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Salvation Boulevard
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.
368 pages, Paperback
First published October 20, 2008
4 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Larry Beinhart
40 books59 followersLarry Beinhart is an Edgar Award-winning author whose American Hero became the movie Wag the Dog."
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 5, 2008
i wanted to like this book a lot. religion? murder? mystery? disenfranchisement? by the guy who wrote Wag the Dog? sign me up!
i was bored the first 3rd of the book. i kept going, hoping things would improve. and they did, but not by a lot. there was no real mystery, and the plot was generally very obvious.
my biggest complaint, though, was the religious aspect. sure, it slams evangelicalism/blind faith (and to those readers who expected otherwise, i'd think you would know better, from the premise) but my real issue was that the protagonist's faith did not feel very real.
sure, you see him wrestle with the right thing to do. you see him go on a religious pilgrimage. but at no point did i ever feel the emotional -- the spiritual -- weight of those transactions. it felt like, oh i know what the biblical thing is to do here, so i guess i'll *try* to do that now. whereas most evangelicals i have known - if feeling really tested - would spend time with the bible, if nothing else. that self-examination, conversation with god, prayer -- all of that could have been incorporated somehow and given Carl the depth he needed. at least, the depth i needed to be invested in the story.
glad i got it at the library...
i was bored the first 3rd of the book. i kept going, hoping things would improve. and they did, but not by a lot. there was no real mystery, and the plot was generally very obvious.
my biggest complaint, though, was the religious aspect. sure, it slams evangelicalism/blind faith (and to those readers who expected otherwise, i'd think you would know better, from the premise) but my real issue was that the protagonist's faith did not feel very real.
sure, you see him wrestle with the right thing to do. you see him go on a religious pilgrimage. but at no point did i ever feel the emotional -- the spiritual -- weight of those transactions. it felt like, oh i know what the biblical thing is to do here, so i guess i'll *try* to do that now. whereas most evangelicals i have known - if feeling really tested - would spend time with the bible, if nothing else. that self-examination, conversation with god, prayer -- all of that could have been incorporated somehow and given Carl the depth he needed. at least, the depth i needed to be invested in the story.
glad i got it at the library...
August 28, 2022
Favorite concept - religious problems exist because one of us thinks their imaginary best friend is better than the other one's imaginary best friend. Pretty much sums up the entire centuries long religious strife. Just a wonderful book from a wonderful author.
July 10, 2018
No particularly likeable characters, plot has loose ends. And all right is two words; alright is akin to alwrong.
Want to read
October 6, 2008OST NEW BOOKS 1ST FLOOR FIC BEINHART L
(I'll delete the following when I actually read the book. It's just here for reference right now.)
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
Publisher's Weekly gave "Salvation Boulevard" a starred review: Best known for American Hero (1994), the jaunty political novel that became the film Wag the Dog, Beinhart offers something less jaunty but definitely more ambitious in this splendid religious legal thriller. When Ahmad Nazami, a Muslim scholarship student at the University of the Southwest, confesses under duress to the murder of Nathaniel MacLeod, an atheist philosophy professor, PI Carl Van Wagener, a born-again Christian, agrees to help Manny Goldfarb, a celebrated Jewish defense lawyer, prove Nazami's innocence. Van Wagener, a member of charismatic pastor Paul Plowright's Cathedral of the Third Millennium, is soon on the trail of a missing manuscript MacLeod wrote disproving God's existence. In a beautifully understated author's note, Beinhart lays out the factual basis for his provocative morality tale and invites readers to visit his Web site, which includes a forum for an ongoing dialogue about religion, irreligion, faith, belief, and their intersections with politics, war, money, life, and death.
And it has five stars on Amazon.com, released in September.
Larry Beinhart writes from time to time for BuzzFlash. He's a brilliant writer, who penned the book that became "Wag the Dog." His book and the film are what we would recommend to anyone who wants to understand modern American narrative/performance/theatrical politics.
Beinhart has written many other books and commentaries.
