Prayer

Written by Philip Kerr

Narrated by Mark Zeisler

Gil Martins investigates domestic terrorism for the FBI. He is a religious man but he's coming close to losing his faith due to the nature of his job.

Gil starts to investigate a series of unexplained deaths, and as the evidence mounts, it becomes apparent that they have been killed through prayer. His new-found atheism is severely challenged, and he finds his own life is next on the line.

‘Taut, brutal, coarse, believable and gripping stuff.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH on March Violets

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Jan 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781471252631

Philip Kerr

Philip Kerr is the bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther thrillers, for which he received a CWA Dagger Award. Born in Edinburgh, he now lives in London. He is a life-long supporter of Arsenal. Follow @theScottManson on Twitter.

Reviews for Prayer

[totsgram · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just like having a list of favorite movies I can watch more than once, I also have a growing list of books I can read over and over. Prayer is on my list! There is so much to the story, I'm sure there's more to be found a second or third time. Daring to blend a personal Christian struggle into true to life tragedy and mystery opens up mixed reviews. Philip Kerr did it perfectly in my opinion. Look at mixed bag of beliefs we have in our world. What Mr. Kerr writes such a non-fiction possibility to it. I found this novel scary in its realism. I've not read any of his works before but after reading Prayer, I look forward to adding more of Philip Kerr's works to our library.

[atomic1964 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Such a great writer as Philip Kerr didn’t always write great books. This should have ended in a waste paper basket.

[Kim Bonetti · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and heartwarming of a mystery! Well worth sharing and look forward to finding more from this author.

[johnwbeha · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

It is interesting that just a quick flick through the reviews of this book identified the key points I want to make. The book starts well, but deteriorates (like so many novels which involve world shattering secrets) once it gets to the "big issue". The central problem is one of credibility, which is totally absent from the second half of the book. I love the Bernie Gunther books, but I now remember why I did not enjoy many of Kerr's other stuff.

[adpaton · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Former Catholic Scottish ex-pat Gil Martins lives in Houston, Texas, works for the FBI, and together with his wife is a member of an Evangelical mega-church. When he starts to have doubts, she kicks him out and his old friend the Catholic Bishop comes to the rescue, offering a place to live in the ghost town of Galveston.Meanwhile, prominent do-gooders and Atheists are being murdered, and the bishop suspects the Angel of Death. Yes, the actual Angel of Death, invoked by an evil cult of murderous happy-clappy Christian fundamentalists. Gil visits the church, meets the suave and charismatic minister - soon revealed as a malevolent fanatic - and, soon becomes a target of the deadly prayer circle himself. The supernatural is not something one expects to find in a Kerr book and, fan though I am, I must admit he is not very good at it. His depiction of God as being an uncaring, capricious and cruel being, an Old Testament homicidal psychopath, is also a tad disturbing. Prayer is interesting but not one of Kerr's better efforts.

[iansales_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This novel reads like an idea Kerr pitched to a US network, but was turned down. There’s some solid work in it, but it’s a thin piece stretched out to novel-length. Gil Martin is a FBI agent in Houston, involved in investigating domestic terrorism. When he admits to his wife that he no longer believes in God, she leaves him and takes their young son. Meanwhile Martin is investigating a series of strange deaths of prominent atheists – all four seem like freak accidents or bizarre medical catastrophes. But the fact they’re hated by the religious right makes their deaths suspicious. Martin eventually discovers that a charismatic preacher has discovered “directed prayer” actually works, because God exists, and he’s the Old Testament God who demands unquestioning obedience, not Jesus’s wishy-washy God of love. And this preacher’s secret prayer group has been sending the fallen angel Azrael to kill their opponents. It’s all a bit flimsy, and the plot isn’t exactly twisty-turny. Kerr generally writes clever thrillers, but some of them are propped up by well-handled research rather than clever plotting, and Prayer falls into that category.

