Ghost Runner
by Phil Lawler
Philip Lawler, one of America’s most respected Catholic writers and cultural critics, bursts onto the fiction scene with a riveting debut novel that plunges readers into the hidden battles of the Church in the 1980s. Lawler exposes beneath the surface of parish life and chancery politics a world of secrets, compromises, and spiritual warfare – where the faithful struggle to survive and a young priest discovers that he has a special mission – and powerful enemies.
At the center is Fr. Andy Miller, freshly ordained and already under fire. Forced into sessions with a psychologist, Miller finds that his candid inner voice collides with the stark realities of an archdiocese in which corruption festers and power eclipses truth. Yet through humor, humility, and flashes of startling grace, he fights to shepherd his flock and live out a priesthood that may come at great personal cost.
The story races from Boston’s parishes to the danger zones of war-torn El Salvador, where Miller’s quest thrusts him into peril and political intrigue. Shadowing his path is his brother Peter, a high-ranking official in the Reagan administration, whose own battles in Washington entwine with Andy’s in ways neither could predict. With every turn, the tension mounts – lives hang in the balance, faith is tested, and the line between betrayal and redemption blurs.
More than a thriller, this is a profound spiritual journey. Lawler pulls readers into the struggle to discern spirits, to cling to God in the face of corruption, and to discover peace through surrender to His will. Along the way, the true beauty of the Church and the essence of the priestly vocation come alive.
This is not just a novel. It is a heart-pounding, soul-stirring plunge into faith under fire. Once you enter Fr. Miller’s world, you won’t be able to put the book down.
Endorsements
“Veteran journalist Phil Lawler has produced a genuine page-turning novel about controversial issues in the Church. You will really want to know what happens to each of these true-to-life Catholic characters. Great story. Well told.”
Austin Ruse, Author, Under Siege: No Finer Time to Be a Faithful Catholic; President, Center for Family & Human Rights
“Phil Lawler has written wonderful journalistic accounts of the Catholic Church and her never-ending battles. But there’s a depth and beauty of his knowledge that’s revealed in this novel that could never be explored in his nonfiction. Phil guides us through internal relationships of priests and laity in their struggles with God and personal shortcomings and in the shortcomings of the Church. That struggle is beautifully presented but never sugarcoated; Phil could never be accused of being Pollyannish in describing dysfunction in the Church. But as with the Passion itself, you can be brutally honest about the agony without losing your faith. In fact, as his characters reveal, the mystery of faith is incomplete without the pain. And your understanding of the current struggles of faith—within the Church and within our culture—would be incomplete without this book.”
David Asman, Anchor, FOX News
“If you want to tell the truth, sometimes it’s fiction that tells it best. Think of Nineteen Eighty-Four or One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Have there ever been more powerful ways of showing the ugly truth about totalitarianism? If you want to tell the truth about corruption and cynicism in the Church, sometimes it’s fiction that tells it best. Philip Lawler knows the truth, and he tells it like it is in this powerful novel.”
Joseph Pearce, Author, Beauteous Truth, Literary Converts, and Race with the Devil
“Phil Lawler explains the Catholic Church like no one else. His novel Ghost Runner, with its vivid characters and all-too-plausible plot, is a worthy fictional follow-up to his masterful nonfiction book The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture.”
Matt McDonald, Editor in Chief, NewBostonPost
“Ghost Runner is an engaging and creative narrative that reminds us that the Catholic Church is composed of millions of people—religious and lay alike—each with diverse, complex, and unique backgrounds yet all bound together by thousands of years of faith, practice, and tradition. Through an intriguing and provocative lens, the novel explores several of these lives, thoughtfully revealing some of the motivations, decisions, and struggles that shape the Church and her leaders. A work of fiction grounded in keen and careful observation, Ghost Runner examines the Church with nuance, imagination, and the ring of truth.”
William McCann, Director, The Liberator
Details
| Dimensions | N/A |
|---|---|
| Weight | N/A |
| SKU | d16035 |
| SKU | 6028 |