In "Salvation Boulevard," he returns to his first love, mysteries. (He won the coveted "Edgar Award" for mysteries with the first book he wrote.) Only this is a mystery that explores the clash of religious beliefs in America and how they impact a murder mystery. Amazingly, Beinhart doesn't lose his Raymond Chandler tone as he needles the thread through some difficult terrain.
Vincent Bugliosi
"A gripping, page-turning tale that takes one through bad lawyers and good ones, treachery and faith, pornography and preaching, torture and Homeland Security. Salvation Boulevard is a great and memorable read."
Robert K. Tanenbaum
"Salvation Boulevard is dramatic and highly provocative. Larry Beinhart expertly crafts a tempestuous philosophical personal drama that will unquestionably motivate intense discussion, debate and critical thinking. Read Salvation Boulevard and you will be consumed in a thought provoking whirlwind. It's quite a significant read."
Ambassador Joseph Wilson
“In Orwellian times, fiction is often the only way to get the truth out. We are approaching such times in the United States, and Larry Beinhart masterfully alerts us to what depths our government has sunk. Salvation Boulevard is a quick paced and heart wrenching call to arms against the excesses our government has foisted upon “we the people.”
(I'll delete the following when I actually read the book. It's just here for reference right now.)
BuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
Publisher's Weekly gave "Salvation Boulevard" a starred review: Best known for American Hero (1994), the jaunty political novel that became the film Wag the Dog, Beinhart offers something less jaunty but definitely more ambitious in this splendid religious legal thriller. When Ahmad Nazami, a Muslim scholarship student at the University of the Southwest, confesses under duress to the murder of Nathaniel MacLeod, an atheist philosophy professor, PI Carl Van Wagener, a born-again Christian, agrees to help Manny Goldfarb, a celebrated Jewish defense lawyer, prove Nazami's innocence. Van Wagener, a member of charismatic pastor Paul Plowright's Cathedral of the Third Millennium, is soon on the trail of a missing manuscript MacLeod wrote disproving God's existence. In a beautifully understated author's note, Beinhart lays out the factual basis for his provocative morality tale and invites readers to visit his Web site, which includes a forum for an ongoing dialogue about religion, irreligion, faith, belief, and their intersections with politics, war, money, life, and death.
And it has five stars on Amazon.com, released in September.
Larry Beinhart writes from time to time for BuzzFlash. He's a brilliant writer, who penned the book that became "Wag the Dog." His book and the film are what we would recommend to anyone who wants to understand modern American narrative/performance/theatrical politics.
Beinhart has written many other books and commentaries.
In "Salvation Boulevard," he returns to his first love, mysteries. (He won the coveted "Edgar Award" for mysteries with the first book he wrote.) Only this is a mystery that explores the clash of religious beliefs in America and how they impact a murder mystery. Amazingly, Beinhart doesn't lose his Raymond Chandler tone as he needles the thread through some difficult terrain.
Vincent Bugliosi
"A gripping, page-turning tale that takes one through bad lawyers and good ones, treachery and faith, pornography and preaching, torture and Homeland Security. Salvation Boulevard is a great and memorable read."
Robert K. Tanenbaum
"Salvation Boulevard is dramatic and highly provocative. Larry Beinhart expertly crafts a tempestuous philosophical personal drama that will unquestionably motivate intense discussion, debate and critical thinking. Read Salvation Boulevard and you will be consumed in a thought provoking whirlwind. It's quite a significant read."
Ambassador Joseph Wilson
“In Orwellian times, fiction is often the only way to get the truth out. We are approaching such times in the United States, and Larry Beinhart masterfully alerts us to what depths our government has sunk. Salvation Boulevard is a quick paced and heart wrenching call to arms against the excesses our government has foisted upon “we the people.”
July 19, 2010
I was drawn to this book because I was an extra in the movie version filmed this summer in Michigan (stars Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei). The movie is billed as a comedy/thriller but after reading this book I'm guessing that the screenplay takes definite liberties with the plot as there was nothing really comedic in the book. Even more confusing for me, the scenes I filmed do not appear anywhere in the book! Still, it does have the thriller/mystery aspect which I always enjoy.
