Review: Step aside, J.R. Ewing...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2013
In the 80s, J.R. Ewing was the man America loved to hate. In the second decade of the new Millennium, that man is Jamie Lee Vincent. If this were to become a serial drama / soap opera, it would be the televangelism equivalent of "Dallas"' take on the oil business."The Bastard Preacher" is a captivating story with realistic characters with real emotions, although it did seem quite exaggerated and stereotypical. Very few of the characters seemed to possess the slightest hint of moral fiber and one of perhaps the only two innocent characters in the book ended up being coerced into prostitution.Needless to say, this book is a highly-sexualized account of the underbelly of televangelist con-artistry, and contains very sexually-explicit language and situations. I did find that the reader is left with a pessimistic view of not only Christian leaders, but humanity in general. While it is true that everybody --televangelists included-- has their faults and weaknesses, I felt that the impression this work gave of Christians was unfair. I find it difficult to conceive that most televangelists are as hypocritical and intentionally-malicious as Jamie Lee and the Rivertons are portrayed. This seemed to be the inference of the quotes by famous televangelists in each chapter heading --which, by the way, seemed oftentimes to be random and having little or no bearing on the chapter.On the technical side, the author has an excellent vocabulary and way with words -- she is a great storyteller. However, there were numerous typos and punctuation errors throughout the book. The most-frequent error was in the misuse of commas, folowed by misapplication of apostrophes and mixing up of perods with question marks. There were also a few instances of incorrect conjugation of verbs, confusing the present and past tense. A misplaced comma can completely change the meaning of a sentence, so proper editing is essential to any published work. If these numerous technical errors were to be corrected, I would give this work an additional star in my rating.That being said, I am drawn to the characters and plot enough that I'm anxious to read Book II. I'll be watching for it in the Kindle Store.