Henry Holt and Co and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Some Rise by Sin. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Tim Riordan, an American missionary priest, has come to serve a void in the Mexican village of San Patricio. As the townspeople fight the drug cartels on one front, and the Mexican army and police on the other, Father Tim tries to broker a peace with those who should protect and serve. Along with fellow expatriate Lisette Moreno, a clinic doctor whose desire to help the impoverished citizens is matched by Father Tim, will the community of San Patricio be able to weather the instability and survive intact?

Some Rise by Sin is the whole package: a compelling story, a well developed set of characters, and a setting that is so complete that readers are instantly transported there. As the plot builds and Father Tim's role in the community becomes more defined, but also blurred, the author is able to convey his thoughts and feelings in a very realistic manner. I found it easy to become engrossed in the story, with few exceptions. I could not see a reason for Pamela and her issues to be a part of Some Rise by Sin, as it needlessly took focus away from Lisette. The realism in this book was on point and gave attention to issues that many countries face in today's world. I definitely recommend Some Rise by Sin to other readers.

Published by Henry Holt and Co. on May 9, 2017

With its invocation of a flawed priest struggling with moral choices in a harsh land, Some Rise by Sin channels Graham Greene and Umberto Eco. Priests make interesting characters because their failings and hypocrisies are sharpened by the pious and virtuous lives to which they aspire. They also face particular challenges as they try to balance religious and secular law and moral imperatives that might be at odds with their faith. Philip Caputo does justice to those themes.

Father Riordan feels his faith is being put to the test in Mexico. He is saying too many funeral masses for young people he should be marrying. Mexico’s cartels and gangs have splintered, but the war between crime and the state continues, except when the criminals and the corrupt government are working together. Riordan’s village has armed itself in self-defense, prompting the army’s efforts to disarm them, sometimes with results that are fatal to unarmed villagers who demonstrate against the army.

Father Riordan would like to end the death of innocents but an army captain, supported by the federales, has a different plan. He wants Riordan to violate the sanctity of the confessional, to become an informant against villagers who help the criminals (usually because they face death if they refuse).

Ultimately, Riordan must make a choice. If he does not reveal what he learned in a confession, innocent people will surely die. If he does break the seal of the confession, he sends a bad message about the trustworthiness of the church and the value of the sacrament.

It is that choice that gives Some Rise by Sin much of its dramatic tension. Similar issues provide insight into Riordan’s character. How can Riordan help a young girl move on with her life when he must tell her that it would be sinful to abort the fetus that was conceived by rape?

Riordan feels powerless trying to do good while surrounded by bandits and drug dealers who kill easily and without remorse. And he feels ineffectual when he hears confessions from young men who will not change their behavior, because they cannot change without forfeiting their lives. All of that makes Riordan an interesting character, and Philip Caputo has the strong writing ability that is required to convey those moral dilemmas in convincing terms without resorting to melodrama.

Some Rise by Sin asks us to chew upon the notion that “the devil’s minions are numerous … they roam the world, seeking the ruin of souls.” Some people (perhaps not Riordan) believe that to be literally true, but as a metaphor for evil and temptation, there is little doubt that the notion is valid. Can evil be exorcised as a demon might? Perhaps, if you believe (as a priest suggests) that evil is irrational and cannot be “overcome by reason.” On the other hand, reason might be the best and only weapon that saves us from irrational evil.

The other characters are also an interesting mix. They include gangsters, cops (mostly corrupt), parishioners, a female assassin, and a couple of American lesbians. Lisette is a doctor who has founded a small clinic in Riordan’s remote village, and her bipolar partner is an artist named Pamela. Their relationship drama involves Lisette’s uncertainty about the role in which Pamela has cast her.

At some point, the spotlight shifts from Riordan to Lisette, their stories tied together by the police and drug gangs. The story is less compelling when it drifts away from Riordan, but by the end, the focus is back on the story’s most interesting character. All of the characters are strong and the novel raises challenging moral and political questions, including whether Mexico can overcome its tradition of retribution, the need for blood to compensate blood. While Some Rise by Sin might not appeal to readers who are looking for a thriller (although it does have some tense, but nicely unstated, moments), it should appeal to readers who will appreciate a literary glimpse at a troubled country.

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Father Riordan, a Franciscan priest, has been sent to the Sonoran Desert in Mexico where he has learned that things can always get worse. The police chief of his parish, San Patricio, has been assassinated and the village is caught in the war between a corrupt police department and a drug cartel gang hiding in the Sierra Madre mountains.

The age-old question has always been: If God is good, why is there suffering and evil? 60,000 murders in six years have brought Riordan past doubt; he is losing his faith altogether.

As a young priest in Guatemala, Riordan preached liberation theology. He had faced guns in the hands of corrupt authorities before. Now a Mexican Federal agent insists he cooperates as an informer, sharing what he hears in the confessional booth to identify drug gang members.