The plot centers around a born-again Christian investigator who, at first, is doing some investigative work for a lawyer who is representing a young Muslim male accused of murdering an atheist professor. Or was it a suicide? The authorities say he's a terrorist while the Muslim college kid says he was kidnapped and tortured. The investigator must sort it all out. A missing coed leads him to discover that the investigator's own mega church and its pastor may somehow be involved in the professor's murder/suicide.
The investigator questions his own idyllic family life and religious beliefs. He isn't above bending the law to get answers. The plot moves swiftly and it was difficult to put down this book. While the characters were well-developed, I couldn't help but picture Ed Harris as the professor and Pierce Brosnan as the pastor.
The plot centers around a born-again Christian investigator who, at first, is doing some investigative work for a lawyer who is representing a young Muslim male accused of murdering an atheist professor. Or was it a suicide? The authorities say he's a terrorist while the Muslim college kid says he was kidnapped and tortured. The investigator must sort it all out. A missing coed leads him to discover that the investigator's own mega church and its pastor may somehow be involved in the professor's murder/suicide.
The investigator questions his own idyllic family life and religious beliefs. He isn't above bending the law to get answers. The plot moves swiftly and it was difficult to put down this book. While the characters were well-developed, I couldn't help but picture Ed Harris as the professor and Pierce Brosnan as the pastor.
November 3, 2008
An atheist professor murdered, an Muslim student framed for the crime, a born-again christian detective trying to get to the truth which implicates members of his own mega-church.
This is the basic idea behind this religious murder mystery that is really a cover for a liberal secular attack on conservative religious sanctimony and hypocrisy. I enjoyed this book but if you are a born-again christian or offended by negative stereotyping of believers you may be offended by the broad brush Beinhart uses to paint his villains. In the end,this novel is perhaps a bit of secular propaganda but I found it to be enjoyable propaganda none the less.
This is the basic idea behind this religious murder mystery that is really a cover for a liberal secular attack on conservative religious sanctimony and hypocrisy. I enjoyed this book but if you are a born-again christian or offended by negative stereotyping of believers you may be offended by the broad brush Beinhart uses to paint his villains. In the end,this novel is perhaps a bit of secular propaganda but I found it to be enjoyable propaganda none the less.
November 4, 2008
An atheist professor murdered, an Muslim student framed for the crime, a born-again christian detective trying to get to the truth which implicates members of his own mega-church.
This is the basic idea behind this religious murder mystery that is really a cover for a liberal secular attack on conservative religious sanctimony and hypocrisy. I enjoyed this book but if you are a born-again christian or offended by negative stereotyping of believers you may be offended by the broad brush Beinhart uses to paint his villains. In the end,this novel is perhaps a bit of secular propaganda but I found it to be enjoyable propaganda none the less.
This is the basic idea behind this religious murder mystery that is really a cover for a liberal secular attack on conservative religious sanctimony and hypocrisy. I enjoyed this book but if you are a born-again christian or offended by negative stereotyping of believers you may be offended by the broad brush Beinhart uses to paint his villains. In the end,this novel is perhaps a bit of secular propaganda but I found it to be enjoyable propaganda none the less.
June 15, 2009
The plot is pure Elmer Gantry--power corrupts, and power backed by religion corrupts absolutely--but what drew me in and wouldn't let me go were the moral dilemmas of the main character. Christianity saved his life. How can he accept that it leaves others no better and no worse than they were before, and justifies the perversions of still others? He loves his wife. How can he force her to face truths that may destroy her faith and alienate her from their community? The best man he knows is a Jew, who gets killed early on in the book. Is he in hell? What kind of God would do that? This book felt like a dispatch from the front lines of a war I've (thank God) never had to fight.
