Böcker av William Farrell

Priesthood is open to men only. It''s been that way for centuries in the Catholic church and is often referred to as a vocation...a special calling by God himself. But men are not perfect. Like the first apostles, they are flawed human beings, and can succumb to temptation. They can seek forgiveness, be sincere in their determination to sin no more, and receive absolution...like all of us humans. But then a secondary temptation may emerge: the cover up.Meet the friends who went through the seminary together and have known each other for twenty years. They are musically talented and meet each month for the sheer enjoyment of making music. They play on occasion for charity functions to the delight of parishioners. None were for pay until now. This venue is much different. They are asked to do a favor for a friend and fill in for a band of musicians who unexpectedly canceled their slot in a Manhattan nightclub. It leads to three consecutive Fridays, their clerical status a secret.The lead singer, Father David Bell, is captivated by a female fan, Susie, and after the third Friday performance, the two rendezvous for a cocktail and end up in bed. On the 2AM drive back from Brooklyn to Dave''s parked car in Manhattan, Susie hits a pedestrian. The street is deserted, and David and Susie rationalize the decision to flee the scene. David and Susie both have reasons for concealing their involvement and agree that they can call for help once they return to Manhattan. David alerts 9-1-1 but he doesn''t provide his name. He justifies this decision as protecting the church from embarrassment should the truth get out.Law enforcement tracks Father David Bell via his cell phone. After face-to-face interrogation, Dave admits that he was near the scene of the accident that morning, with a woman. He confesses to breaking his vow of celibacy but says that the screech of tires came from behind. The driver of that vehicle stopped so Dave and his companion kept going, under the assumption that an animal ran into the driver''s path. He claimed that he had second thoughts when they got back to Manhattan and dialed 9-1-1. The detectives are not convinced, and mention that they can examine cameras located around the tunnel into Manhattan.Days later, Dave faces extortion attempts. First, Susie pays a reputed Russian mobster to have her car disappear and fabricates a report of theft. She learns that David Bell is a priest and asks him to share the expense. The Russian mobster does his own investigation and realizes that blackmail of a Catholic priest would be simple and low risk. Finally, the homeless man''s cousin overhears Dave at the hospital asking the sedated patient for forgiveness and puts two and two together.Father Bell continues to think he can lie his way out of this mess, even as his plan is unraveling. His brother''s unexpected death is the wake-up call. David shares the truth with his bishop, his family, and his friends, along with a plan to make amends. In so doing, he unwittingly makes them a party to the cover up.And then there''s Clare, his brother''s wife. He has loved her since the day of his ordination, a twenty-year friendship. A temptation not to be acted upon...again.

January lies to her mom and doesn't know how to stop. She and Jason are shocked to see the evil piano teacher, Mr. Tsarnov, back in their neighborhood. They know that he is capable of abducting other young teenagers to a mythological world, but who would believe two kids? So, they spy on him while exploring the creation of a Virtual Reality musical group with free apps and add-ons. They don't realize until it's too late, that the free apps are not provided to them by accident. They are in danger of being locked in cyberspace...forever.

Is it possible to vanish without a trace? What elements would have to be at play for this to happen? What outside influences?At a time when technology can track our every movement, a forty-four-year old woman, Moira Dugan-Donnelley, has a stroke on the frigid streets of Chicago very early one November morning. She lies alone in the cold for several hours before discovery.She has not been assaulted, but she has been robbed of her identification. Her coat, purse, hat and boots are removed by a homeless person who leaves behind her own ratty shoes and coat. Moira is eventually discovered and rushed to the hospital, where she is assumed to be homeless, and possibly mentally ill. The tattered and noxious odor of her clothing outweighs other bodily signs of good grooming; being found in her bare feet in winter suggests mental illness. She has no identification but found in the pocket of her sweats is a rumpled slip of paper with the letters Sonj... written in script. Moira is in a coma and the hospital staff takes to referring to her as Sonja.On the day before this incident, Moira and husband, Paul, had a nasty argument as he was leaving on a five-day business trip to San Francisco where their daughter, Soupy, is a college freshman. The first two days, Paul takes some free time to visit with his daughter. He makes several unsuccessful attempts to reach Moira to apologize, and thinks she is giving him the silent treatment. When he coaxes Soupy to text her mother and she is ignored, Paul knows something sinister has happened. He cuts the trip short and returns home.Meanwhile, with no family or friends to speak for her, Sonja's story goes cold, and she drifts into the category of another uninsured homeless person. As Sonja's story fades, a surgical team, a neurologist, and assorted support staff are mobilized by an aggressive pharmaceutical executive who sees an opportunity to perform some risky experiments in the interest of science. The objective is to bypass the red tape and duration of FDA approved trials, thereby reducing the time and cost to bring these new therapies to market. Despite five days of local news coverage, no one has claimed Sonja as family...making her a perfect candidate for experimentation.At first, the detective assigned to this Missing Person case thinks it's a marital spat sparked by abuse or infidelity. But after interviewing friends and neighbors, the detective becomes sympathetic. Unfortunately for Paul, the sympathy is short lived. The detective learns some things that make Paul look guilty of foul play.At the same time, Soupy has come back to Chicago and mounts her own independent search. She determines that her mother was doing some research at the Art Institute of Chicago, and she follows clues that lead to a private email account in which the exchanges make it crystal clear that her mother was having an affair with a young art student. She decides to confront him in a public place.

Jason is twelve and in a new school with no friends. Worse, he has a nasty step-dad, a girl he likes but can’t bring himself to talk to, and the girl’s annoying younger sister, January. A strange melody draws him and the younger sister into a mythological world from thousands of years ago. It bristles with danger, and is a place from which they may never return.

Joey and his teen daughter, Reesa don''t talk to each other. He is given a post-Civil War book of sketches, but it is she who secretly examines the book and discovers a code embedded in the drawings. She posts a few images on social media, and her father receives life-threatening attention.