The Baptist by Ruby Barnes

The Baptist by Ruby Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"A contemporary psychological thriller set in the medieval Irish city of Kilkenny.

The Baptist - all chiller, no filler. 
He's clever, calculating and uncatchable. If you hear a knocking on your door don't let him in.

To deliberately drown your brother in a bathtub is a terrible, if clean, thing. Might it not be excused, if he is the manifest son of Satan? But that wasn’t the view of the Authorities, when they committed John to Fairfield Mental Institution. It wasn’t all bad; they let him keep his hair long and he met Dirty Mary. Like an institutionalised Bonnie & Clyde, they roamed the Victorian asylum and grounds, fulfilling their deluded fantasies. There were casualties.
John and Mary loved, lost and left. Thank God for Care in the Community.
~
When God shines a light, it burns. Feargal and his friends relight my fire.
The last prophet must wander, cleanse.
I am not the One. I am merely sent to prepare a way for the One.
I am The Baptist." -Goodreads.com
My Review:
This book was like "A Beautiful Mind" on steroids. John Baptist is such an interesting, crazy, in-depth character. The book was extremely detailed in the process and connections of how John's mind works that leads him to the decisions he makes. Up to a certain point he was 'cleansing' with a purpose, but as time went by and he got involved with a woman (Mary... or Alice) with similar personality traits he gets thrown off track to the point where 'sacrifices' were being made without evidence of evil-doing. What would John Baptist do if he saw a fiery halo staring back at him in the mirror, I wonder? This book will really have you questioning what is real and what is fantasy (as with the Alice in Wonderland elements.)

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"Then a lone cloud covered the sun, but his red halo remained, burning through my lids. Ray's knees were a bit painful on my biceps as he bounced his weight on my ribs. I felt the bones flex.
      How easily I could have thrown him off. I was three years older and weighed more. Now I'm thirteen years older than him." (kindle Location 28)

"'We could be brothers! Joe McCarthy.' He introduced himself with a shake of the hand. Cultured.
      'Brothers,' I murmured. A stranger seals his own fate with a word." (kindle Location 661)

Kindle Edition, 356 pages

Published November 1st 2011 by Marble City Publishing (first published October 28th 2011)