Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel
by Ray Keating
Available at www.Amazon.com
How about a Lutheran pastor who once was a CIA assassin? That’s the main character in Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel by Ray Keating.
Since his CIA days, Stephen Grant has lived a far different, relatively quiet life as a pastor. However, a shooting at his church, an historic papal proposal, and threats to the Pope’s life mean that Grant’s former and current lives collide. Grant must tap the varied skills learned as a government agent, a theologian and a pastor not only to protect the Pope, but also to feel his way through a minefield of personal challenges.
Writing on LutheranForum.org, Ray Brown concluded that “this is a good read, both as pure thriller entertainment and for pondering the Christian mind and milieu in the early twenty first century. I look forward to Pastor Grant’s future adventures.”
Writing on the First Things blog, Russell E. Saltzman called Warrior Monk “a fun adventure romp.”
Advance praise for the book came from diverse corners:
“Holy Scripture and unholy gun play in the same novel? Exactly—and you'll love the combination! Warrior Monk offers a riveting mix of action, romance, and intrigue, served up by a master wordsmith. Keating's Pastor Stephen Grant manages to wield both Bible and bullets with equal expertise. Grant is clearly in control whether in or out of the pulpit.”
- Paul L. Maier
best-selling author of A Skeleton in God's Closet
“Ray Keating has created a fascinating and unique character in Pastor Grant. The way Keating intertwines politics, national . security and faith into a compelling thriller is sheer delight.”
- Larry Kudlow, CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report”
“CIA intrigue, the Vatican, international terrorism and brutal assassinations make Warrior Monk a fast-moving, riveting read right out of today’s—and tomorrow’s—headlines. Add challenging religious issues, which the author makes us confront, and you have a brilliant novel. Ray Keating knows what he is writing about and writes it extraordinarily well.”
- U.S. Congressman Pete King
Ranking Member
House Homeland Security Committee
Keating, a former Newsday columnist and current Dolan Media Company columnist, said, “My hope is that this is an entertaining, compelling story of murder, action, humor and romance,while touching on various religious, moral and political topics important to the twenty-first century, including conservatives versus liberals in Christianity, ecumenism, terrorism, torture, extreme environmentalism, and the challenges of relativism, militant secularism, and radical Islam.”
Oh yes, not only is Keating an ALPB board member, but Pastor Grant and two of his clergy buddies use ALPB’s For All the Saints for their daily devotions.
Available at www.Amazon.com
