Publishing Gurus

Editorial Review:

SANCTIFY is a big book in every sense of the word. The novel follows Jesus Ortega from his birth in 1935 to his “burial” as a casualty of the Vietnam War in 1965… and beyond. On the day after his stepfather’s funeral, Jesus joins the Marines. From then on, we find Jesus in many places… Guatemala, the Bay of Pigs, New Orleans, Dallas, and finally Laos, where he disappears. His position in Black Ops, and the fact that Vietnam was used as a cover for his participation in crucial events elsewhere, mean that his younger brother James can never be certain of his brother’s death. The casket was buried, the ceremony was held, the Last Post was blown, but no one actually saw the body of Jesus. Jesus’s first love (perhaps his only love), Kathy, is convinced he is still alive. Is this Kathy’s wishful thinking, or a truth so complex that it must be pursued and discovered? Standing in stark contrast to episodes of warfare, terrorism, and death are the complicated and often hilarious events in the lives of several dysfunctional families. One of these is the family into which Jesus’s brother James has married. Another is the family of James’s close friend Paul Deland, whose position in the high ranks of Naval intelligence allows him to assist James in finding the truth about his brother. In addition, woven throughout the novel runs the haunting thread of an earlier war. The diaries kept by James’s father during his World War II service in the South Pacific are fascinating to Paul, eventually becoming more real to him than the strangeness of his own life. William Reynolds’s novel SANCTIFY presents us with sharply drawn characters, well-researched history, and a poignant and unforgettable love story. Readers who enjoy mysteries, thrillers, and action stories won’t want to miss SANCTIFY!