target of the deadly prayer circle himself.
The supernatural is not something one expects to find in a Kerr book and, fan though I am, I must admit he is not very good at it. His depiction of God as being an uncaring, capricious and cruel being, an Old Testament homicidal psychopath, is also a tad disturbing. Prayer is interesting but not one of Kerr's better efforts. ( )