Val Bianco

CATHOLIC FICTION BOOK REVIEW

SONS OF CAIN

BY: VAL BIANCO

SONS OF CAIN is a Catholic fiction that completely fills that title.  While I found the book to be a good fiction story throughout, the author has a very unique way of incorporating the Catholic faith through and through to portray a normal every-day activity, from morning prayers, to believing without doubt any relying on the goodness and strength of God.  Val Bianco did something unusual with this story.  As he notes at the beginning of the novel, many of the actions are based on true events within the Church and within religion as a whole.   I think that is what makes this story so believable, even though it goes further in faith than most of us get a chance to witness.  One of the author’s passages refers to a situation when sometimes it is very hard to forgive yourself for you sins.  “When a man is made of clay, God must sometimes break him in order to reshape him into the best version of himself.  When one is made of stone, he must be chopped and slowly sculpted by the Lord.”

Another passage stood out as relevant to today’s world by referring to the chaos in religion today that seems to accept the sins of others as more and more in the mainstream, such as same-sex marriages, abortion and euthanasia.  “History and common sense taught that the attempt to normalize evil was much more destructive than the act of engaging in it.  One could repent and confess sin only if he first recognized it.”

          Evil surfaces and it is the battle between Satan and the goodness of devout worshipers, with the help of their strong belief in St. Michael the Archangel that become the interior of the story.  It is a quick moving storyline, and the author found a way to show the deep faith of true believers and somehow made me feel it, too.  I recommend this book to all.