[marcush_42 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is basically a murder mystery with a religious theme tied in. I always worry that fiction with a religious theme will come across as preachy. It's not exactly preachy, but for a book with a fairly fast pace it really fell short. The ending feels drawn out to a point that I found myself wishing it was over. That's never a good thing. There's definitely better murder mysteries to dive into out there.

[toades_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm afraid I could not finish this novel. The premise did not keep my interest and I felt as though the author rambled on quite a bit. I don't like to say I don't care for a book, but that is what this is all about. Perhaps it's just not my type of story line. I got to uninvolved in the religious aspects of the story line.

[btuckertx · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Prayer", by Philip Kerr is definitely a surprise read. With no other frame of reference to Kerr's work than his Bernie Gunther hard-case detective novels, I suppose I expected something similar, so it took a few pages to get into the story.But once it got going, it was one heckuva fun ride, with more twists and turns and surprises than a roller coaster.The main protagonist is Gil Martins, an FBI Domestic Terrorism agent in Houston. His belief in a Catholic God is badly shaken when he finds out a recently executed man - whom he'd played a significant role in sending to death row - turns out to be innocent. With his faith almost shattered, his relationship with his wife and son craters.When high-profile secular celebrities start dying mysteriously, apparently at the hands of a serial killer, Martins begins to wonder about the existence of God - and if He does exist, whether His nature is Old Testament vengeful God, or New Testament mankind-loving God. We're about to find out.I really enjoyed this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a thoughtful, yet fast-paced thriller.

[mugsynoir · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"Prayer" is a departure book for Philip Kerr, being quite removed from anything he's written before. Gil Martins is a Houston FBI agent working in Domestic Terrorism. Always a little doubtful in his religious faith, changing from Catholic to evangelical Christian, his faith is shaken even further. A wiretap on a violent biker gang reveals that they were responsible for the murders of two young women years earlier. As it happens, Martins helped arrest and convict a man for the crime and he was executed just weeks earlier. Martins believes a righteous God would never have allowed that to happen.The loss of faith precipitates Martins breakup with his wife, who can't bear the thought of living with a faithless husband.Meanwhile two different serial killer cases force Martins to further question the existence of God, and if there is one,whether He is a beneficent being, or a vengeful one. In the one case, someone is murdering people who have dedicated their lives to good deeds. While in the other, renowned atheists are dying in bizarre and frightening ways. As he delves into the string of murders, the suicide of a witness forces Martins down a path where he ends up not only questioning his faith, but his sanity too."Prayer" is a psychological thriller that invites the reader to share in the hysteria, where whatever your own beliefs, you may find the seeds of doubt difficult to dispel. For all the build up, though, the ending seemed somewhat trite and contrived and could have come a few dozen pages sooner.

[lupoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) through the LibraryThing Early Review Program.I liked this book a lot. I never read this author before, but I saw his books in bookstores, so this is my first time reading this author. I thought the book was slow at the start, but when the character Gaynor Allitt entered the story, it had gotten better, and I was mesmerized from there until the end of the book. It is to me, a page-turner and a must-read. 4 stars

[drneutron_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gil Martins is an FBI agent working in domestic counter-terrorism. He's also a former Catholic, former evangelical Christian, current atheist, to the disappointment of his wife. But it's hard to let go of those older beliefs, and when he finds skimpy evidence of a series of suspicious deaths of prominent anti-religion folks, he prays that God would prove His existence - if there's really a God there. And that simple thing sets off a seriously mind-bending story. Prayer is one of those books that pushes the reader into that territory where we're not sure whether we're reading a suspense story or a story of a serious mental breakdown. That twistyness is the fun of a book like this. And Kerr delivers in the end - once the reader gets through a bit of a lag in the middle section, the book's only flaw.