January 29, 2010
This is a good novel which addresses religious topics in a detective novel framework. A detective who happens to be a Born Again Christian is hired by the Jewish detective who is defending Muslim student who appears to have murdered a controversial professor. Questions of ethics and faith, and shadows from the detective's own troubled past plague the detective as he works to understand what really happened. The author is such a fine writer: I wish he would publish more often. This book i s thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time.
July 1, 2012
If this book hadn't been my book club's monthly book, I am not sure i would have made it through. It just wasn't that interesting. The book is super easy to fead and the chapters are mercifully short. The writing style was on the border of parody and the plot was very predictable. The second half was better than the first half, but I still had to force myself to slog through it. Then in the end, the ending left me wanting. I don't see me reading another book by this author.
October 15, 2008
An interesting book. An atheist religious philosophy professor is supposedly murdered by a Muslim who is defended by a Jew with a born again investigator. There are some pretty interesting points being made. Some had me wondering how to answer the question. In the afterword there is mentioned a website to continue the discussion.
December 23, 2008
This is the first mystery genre novel I have read, and I now find myself hooked (at least if this book is characteristic of the form). Larry Beinhart not only weaves a great tale but very adroitly addresses some pretty serious cultural issues, such as politics and religion, without becoming pedantic, preachy, or boring. Highly recommended.
April 9, 2009
The question of absolute power and corruption can be delved into in all walks of life and positions of authority. This novel contemplates how people travel through their spiritual landscapes in search of direction and purpose, and how sometimes placing that trust outside oneself can be hazardous, if only for the intermediary's interference.
August 5, 2011
I liked Salvation Blvd. well enough, but really expected more from it. The social commentary was often ham-handed and the mystery was a bit too obvious. It moved at a good enough pace and ended well, but the pot-shots at Evangelicals lacked subtlety and the main character's move from faith to doubt felt forced.
January 20, 2014
It's not often I read a mystery where the born-again hero is a private detective. Kind of strange but in the end he rises above temptation and slips and solves the murder of his partner, a liberal Jewish lawyer, and solves the murder of a liberal professor of which his partner's client, a young Arab Muslim, is accused.
October 28, 2008
This book was a compassionate tale of the interaction of religious and non religious people set in a dark detective story. Too real for comfort and edgy in the best way. I need to read more of this guy's work.
February 18, 2010
Lousy, obvious 'mystery' and prejudiced religious portrayal.
Least credible of all is the shocking 'philosophy' that puts the plot in motion. Please. It convinces me that the author thinks his readers are simpletons.
Least credible of all is the shocking 'philosophy' that puts the plot in motion. Please. It convinces me that the author thinks his readers are simpletons.
July 14, 2011
Cartoon characters discussing theodicy...a genre excercise which does for the Private Detective what Hitchens/Dawkins do in non-fiction,which is to set-up religious Straw Men to demonstrate the superiority of the Atheist position...a good argument could be made but this isn't it...
February 20, 2012
I really hated this book at first, but it finally started to pick up speed and ended up not being completely awful. It had a lot of turns and surprises - which made me like it. The movie of this book was HORRIBLE. I do NOT recommend it.
December 9, 2008
I enjoyed the book but because of the hype this it just couldn't live up to my expectations (like most fiction for me.
September 1, 2010
heard an author interview and thought I'd like it...didn't really (read prior to date indicated)
May 18, 2011
The author of "Wag the Dog" -this one involves a mega-church, terrorism, and a murder. Kept my interest but would be hard to recommend.
November 21, 2011
The concept of this book was better than the actual execution. You can give this book a pass, I feel you'd just be disappointed if you were brought to this book by the premise
Read
August 11, 2016For reflections on this title, see Moral Relativism Magazine, Issue 1!
June 15, 2013
Convoluted and intriguing.
July 19, 2015
The book has insightful investigative and religious ideas; overall a good read.
September 29, 2016
Interesting crime novel.
January 15, 2015
Characters are a little one-dimensional - and the 'hero' really whines too much.
Want to read
February 2, 2019Synopsis: PI Carl Van Wagener has found a case that tests his soul. A professor is dead and a has confessed. But nothing is what it seems.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews