BOOK REVIEW:   Holy Innocents   Book Review by Rev. Sean J. Donnelly   Over the years HPR has provided a service to its readers by publishing informative reviews of works pertinent to the mission of the Church: books on theology, apologetics, Church history, and so forth. Every so often a novel is included. The present work comes to us from the pen of Bill Kassel. Mr. Kassel's writing career is largely that of a journalist. His articles have appeared in secular publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek. He has also contributed to the National Catholic Register. Holy Innocents is his first novel in a series that is scheduled for publication in the coming months. The author's raw material for the series is that of a simple small town setting and a recurring cast of characters. (There are 17 such dramatis personae listed in the front of the book.) Company Publications describes the work as a "hybridization of commercial and religious fiction." While reading like a popular mystery, it investigates two currently debated subjects: abortion and educational choice.   The story begins, rather inauspiciously, with the protagonist, Alan Kemp (a guitar-picking, liturgical musician) visiting the men's room in the old Holy Innocents School building. He opens the door, and a "putrid smell hit(s) him hard in the face." The source of the odor is the trash receptacle. Calling the janitor, the two investigate the contents of the receptacle's liner and discover a gruesome sight. "It's a baby," the janitor said. "It's a baby, and its head is all squashed. Oh my God, look at it." Kemp responds: "Get Fr. Karl. . . . Leave everything alone. We've got to call the police." When the authorities arrive, the attending physician concludes that the baby had been aborted. It was a boy who was close to delivery. The method used was partial-birth abortion. Several of the main characters react to the grisly discovery. What could be the motive for such a horrible thing? The anti-Catholic bigotry in the quiet, rural town complicates matters. Was someone sending a nasty message to the Catholic Church about its anti-abortion "policy"?   The unlikely sleuth called to investigate the case is Alan Kemp. Mr. Kemp's background includes a stint with the Air Force Inspector General's Office, but strictly in a support capacity. He had never considered himself a real investigator. It seems that he was recommended for the task by a close friend who worked in the bishop's office. What did the bishop want to know? "(W)e're not concerned with prosecutions. . . . Evidence is not the issue. We want to know if anti-Catholic sentiment is growing in this part of the diocese, or if we should expect future difficulties over abortion. And we want to protect Fr. Karl." Fr. Karl, the pastor, had recently returned to the diocese after a year away at a retreat center out west. Though an educator by avocation, he had been sent to his previous parish to close down the school. An uproar ensued, resulting in a nervous breakdown.   His new assignment was supposed to be an easy transition back to the life of a parish priest. How would he fare? The bishop was concerned.   A suspicion around town was that Fr. Karl, educator turned parish priest, was sent by the bishop to reopen Holy Innocents School. The reopening would be facilitated by the use of tax funded tuition vouchers for the students. In order to test the hypothesis, Alan probes the priest on this point. Fr. Karl states that providing tax money for children in private schools is a dreadful idea. He explains: "The great lie of our time . . . is that the Church wants to dictate morality to everyone. That's the primary complaint about our stance against abortion. But the truth is it's the government that wants to run the Church. That's why we must keep away from these vouchers. . . . It is certainly true that government money means some measure of government control. I recall that Mother Teresa would not take any money from the Indian government. She was a wise woman.   Alan continues with his investigation. His quest leads him to the town savant who did see someone bring a package into the school late one night. Who was it? And why? Throughout the course of the unfolding adventure, various characters enter into the discussion concerning our society's widespread practice of dispatching infants in the womb. There is a particularly good discussion between Alan and his friend in the chancery, Deacon Collinson, as to why "pro-choice" people are obsessed with abortion. The deacon intones: "From a certain point of view, abortion is . . . the sine qua non of women's equality. . . . Those who hold to a certain notion of equality see abortion as a great leveler. Restrict abortion, and women will never be completely equal to men." As the Pope has pointed out, the crisis in the modern world is largely that of a crisis of truth. What is a man? What is a woman? Ignorance of the truth (or worse, ignorance that there is such a thing as truth) leads to profound personal and societal disorientation (i.e., chaos). Abortion and the rationalizations which attempt to support it are actually effects of rampant and large scale falsehood.   I recommend the book. It successfully combines a good mystery story with thought provoking dialogue on important contemporary issues. It is well written, enjoyable and edifying. If the book is ever re-printed, it should be noted that chapter eleven has been mislabeled "Chapter 10."     Reprinted from HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW March, 2001 Copyright © 2001, Ignatius Press   Return to Holy Innocents	203 Pages - Softbound ISBN #: 0-938984-04-7