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    Plain Heathen Mischief
    Plain Heathen Mischief
    Plain Heathen Mischief
    Audiobook19 hours

    Plain Heathen Mischief

    Written by Martin Clark

    Narrated by David Aaron Baker

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "Of The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, Martin Clark's first novel, the New York Times Book Review wrote, "Like Nick Hornby in High Fidelity and Thomas McGuane in Nothing But Blue Skies, Clark has produced an oddly stirring portrait of a man in existential disarray." Which-noted Malcolm Jones in Newsweek-"made me laugh so hard I fell off the sofa." Plain Heathen Mischief ups the existential ante, as Joel King, a defrocked Baptist minister, finds life even more bedeviling once he's served six months for a career-ending crime he might not even have committed. Now his incommunicado wife wants a divorce, the teenage vixen of his disgrace is suing him for a cool $5 million, a fresh start in Montana offers no hope for ex-cons of any religious persuasion, and the refuge provided by his sister turns as nasty as his parole officer. Talk about a crisis of faith. On the upside, a solicitous member of Joel's former congregation invites him into a scam that could yield some desperately needed cash, and soon the down-on-his-luck preacher is involved with a flock of charming con men, crooked lawyers, and conniving youth. In a feat of bravura storytelling, Martin Clark ranges from the cross to the double cross, from Virginia to Las Vegas, from jail cells to trout streams, as he follows his Job-like hero through dubious choices and high-dollar insurance hustles to a redemption that no reader could possibly predict. Wildly imaginative, at times comic, at times profoundly sobering, and even more audacious than his wonderfully idiosyncratic debut, Plain Heathen Mischief is a spiritual revelation of the first order."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 8, 2015
    ISBN9781490658070
    Plain Heathen Mischief
    Author

    Martin Clark

    Martin Clark is a retired Virginia circuit court judge, who served twenty-seven years on the bench. His novels have appeared on numerous bestseller lists and have been chosen as a New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year, a Bookmarks magazine Best Book of the Year, a Boston Globe Best Book of the Year, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, a finalist for the Stephen Crane First Fiction Award, and the winner of the Library of Virginia’s People’s Choice Award in 2009, 2016 and 2020. Martin received the Patrick County Outstanding Community Service Award in 2016 and the Virginia State Bar’s Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Award in 2018. He and his wife, Deana, live on a farm with dogs, cats, chickens and three donkeys.

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    Reviews for Plain Heathen Mischief

    3.5/5

    35 ratings5 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Plain Heathen Mischief is just plain fun. The Rev. Joel King has just been released from prison following his guilty plea for molesting a young girl in his parish what actually happened comes out later.) Reviled by the community and his wife, now suing for divorce, he is taken under his wing by Edmund Brooks. Joel, unable to find work, is courted by Brooks, into an insurance scheme. In the meantime Christy Darden, the underage girl he supposedly had sex with, is suing the church for several million dollars. Joel, attempting to protect his church, and feeling guilty as sin, meets with Christy, only to discover that she is part of a larger insurance scam created by Brooks that used Joel as the fall guy. The whole mess becomes complicated as Joel attempts to con the con men but becomes snared in a quagmire of his own making. It’s very funny with serious overtones.
    • 5/5
      Not since Bonfire of the Vanities, has the hero of a book taken a wrong turn and gotten into such a world of trouble. Good characters, convoluted but satisfying plot, guilt and sin abound in this book about Joel King, a Baptist preacher, fallen, defrocked, encarcerated, and redeemed.
    • 3/5
      I'm not sure what genre to lump this book into, other than just simply"fiction." It's the story of Joel King, a middle-aged defrockedSouthern Baptist minister who succumbed to temptation and her obviousefforts at seduction, and kissed a girl he knew was only 17. Call it alapse in judgment, or pass it off as a mid-life crisis, a man trying toreassure himself that he still had what it takes to attract a female.She accused him of having sex with her, even had DNA evidence (pubichair!) and he decided to plead guilty to contributing to the delinquencyof a minor, which he felt he had certainly done. But it was anadmission of complete guilt as far as his wife and congregation wereconcerned. Six months in the county jail later, he walks out into a newday, only to be slapped with divorce papers and a civil lawsuit for fivemillion dollars from the girl in question.Devastated and down on his luck, Joel plans to head to Montana where hewill stay with his only sister, a struggling single mother. He meets upwith a rather shady character, a sometimes member of his former flock,who exists in life perpetuating one insurance scam after another. Thelogic this con man presents him with, that he is simply working "thesag" (that massive amount of money shilled off the top by dishonestinsurance companies) and not really hurting anybody begins to make senseto the good Reverend after facing the harsh reality of being an ex-conliving off his sister in her spartan basement and trying to find honestwork.Joel becomes embroiled in an insurance scam, telling himself and his Godthat he is only doing it so he can help his poor sister out and not besuch a burden on her. He convinces himself that Life might indeed befull of "gray areas" and not so crystal black and white as he had alwaysbe taught it was. One of his old theology professors had declared oncethat "That's just bunk, my boy. Life is very much black and white. Therest is just plain heathen mischief." But, like everybody else in theworld, Joel won't see the wisdom in that statement until he's been downa few dark and dangerous roads.The scam is far deeper than he ever dreamed. Joel finds himself conningthe cons and telling himself that it will all work together for good inthe end. There's nobody completely trustworthy in this book, but it's astudy in morals and human nature.I think the author was aiming for humor in some places, charm in others,and a bittersweet poignancy throughout. But he missed the boat, as faras I'm concerned. It was rather entertaining, but hardly engrossing.Some plot twists and turns that some people might find intriguing, buthonestly, by the time I got that far, I really could have cared less.Part of it could be that I'm coming down with the flu while I read it, Iguess. I picked it up from Quality Paperback Book Club, in their"quirky" fiction section, but it didn't live up to my expectations.Another case where the critics' blurbs on the back cover were hugelyinflated, IMO.I'd give it a 3, and I'll take a pass on anything else written by thisparticular author.
    • 4/5
      An interesting novel about a minister struggling with his faith after resigning from his pulpit in a sex scandal. This is a novel of ideas about faith, but it also is a suspenseful novel about con-men, with a plot that keeps moving. Occasionally wooden characters (especially the minister's sister), but a good read.
    • 3/5
      Good Book. Quirky characters. Interesting premise.