A Hollow Sky
A SUSPENSEFUL, ATMOSPHERIC THRILLER.
Jane Hewitt had been miraculously healed—cured of a terminal cancer that had been eating away at her body for months. After one meeting with an incredible young woman, Jane rose from her wheelchair and walked out, believing that her lifetime of devoted faith had been rewarded.
The next day, Jane died in her husband's arms, devastated that her God had deserted her. Her husband, Ian, blames her hastened death on the faith healer she visited. But that faith healer is a teenage girl called Megan, who has been in a coma for five years, and has no say over how her gift is used.
When Ian is arrested after being accused of breaking in to Megan's house and trying to tamper with her life support, he turns to the only person he knows can help clear his name, and stop this family deceiving any other victims—Dr Alex Ripley, the so called Miracle Detective.
Fascinated by Megan's case, and needing a distraction, Ripley finds herself on Holy Island, off the coast of North Wales, caught up in an investigation that will prove more sinister and dangerous than she could have imagined. Ian is not the first person to complain about Megan and her supporters, but he seems to be the only one left alive. For now.
A Hollow Sky is the second Alex Ripley Mystery
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I Believe in Miracles.
Author Bio – Born in the UK and raised in South Africa, M. Sean Coleman developed a love for reading and writing novels in his early teens, thanks to two incredibly passionate English teachers who infected him with their love of words and stories. Over the intervening years, he has written film and television drama, cross-platform series, an interactive children’s storybook and a graphic novel series.
I Believe in Miracles.
The question of faith, and what people will do to one another in the name of their beliefs has always fascinated me, so I guess it was inevitable that I would try to combine an exploration of faith with my other passion—crime thrillers.
The main character in this series, Dr. Alex Ripley has been with me in a number of incarnations for well over ten years now, but the time was never right for her to step into the limelight. Until now. Perhaps because of all the negativity and hatred being peddled globally in the name of religion, or perhaps because I myself am ready to explore these questions through her lens.
Alex Ripley is known by the press as The Miracle Detective. It's not a nickname she would have chosen for herself, but it gives a shorthand description to what she does. Ripley is brought in, usually by the police, as a specialist advisor when cases have a religious angle to them, and she uses her empathy and understanding of the nuances of faith and belief to help her get to the truth.
From time to time, she is even called upon by the likes of the Vatican to act as a so-called Devil's Advocate, investigating claims of miracles attributed to people awaiting beatification. These people do exist, and when I began reading about them, I knew I had the basis of a great character—someone who understands the power of religious belief, and also recognises how it can be manipulated for darker ends.
Ripley is renowned as a skeptic, and yet, what few people seem to understand about her is that she is actively seeking proof of some kind of divine presence. Somewhere in her heart she believes in something, but her brain won't let her commit to it without proof.
As a Doctor of Theology (or the History of Politics, as she refers to it), she understands how people can be led and manipulated by their own faith, and she's witnessed far too many times how that faith can be abused by those with malicious intent.
Despite her own cynicism, she has great empathy for those who stand to be abused because of their beliefs, and a deep and passionate hatred for anyone she finds to be manipulating others for their own gains. She often finds herself balancing on a moral line, unsure of which side to fall.
For example, in A Hollow Sky, Ripley is investigating a teenage girl in a coma, whose mother claims she can perform healing miracles. Who is Ripley to tell that mother there are no miracles, if the mother's belief is heartfelt and, more importantly, the only explanation she has for her daughter's condition? Should she take that away from her too? Arguably, yes, if these so-called healings are abusing the faith of others for financial gain. But nothing is ever black and white for Ripley, and that's what makes her interesting.
Whether she'll ever find the proof she is seeking, or simply come to a different understanding of the miracle question is up for grabs. In the meantime, she can keep protecting those with faith, and carry on thwarting those who seek to abuse it.
He finally found his niche as a thriller writer when he was asked to write a novel as part of the cross-platform project, Netwars. His first book, The Code, was published six months later, with the sequel, Down Time, hot on its heels. There was no going back.
He is obsessed with crime, mystery and thriller stories, especially those with a fresh or surprising angle. He writes novels from his home in The Cotswolds, where he lives with his husband and their three red dogs.
He is obsessed with crime, mystery and thriller stories, especially those with a fresh or surprising angle. He writes novels from his home in The Cotswolds, where he lives with his husband and their three red dogs.
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