cover image Televenge

Televenge

Pamela King Cable. Satya House (Midpoint, dist.), $19.95 trade paper (582p) ISBN 978-193587416-4

Cable's (Southern Fried Women) unflinching fictional expos%C3%A9 of the dark side of televangelism has a human victim in the person of Andie Oliver. At 17 the young Southerner married Joe Oliver, whose family is "dedicated... to furthering the ministry of the Reverend Artury at the House of Praise." Andie's romantic dreams of marriage shatter when Joe's insistence on tithing the church means life in a squalid trailer park for them while Rev. Calvin Artury lives in opulence. Andie soon realizes Artury also controls her marriage. He chooses Joe for an unpaid position within his ministry, keeping Joe away from home for long periods. Then he mandates that all male employees undergo a vasectomy; desperate to have children, Andie manages to become pregnant before the procedure. Fearful of losing Artury's favor, Joe abuses the rebellious Andie physically and emotionally, but with her father's help she escapes, buying a house and a business to support her young twins. But unable to escape Artury's clutches, she considers drastic action. Cable, a former member of a megachurch, places Andie's desperate struggle against the oppression of Artury's church, its brutal inner circle, murderous practices, financial fraud, and Joe's abuse. This powerful story, skillfully written and with well-drawn characters, reveals the classic entrapment of vulnerable people in the name of a vengeful god marred only by the saccharine ending. (Oct.)