In 1960, when Ted Bailey was fourteen, something happened to him that shouldn’t happen to a dog. Is that what made him what he was? That’s for the reader to decide – but a few years later, when something even worse happened, Ted was already a criminal. Fraud, drug dealing, arms deals and corruption made him rich. And people died, and Ted killed some of them himself, so I have to say that when the police did try to hang something on him, living on immoral earnings was a pretty pathetic attempt.
But now a heart attack in circumstances you’d have to call embarrassing means that Ted faces a sterner judge than any mortal court could offer. The general feeling is that Ted hasn’t a chance. Everyone knows there’s no coming back from the things Ted has done. But the only thing you can be sure of when everyone knows something is that the something everyone knows is wrong. And here’s the rub. The God that everyone knows is a figment of the human imagination. As Ted’s defence counsel says, If God created Man in his own image, and if Man is not the nicest person you ever met, excuse me if that sounds Irish, doesn’t that say a little bit about God?
St Peter himself says the one thing you must never do – the one, single, unforgivable sin – is to bore God.
And, whatever else you might say about Ted, he was never boring.
Darkness Comes is a fascinating look at life – and death – from a completely different angle. It’s available in paperback or for Kindle. Get it now.