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    The Righteous
    The Righteous
    The Righteous
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Righteous

    Written by Michael Wallace

    Narrated by Arielle DeLisle

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Deep in the Utah desert, the small polygamous community of Blister Creek has a history of protecting its own. Even when a young woman is brutally murdered just blocks from her home, the residents of the conservative enclave close ranks. But just because they don’t want outside law enforcement in their business doesn’t mean the murder will go unpunished. More than a thousand miles away, Jacob Christianson, a medical student and son of a devout church elder, learns of his cousin Amanda’s murder. Though Jacob is skeptical of many of the community’s fundamentalist beliefs, his sharply analytical mind and family connection to the victim earns him the assignment of investigator into Amanda’s death. Jacob heads to Blister Creek, accompanied by his inquisitive younger sister, Eliza, to probe the bizarre circumstances of their cousin’s violent death. It doesn’t take long for the pair to realize that Amanda’s murder was no random act; rather, it is part of a covert plot to overthrow the church’s leaders. Chilling and engrossing, The Righteous has been hailed as a “first rate suspense thriller,” a tightly plotted novel about the dark secrets hiding behind the veil of religion.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 1, 2012
    ISBN9781455881338
    The Righteous
    Author

    Michael Wallace

    MICHAEL WALLACE is a senior consultant with Cardinal Solutions Group, an IT strategy, Agile coaching, and disaster recovery consultancy.

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    Reviews for The Righteous

    3.5/5

    53 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Keeps me up at nite listening, I’m ready for the next in series
    • 4/5
      This was a book dealing with s specific cultish sect of the Mormons in modern day-it was fiction, but contained a lot of truth such as temple practices, life styles and beliefs.
    • 4/5
      This was a book dealing with s specific cultish sect of the Mormons in modern day-it was fiction, but contained a lot of truth such as temple practices, life styles and beliefs.
    • 4/5
      A woman running through the night carrying a small child. The next day the woman is found dead and the child is found sleeping in her own bed. For the polygamist sect in Blister Creek Utah, having the authorities poking around would be a very bad thing. They turn to another related sect from Alberta, Canada, to investigate the murder. Jacob Christianson, a medical student, and his sister Eliza are sent to investigate. As they dig deeper, they uncover more than just murder. The tension builds and finally comes to a crashing climax.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Great writing. Good plot. Looking forward to reading more by this Author.
    • 3/5
      Well, I’m not quite sure what to make of this book. It’s certainly a serviceable mystery/thriller with many religious overtones. The author, whose bio says was raised in the desert, “raised in a small religious community in Utah,” (close to the FLDS?) has a lot of very interesting and supposedly secret details of sealing ceremonies and the inside of a splinter Mormon polygamist community.

      The book does seem to go off the rails a bit with a wildly improbable plot twist that wasn’t necessary (hence three instead of four stars) and detracted from the main story.. The issues raised with regard to who and what is righteous and where does religious authority come from are interesting enough. Jacob, off at medical school, is recalled by his father, an elder in the Blister Creek Church. to return and investigate the ritualistic murder of Amanda. He, a skeptic or rationalist of sorts, refuses to be buffaloed by the mythic traditions of his church but retains allegiance to his family, a connection which would lost should he abandon the church entirely. Had Wallace pursued these threads, I think the book would have been stronger and more interesting. He handles some of the issues quite sensitively but then goes off on this ridiculous plot twist that remains unresolved in the end, awaiting book #2 in the series, which I will probably read, if for no other reason than morbid curiosity into the religious silliness.