Riordan must decide if breaking his vows is justified, even to identify rapists and murderers. It would mean being defrocked. And if he still believes, committing his eternal soul to damnation. Can doing the wrong thing for the right reason help his people? How best can he provide safety for his sheep?

Some Rise By Sin by Philip Caputo made me very thoughtful. His portrait of Mexico, a beautiful country that has become a "moral wilderness" is vivid.

In Caputo's Mexico NAFTA has ruined small orchard owners. Migrants heading north are kidnapped, then executed if the ransoms are unpaid. Young people get sucked into the drug mafia for easy money and luxuries, unable to ever get out--alive.

The novel begins slow paced, focused on Riordan's internal life and thoughts, but rises to an action climax worthy of a thriller. The resolution comes suddenly and may leave readers unsatisfied. I found it profound, but then I am coming from a background familiar with theology and faith issues, and the symbolism of Riordan's choice resonates with me.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Tim Riordan is a middle-aged American Franciscan priest who must decide what he is willing to do and what vows really mean in the place of sacrifice. I was surprised he put in the now seemingly mandatory same sex gig since it really was an add on but that not withstanding I enjoyed the book more for the literary mood than anything else.

You will see the Shakespeare connection here with more than the title as you read abut the mystery professor described as a "moral athlete"; huh? Still the four-sided fence comment I have made my own. Enjoy the south side in this novel.

The book initially started out to slowly and I lost interest almost immediately

San Patricio is a small Mexican town besieged by drug cartels, corrupt police and poverty. Two Americans, one by choice the other by church order are there to make a difference. Lisette Moreno is a doctor who could easily have a practice stateside but chooses to bring medical care to those least likely to receive it – the poor and rural areas of San Patricio. Father Timothy Riordan has been sent to San Patricio because of his actions involving a church matter back in the States. Along with the local clergy, he finds a never-ending stream of parishioners victimized by sex, family, lack of opportunity, poverty, gangs, police and cartels. He sees little chance to meaningfully console them or to improve their lives - yet he persists.

As bad as things are in San Patricio, they soon become worse with the escalation of violence stoked by La Mariposa, the cartel leader and a vengeful police force. With both sides seeking retribution the stakes get higher for Moreno, who administers to whoever is in need and Riordan, through his position as confessor. Riordan is also haunted by a past moral failing that propels him to be both reckless and cautious in his relationships with all sides. Moreno’s life is further complicated because not only is she a woman doctor in a paternalistic and Catholic world, but she is also in a relationship with an enigmatic woman, an American artist.

Caputo takes this village and pries the lid off so the darker underside is revealed. Characters must make choices from several options that do not have any good outcomes….only seemingly lesser evils. This is a book about seeking justice, wanting to do right, and putting others first – but not without a terrible inward struggle. It is for the reader to discover what courage may accomplish or if faith can achieve a moment of grace. Highly recommended.

Over the years, Philip Caputo has earned a reputation as a master storyteller. Caputo’s novels are as character-driven as they are plot-driven, and that finely tuned balance seldom fails to make them memorable and moving reads. Regular Caputo readers have come to expect nothing less from the author by now, and Some Rise by Sin, his latest novel, will not disappoint them.

Father Timothy Riordan, a Harley-riding Franciscan friar, has been exiled by his Order to the small, isolated town of San Patricio, Mexico, where he maintains a church and lives with two other priests. The only other American expat in the town is Dr. Lisette Moreno, a divorcee who studied medicine in Mexico and wants to work where she can make a real difference in the lives of her patients and their families. By now, Riordan and Lisette have settled into the slower pace of life they expected to find in San Patricio, but all of that changes when a local vigilante group and a ruthless drug lord, La Mariposa, go to war.

For Lisette, other than making travel to remote Indian villages in the area more difficult and more dangerous than before, life continues to go on much as it always has from her base clinic in San Patricio. She remains determined to bring medical treatment to as many of the country’s poor, especially the children, as possible, and she readily accepts the new travel risks that come with the territory. It would not, however, be nearly so simple for Riordan.

Because the local economy that has supported the region for generations is a failing one, San Patricio is ripe recruiting territory for a drug lord needing young men to sustain and expand his operation. The area is a predominately Catholic one, and because even the young men now beating and killing for the drug king fear spending an eternity in hell, they tell Riordan things in the confessional box that they dare tell no one else. The young men believe that the sanctity of the confessional will protect them from the law, and Riordan is determined not to violate their trust in him and the church.

But when San Patricio begins to tear itself apart as brutal murder follows brutal murder, Father Riordan is faced with the moral dilemma of his life. By maintaining the sanctity of the confessional, has he become a mere accomplice in the murders of his own parishioners, making it even more likely that more and more of them will suffer and die? When the local police and the army team up to demand that Riordan reveal the secrets he learns in the confessional, the priest finds that the decision he has to make is not as easy as he had expected it would be.

Some Rise by Sin is a story of good versus evil, but as Father Riordan learns for himself, it is not always easy to tell the two apart.