cover image The Reverend’s Wife

The Reverend’s Wife

Kimberla Lawson Roby. Grand Central, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-446-57247-7

This engrossing book by Roby (Love, Honor and Betray) follows the trajectory of nearly a dozen others in the Reverend Curtis Black series. Charlotte, the wife of the famous pastor-author Rev. Curtis Black, has betrayed him and he wants a divorce. He’s no innocent victim, as Roby’s bestselling tales have shown, but in her 17th book, she adds more drama and intrigue to the infidelities of both husband and wife, which have catastrophic consequences for their children and their church family at Deliverance Outreach. The writing is cinematic and the juicy plot moves quickly, but some awkward phrases and distracting dialogue dull the narrative. Roby has a talent for underscoring the universal challenges of people of faith, and more often than not, that strength carries the story. (May)