[prettytarantula · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was a little hesitant before I started reading this book. The FBI angle, murder mystery and unexplained events are definitely my cup of tea. On the other hand, the religious aspects of the novel can either be a hit or a miss for me. I don't like the one-sided, preachy, or the agenda driven viewpoint in my books. I'm also able to read a book, knowing that it's fiction, and can separate out my own religious convictions at the same time. Having said this.....When I first started this book I was really enjoying it. Philip Kerr's writing is amazing and it flows perfectly. Even when I thought some of the more technical FBI terms were going over my head, he was able to explain things in a clear way where I felt like I wasn't missing anything. I admired the main character, Gil, and the very human struggles he was having in his marriage, with his faith, and at his job. Even though he was highly flawed (as were all the characters in this book) he was extremely likeable. The storyline was very different and unique from any book I have read. Religion played a huge part in the story, from Catholics to Christians and even atheists (if they can be grouped as a religion.) All of these groups were portrayed as being flawed and hypocritical. God was even portrayed in a vastly different light too. The only drawback I had about the story was that I felt that the ending was rushed and somewhat confusing since the reader wasn't privy to some of the actions of the main character, even though we were faithfully following his steps, and I felt cheated. Other than that, it was an enjoyable read and I will definitely read more of Kerr's novels in the future.I received this book for free from LibraryThing.

[teritree001971 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

PRAYER tells the story of FBI agent Gil Martins as he loses his faith in God and then how he finally finds it once more. He is not a perfect man, nor is he what one would call one of God's heroes. The story begins with Martin finally losing his faith after finding out he helped send an innocent man to death row. As he admits to himself and the world that he has lost his faith, he finally loses his wife who purports to believe in God. She takes his son and moves back with her parents, while telling him to please vacate the premises. When his friend Coogan calls him with a potential new case, he also finds a new place to live in the Galveston area. As he lives here, he finds his faith, finds the killer as well as his chosen profession. In the end, Martin determines that God is not the God we see every day in the media, nor is He the God we hear of in most church sermons. PRAYER is not only a thriller, but serves to remind us that God is real and to be careful for what we ask, as we most often will not like the answer we receive.

[michaelmclane · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Having enjoyed Philip Kerr's previous work in the Gunther series, I was intrigued by this change of pace. However, I found myself wandering throughout the story. The FBI investigative angle and the main character's struggle with his faith was an interesting construct, but the meandering into the inner mind of the FBI agent became uninteresting and lost me Looking forward to more Bernie Gunther!

[billpilgrim_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've read a couple of Kerr's Bernie Gunther books and enjoyed those, so I thought I would like this one. But, I didn't. I found it so annoying, the way the people in the book were behaving in the major end section where it got the most thrillery. It was so totally unbelievable to me that they would have acted that way, in light of what we had learned about them earlier in the book. I almost stopped reading, but plowed through.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A real page turner! An FBI agent grapples with his faith while he investigates a series of strange deaths. Along the way, he has to decide - is God the fire and brimstone Old Testament God, or the New Testament fatherly love God - or both? And can he survive the answer? As it is written in Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Boy is it!

[draak_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of the book started out good but by the middle I found myself not really caring what happens next. I guess it was too much religion. I did skip to the end and found I didn't really miss out on anything. I received this from LibraryThing Early Reviewer for an honest review. I really didn't care for it.

[jfe16 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

“Prayer” is a story told from the viewpoint of FBI agent Gil Martins, who is assigned to the domestic terrorism task force in Houston, Texas. As the story opens, Martins is suffering a crisis of faith brought on by his involvement in sending an innocent man to death row. His unsympathetic wife cannot understand this lapse and, in short order, she tosses him out of the house. As the story progresses, Martins, still seeking a resolution to his personal dilemma, becomes involved in the bureau’s hunt for a serial killer.Despite the author’s undeniable skill in weaving words into a wonderful tapestry, the story itself fails to become compelling. In a tale populated with characters that are more caricature than true-to-life, ridicule and derision seem to be the order of the day. Even Philip Kerr fans are likely to be disappointed; the story is cynical and filled with a dark pessimism. Overly-long and drawn out, readers who plod through to the final pages are likely to be insulted or to feel cheated by its preposterous ending. Skip this one and wait for the next Bernie Gunther outing.