This is one of the paperbacks that I bought at the library book sale on Sa 4/13/19
My interpretation of the very twisty plot:
An American priest is present during the genocide in Rwanda during the 1990's. The church was packed with people believing that they would get sanctuary. Hutu rebels entered the church and 46 people were murdered- small weapons fire and machetes.
Hutus were the perpetrators and the Tutsis were the victims.
Hutus are the taller race and Tutsis were shorter.
Hutus would often chop the feet off of Tutsis before murdering them.
Father Terry Dunn is really not a priest. His mother always wanted him to join the priesthood, and he left Detroit saying that he was going to California to study, but he really hooked up with a girlfriend.
Terry's uncle was a priest and he always respected this man. When he went to Rwanda to visit the man, the uncle needed a priest as a replacement and he rammed it through.
Terry would always give ten hail marys for any offense. Before leaving the country he executed four members of the Hutu rebels who were responsible for the killings in his church. They told him what they had done and they would be coming back to finish the job- kill all Tutsis!
Terry returns to Detroit and stays with his married brother, Francis, and his family.
Fran believes that Terry is really a priest. Terry tells everyone that he is starting a charity for the Rwandan orphans- 'pagan babies'.
Terry meets a woman, Debbie, who did legal work for Fran.
Debbie went to prison for running down her boyfriend, Randy, with her Ford Escort.
Randy is a hustler and owns a restaurant that he got by swindling Debbie for $67,000.
Randy is getting shaken down by a mob boss, Victor.
Terry and Debbie take Randy and the mob for thousands of dollars.
Debbie tries to double cross Terry, but Terry wins and takes all the money.
He returns to Rwanda and uses the money to help the Rwandan children.
The novel begins in Rwanda. The protagonist is a priest named Terry Dunn. It is a few years after the genocide of the Tutsis by the Hutus.
Father Terry lives in Rwanda with his girlfriend Chantelle. He doesn't have qualms about substituting punishment for penance. If that means killing four Hutu murderers who slaughtered his Tutsi congregation, so be it. After being an instrument of divine wrath, Dunn breaks camp and heads for Detroit. He wants to raise money for 'Pagan Babies' — the children orphaned during the genocide.
Dunn's brother Fran specializes in lawsuits for personal injuries. He is helping Debbie, a woman who spent three years in jail for deliberately hitting her ex-husband Randy with a Ford Escort. Debbie is trying to have a career as a comedian. In the meantime we learn more about Terry's past and his problems with the IRS, which was the reason for his fleeing to Rwanda to help his uncle.
Debbie's ex-husband Randy now owns a restaurant and is involved with some of the same gangsters that Terry once knew. Debbie and Terry begin a relationship. Randy stole sixty-seven thousand dollars from Debbie and now it's only a matter of time before Debbie's desire for cold, hard cash and Terry's fundraising for Rwandan orphans join forces in a carefully plotted financial assault on Randy. They want to receive a donation of 250,000 dollars from Tony Amilia, the local wiseguy, for the 'Pagan Babies'. In Randy's restaurant all of the local wise guys, hit men, and scam artists twist and twirl around each other for the money and for their lives.
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