Unveiled

 the greatest enemy of all

They Shall See God begins with one man breathing the air of freedom for the first time in 25 years as he walks away from Louisiana’s infamous State Penitentiary at Angola. But from the moment we are introduced to Solomon Cantor it is obvious neither he nor any of those in the orbit of his life are truly free. Two girls, Katy and Ruth, though both reasonably successful, still live behind the invisible bars of fear and distrust. Sol’s wife, now a prosperous real estate agent, is a virtual prisoner to the good name she has forged for herself in New Orleans’ Garden District. And one twisted soul stalks them all; on a mission he believes to be from God. His goal, to exact retribution in a way that will shock a city that rarely notices anything.

At the center of this story are Katy O’Connor and Ruth Gold. Their childhood friendship was abruptly ended on the day their testimony helped send Sol Cantor away to Angola. Now, 25 years later, their lives are thrown back together by Sol’s release and a spate of bizarre murders in the city they never left. So much has changed in that quarter century. Katy is now a lonely widow doing her best to raise two children and keep her late husband’s business afloat. Ruth is a Reformed Jewish Rabbi with a simmering anger she does not understand. Together they have many lessons to learn about suspicion, prejudice, and the greatest enemy of all – the dark corners of their own hearts.

They Shall See God, like all of Dickson’s works, has too many layers to allow it to be pigeonholed. It is suspense of the first-rate variety. The characters are three dimensional with both good and not-so-good qualities. The plot is superbly paced. The dialogue is crisp and believable. Beneath all of these layers is the foundation of a powerful parable. Just as you label the story’s villain evil and pathetic, you realize there is some of that dark killer in all of us. And the villain’s end should serve as a warning to all where the path of hatred ultimately leads.

Bonus feature:

I wrote They Shall See God after spending five years studying the Torah every Shabbat at a Jewish temple near my home. I was the only Christian there, among about 100 very Biblically literate Jews. For the first six months of so, only one man and the rabbi leading the study knew I was a Christian, so I heard many uncensored comments about Christians. I realized there were many misconceptions among Jews about Christians. Then, as I learned more about Jews first hand, I began to realize Christians have at least as many misconceptions about them, and they do about us, so I thought readers might be interested in a story that explored those stereotypes, and offered a glimpse of the reality.

I also wrote a memoir about that period, called The Gospel According to Moses. The tag line for that book is, “What my Jewish friends taught me about Jesus.” Although my Jewish friends may not have always realized what they were teaching me, I learned a lot about the Christian faith while studying the first five books of the Bible with them, and I shared much of it in that book, along with the Jewish roots of those ideas.

(Athol Dickson)

Though out of print, They Shall See God can be ordered from Amazon.com for a very reasonable price.

Reviewed by Tim George, Unveiled
Genre: Suspense
Publisher: Tyndale House
Publication Date: May 2002