Zion's Darkness

This is a strong fictional critique of authoritarian institutions in general and organized religion in particular. Centers around Katherine and John Torino who, devastated by the death of their infant daughter, believe they have found solace and comfort in a faith brought to their door by missionaries of the American Church of the New Christ. Persuaded to move from their lifelong home to the center of church influence, they quickly find that their adopted faith is a far cry from what they had been led to believe. The book traces the interactions the young couple has with others in the faith and they are bewildered and overwhelmed to find themselves caught up in a closed culture of deceit, hypocrisy, and violence where all of humanity's dark evils lurk below a thin veneer of religious piety.