Deros
When Father Jake Austin is assigned to his hometown of Oberlin, Ohio, in July of 2002, he has been away for a long time. A physician and a war veteran before entering a Catholic seminary, he is now a member of the Camillian Order. He takes comfort in his vows of obedience, poverty, chastity, and service to the sick.
Jake arrives just in time to attend his high school reunion, where an encounter with his high school sweetheart forces him to question his commitment to the priesthood. Before the night is over, one of his classmates will be dead, a second gravely wounded, and a third hospitalized. The carnage at the reunion comes on the heels of what appears to be an unrelated murder at the quarry. Overseeing the investigation is Jake's former football teammate, Chief of Police Tremont "Tree" Macon, who is unwilling to rule out anyone as a suspect, not even Jake. As he struggles to prove his innocence and to find his footing in a town that remembers him as a hellion, Jake searches for threads that will connect these brutal attacks.
The war may be long past, but in some ways Jake is still waiting for his DEROS: Date of Expected Return from Overseas. Can he put aside his own demons long enough to find the living, breathing devil who stalks his classmates?
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"John Vanek brings small-town Oberlin, Ohio, to life. Locals will recognize familiar people, places, and threads of Oberlin history woven throughout the story as Father Jake Austin reconnects with his past and gets caught in a web of deadly vendettas."
--Liz Schultz, Executive Director of the Oberlin Heritage Center
"Interesting, nuanced characters in a finely wrought setting."
--Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Wilde Lake and the award-winning Tess Monaghan series
"Fr. Jake Austin, the hero of Vanek's promising debut and series launch, returns to his hometown of Oberlin, Ohio, in 2002 to take up a temporary post at a Catholic hospital in nearby Lorain--an assignment that coincides with his high school class's 30th reunion. [....] Full of conflicting emotions, Jake has a lot to cope with in a mystery that's as much a character study as a whodunit. The title is an acronym for Date of Expected Return from Overseas--the relevance of which isn't immediately obvious. Readers will look forward to seeing more of Jake."
--Publishers Weekly
"John Vanek guides the reader through the seldom-seen worlds of both medicine and the priesthood. His years as a physician at a Catholic hospital make him the perfect creator of this literary mystery set in a small college town, but few physicians can manage prose as well as Vanek does."
--Sterling Watson, author of Suitcase City and Fighting in the Shade
"A riveting tale of mystery and murder. Superb storytelling with a deft touch by this talented author who keeps ratcheting up the tension until the explosive ending. A fast read, but the characters linger in your memory."
--Ann O'Farrell, author of the Norah's Children Trilogy
"This intense debut introduces a complex narrator, an introspective Vietnam vet who still struggles three decades later with his anger and losses stemming from the war. Vanek's bittersweet novel will appeal to admirers of Julia Spencer-Fleming's clerical mysteries."
--Lesa Holstine for Library Journal
