Reviews Of Salvation Boulevard

Two Novels, for a Change by SusanG
Sun Sep 21, 2008 at 09:00:20 AM PDT

Salvation Boulevard leaps out of the gate into immediate action: inside prison walls, a defense lawyer, a private investigator, two shady characters from Homeland Security who refuse to give their names, and one American Muslim college student arrested after confessing to murder trade accusations of terrorism, torture and conspiracy. The setting is dark and ominous, the dialogue rapid-fire.

A Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, and an atheist are involved in a murder. Waiting for the punch line? It’s called Salvation Boulevard, Larry Beinhart’s latest novel. And yes, it packs a punch.
 
Beinhart’s 1994 political novel American Hero became the film Wag the Dog, starring Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, and Anne Heche. Mandalay Independent Pictures has already acquired the screen rights to Salvation Boulevard.
 

Best known for American Hero (1994), the jaunty political novel that became the film Wag the Dog, Beinhart offers something less jaunty but definitely more ambitious in this splendid religious legal thriller. When Ahmad Nazami, a Muslim scholarship student at the University of the Southwest, confesses under duress to the murder of Nathaniel MacLeod, an atheist philosophy professor, PI Carl Van Wagener, a born-again Christian, agrees to help Manny Goldfarb, a celebrated Jewish defense lawyer, prove Nazami's innocence.

Larry Beinhart’s rollicking, satiric novel American Hero became the hit movie Wag the Dog, which in turn became shorthand for political deception and duplicity. Now he’s back with an old-fashioned mystery story – with a typical burned-out private investigator as its hero – that quickly becomes a very atypical witches brew of sex, religion, hypocrisy, and evil in which the war on terror is cynically manipulated to subvert America’s basic values. If, at first, this engrossing thriller seems to be a bit over the top, a quick check of the day’s news will make you think again.

"A gripping, page-turning tale that takes one through bad lawyers and good ones, treachery and faith, pornography and preaching, torture and Homeland Security. Salvation Boulevard is a great and memorable read."

Vincent Bugliosi, Helter Skelter, The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder, Four Days in November

"An adventure in action and the intellect, a tale of murder with the mystery of God at the center. A must read for fans of both crime novels and of the mysteries of philosophy."

“Larry Beinhart's Salvation Boulevard is the kind of pop-fiction detective story that could fundamentally transform the consciousness of Red-state America. And it's a fun and often quite provocative read for the rest of us! I couldn't put it down!”

I have ready your Salvation Boulevard with great interest; could not put it down. It is a super piece of work on many levels:

I rarely enjoy fiction, but "Salvation Boulevard" is the exception: well written and meaningful. I'm sure the book will cause a stir, be a bestseller, etc. We are very eager to hold a Special Event featuring you as the author of "Salvation Boulevard."

Lee Loshak, member, board of directors of the New York Secular Humanist Society.

Larry Beinhart’s Salvation Boulevard pulls off one of the toughest tricks in modern literature: a sharp, high-energy whodunit that will disturb you with how closely it is based on real life.

Meet Carl the detective, a “Christian working for a Jewish lawyer who’s working for an Islamic kid to find out who really killed the atheist” college professor.

Beinhart, whose previous novels include WAG THE DOG and THE LIBRARIAN, both must-read page-turners for political junkies, this time takes aim at our stained glass windows, which won’t set well with some. But for a high-speed, rip-roaring chase for meaning in these strange times, take SALVATION BOULEVARD. If you’re a mainline liberal Protestant, I think you’ll shout “Amen.”