Absolution
by Paul Martin Midden
Published by American Book Publishing: Millenial Mind
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Reviewed by Andrea Stuckey
A priest seduced by the devil sounds like a story we’ve all heard, but author Paul Midden doesn’t revert to the cliché storylines. Absolution challenges the reader to make decisions between, of all things, his family and his position in the Catholic Church.
The main character, Radko Slopovich, is a priest with a wife and two children, a set up that is seemingly innocent, but in fact brings trouble with it. Slopovich had given a vow to a life of celibacy until he met his wife Ursula, with whom he bears twins. For years he successfully maintains his double life, his alias as a devoted celibate priest by day, until he goes home to being a loving father and husband at night. Things seem to be going well, until he is made into a pawn by a friend and Vatican official–their motive to revolutionize the church forces Slopovich to make a life-changing decision.
Midden does a wonderful job keeping his plot original, especially with the recent news on the news on the Catholic Church. The idea of any man fathering two children and loving his family with all of his heart has absolutely no wrong in it, though when the fact that the father has been a priest since before his marriage, it complicates things, and makes for a stimulating read, not only of the situations the characters face, but also ideals surrounding the reader’s world.
At times the pace can drag as the protagonist and other characters wander off into what seemed to be random musings, but each of those individual strings are mostly woven together in the end.
As a first-time author, Midden is able to pull you into his story and make you sympathize with the protagonist. The decision he presents, choosing family or his priestly devotions, makes for an innocently scandalous plot. Both Slopovich–and reader–must ask themselves, “What is most important to me?”
Armchair Interviews says: Unique look at Catholic priests–and marriage.