      You do get a nice sense of what it must be like to live as an outcast constantly at war with the “evil” world and trying to determine what constitutes valid revelation from plain insanity (or silliness.) A couple of reviewers on Amazon (one-star reviews) have suggested Wallace is, in fact, a “Lost Boy” himself; certainly not an impossibility given some of his insider knowledge (assuming it’s correct and the defensiveness of some of the Mormon readers would suggest it is.) It’s certainly more sympathetic, I thought than they imply.
    • 4/5
      Freedom of religion is a constitutional right that can be denied to no citizen, and separation of church and state is a concept that is used when it is convenient for the majority. Plural marriage, however, has been criminalized. As such, Morman fundamentalist groups scattered throughout North and Cental America have closed ranks and become very private communities. We as a society tend to fear what we do not understand, and that fear is occasionally given a face. Like any other race, religion, or creed there are people that do bad, evil things. I am not here to sway you one way or the other in your views on polygamy. It is understand able, however, that the leaders of these communities would perfer to limit the inclusion of outsiders.Michael Wallace has opened a window into this very private world. In the fictional community of Blister Creek, UT Amanda Kimball uncovers a dark secret and dies a traitor’s death for it. When th Prophet hears of the death he sends Jacob Christianson, an unmarried member if tge church, to investigate under the guise of securing a husband for his sister and a wife for himself.I have been a long time fan of Patricia Cornwell’s character Kay Scarpetta. Like Scarpetta, Michael Wallace’s intelligent but flawed character Jacob Christianson is relatable, understandabke, and real. He questions both religion and science.  He struggles with the confinement of fundamentalism and weakness of individualism. He fights for the privacy of his community and the justice for the victims.Storeyonastory.wordpress.com
    • 4/5
      Such an interesting lead character -- well, they are siblings, but he's much more intriguing than she is, and he's the real detective. As you might expect in such a fundamentalist culture, her options are limited.
    • 4/5
      This book is a thriller and a mystery story, with a truly evil villain behind everything that happens in the book which includes murder, kidnapping and fraud. But the story is much more than that as it is set smack in the middle of a fundamental polygamist religious sect. Jacob Christianson is a wonderful hero in this setting as he belongs to this religious community. This helps him understand some of the underlying motives behind all the carnage. But Jacob is training to be a doctor so he brings the outside world perspective to his investigations as well as a keen intelligence. The book is definitely a page-turner, but it is brutal and bloody in places, and somewhat difficult to read because of the portrayed brutality and graphic descriptions. It is actually truly frightening delving into the motivation behind the actions in this book. Religious zealots are indeed a force to be reckoned with because of their single-mindedness and their conviction that everything that they do is ordained and sanctioned by God, and because of that they don't really think they have to follow the rules and laws of the "Gentile" world. It is easy to tell that Michael Wallace knows his subject and knows what it is like inside a strict fundamental and sexist polygamist society. A real eye-opener of a book.
    • 4/5
      Honestly, I did not go into The Righteous thinking that I would find it interesting. It was an impulse buy and I thought I'd read a few chapters while waiting at the doctor's office or something and then likely put it down. I was so wrong.Immediately I was intrigued by what is a very foreign world, though it resides in the same country that I do. I have no idea if what goes on in this story is based on actual communities or not, but that doesn't matter to me in the slightest. This is a fantastic story, told with spare style that I enjoyed. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing about what's really going on.Michael Wallace draws his characters well. The antagonists have motivations and the protagonists have flaws. I adore Eliza. She's a smart girl inhabiting a world that she loves, but has issues with. Unlike a lot of these types of heroines, she doesn't immediately run away and toughs it out. I admire her strength more than any other female character I've read recently. Jacob, her brother and the other main character, is troubled by his lack of faith, but that doesn't stop him from making tough choices for the good of his people.The only reason this story doesn't get five stars is that there are some minor pacing issues in the latter half. He spends quite a bit of time relating detailed religious aspects of their world that I just didn't find necessary. Others might like that bit of world building, but I wasn't too keen on it. Please don't let that put you off this book, because it is a fabulous read and you won't be disappointed.
    • 3/5
      The Righteous by Michael Wallace is remarkable not for the intrigue behind the murder being investigated and where it leads as much as it is remarkable for its insights into a cult of polygamist Mormons, their religious beliefs, rituals, and secrets. Granted, the story revolves around a fictional splintered group of Mormons that differ from the “Salt Lake Mormons,” nevertheless, a common Mormon-belief thread shows up quite often within the story. What was particularly revealing was the glimpse into the local Mormon temple -- always a secret off-limits place to “gentiles” (non-Mormons) -- and the “sealings” and “endowments” that occur therein. But, back to the story: I thought the premise was a bit forced and the plethora of characters confusing at times, and, although I found the ending less than satisfying, the story had a certain holding power to make for a good read. (Sidebar: Polygamy numbers somewhere between 30,000 and 80,000 participants in today's Utah and Arizona.)