Prophets and Loss (A Johnny Ravine Mystery)

Forgiveness is the most attractive of the virtues. Until you actually have someone to forgive.And when Melissa Stonelea’s born-again Christian husband Grant is found strangled in the bondage room of the city’s classiest brothel she needs revenge.This acclaimed Christian thriller is the first in the private eye Johnny Ravine series.Praise for "Prophets and Loss":"Roth, an accomplished financial writer, takes his readers on a thrilling ride that begins as a story of murder and revenge and ends as a reflection on loss and forgiveness....Fast-paced and edgy."- SydneyAnglicans.net"Wow! .…When 'Prophets and Loss' arrived…I certainly wasn’t expecting a meaty murder mystery cum terrorist plot. And when I realized that’s what it was, I certainly wasn’t then expecting Roth’s Johnny Ravine mystery to deliver such a fabulous gospel message….This is a great book for a Christian or as a starter for a non-Christian. A fabulous surprise." - The Presbyterian PulseBook Description:Forgiveness is the most attractive of the virtues. Until you actually have someone to forgive.When Melissa Stonelea’s born-again Christian husband Grant is found strangled in the bondage room of the city’s classiest brothel, a page of the Bible stuffed in his mouth, she doesn’t need to hear more of her pastor’s sermons on the healing powers of forgiveness. She needs revenge.Enter private detective Johnny Ravine, seeking the quiet life in Australia after more than twenty years as a freedom fighter in East Timor. The murdered man was his best friend. But, as he starts to investigate the slaying, a mysterious phone call and then a bullet through his window plunge him into the heart of a deadly terrorist conspiracy.Suddenly he finds himself locked inside a shady world of stock market manipulators, sex workers and underground militia, while desperately hunting the killers. But Johnny is concealing a violent past and demons of his own. Can he crack the mystery before he himself cracks?In Johnny Ravine we have a brilliant but flawed hero who is plunged into the far reaches of the human psyche - forced to confront a cycle of evil that could destroy him and all he loves. But also forced to confront the evil that lurks in his own heart.This exciting book is everything a hard-boiled, private eye thriller should be - relentlessly powerful, fast-paced, full of twists and with a climax that will leave you gasping.About the Author:Martin Roth (www.authormartinroth.com) is a veteran journalist and foreign correspondent whose reports from Asia have appeared in leading publications around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun. He is the author of many books.The first three thrillers in his Johnny Ravine private eye series are “Prophets and Loss,” “Hot Rock Dreaming” (Australian Christian Book of the Year finalist) and “Burning at the Boss.” He is also the author of the Brother Half Angel series, with "The Coptic Martyr of Cairo," "Festival in the Desert," “Brother Half Angel,” “The Maria Kannon” and “Military Orders.” The first two novels in his Feisty Ferreira series of financial thrillers are "Tokyo Bossa Nova" and "The Kalgoorlie Skimpy."He lives in Australia with his Korean wife and three sons.