About the Book

Book: Cleansed by Death

Author: Catherine Finger

Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Mystery

Release Date: June 2016

Haunted by an evil presence she can’t quite grasp, Police Chief Josie Oliver finds herself drawn into the crosshairs of a vicious serial killer. Fighting for her marriage, faith, and fate, Chief Josie is confronted by an Adversary that only God can conquer–if she decides to let Him in.

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About the Author

Catherine Finger loves to dream, write, and tell stories. Recently retired from a wonderful career in public education, she celebrates the ability to choose how to spend her time in a new way during the second half of life. So far, she chooses to write books, ride horses, serve others, and generally find her way into and out of trouble both on the road and at home. She lives in the Midwest with a warm and wonderful combination of family and friends.

Capsized by Death, the fourth novel in her Jo Oliver Thriller series, was released by Elk Lake Publishing in December, 2019. Anchored by Death, the third of her Jo Oliver novels, was a Bronze Medal winner at the 2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards; a 2018 Selah Awards finalist; and a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Awards. Her second Jo Oliver Thriller, Shattered by Death, was a finalist in the International Book Awards and the National Indie Excellence Awards. Catherine and her novels have been featured on radio stations, blogs, and in numerous articles—all posted at www.CatherineFinger.com.

Catherine loves to interact with her readers at www.CatherineFinger.com Follow her on Facebook at Catherine Finger, Author, and on Twitter at CatherineFinger@FingerCatherine.

More from Catherine

Welcome to our Jo Oliver Thriller series Celebrate Lit Tour!

Cleansed by Death, the first book in the series of four novels, began with an idea to write a book about strong women struggling with life, love, and loss while embedded in traditional male roles. I wanted to show real women dealing with difficult internal and external struggles and create tension for my readers. Playing with the question of whether such challenges make our characters better—or bitter—added depth and twists to my story.

It took a long time to get this story to the point of releasing it into the world. I stopped writing it twice, shelving it for about a year each time. Every summer as I percolated over the story, I read it cover to cover and realized I still loved both the voice and the bones of the story. Adding the faith piece in a way that felt authentic and edgy was the frosting on the cake and it happened as a half vision, half spiritual warfare experience in Jo Oliver’s head and heart. This experience developed her unique brand of conversation with God as she understands Him and added a spiritual dimension to my stories.

My Midwestern roots showed themselves with reckless abandon in this debut—becoming a cornerstone of future installments. As I write this kick-off note to you, I sit in front of my computer facing a wilderness scene that features prominently in this story. Writing in the midst of the corona virus leads me back to some of my favorite places for comfort—the woods and lakes of Wisconsin.

Enjoy the read!

My Review

“The vision had shown me how my life could look, if I would acknowledge God existed and invite Him into a relationship with me. God would live inside me and He would conquer the darkness on my behalf.”

This is the first time, to my knowledge, that I have read a series backwards. The blog tour was set up that way in order to showcase the release of book 4 first. Because I cringe at spoilers, I admit that I was initially chagrined when I realized the reverse chronology, but I will say that it was an interesting venture and that in the end I honestly did enjoy following Chief of Police Jo Oliver from the resolution of some points of her story to their beginnings. Unless this is your customary approach, however, my general advice is to read this series in order because the stories definitely build on one another.

As with any series worth its salt, the main character in “Cleansed by Death” undergoes a significant change not only from book one to book four, but also within book one itself. Jo Oliver’s metanoia occurs through visions and takes the form of spiritual warfare, culminating in one intense scene that readers may find disturbing. Her faith walk with Christ, of course, is not an immediate and perfect transformation but rather one that takes place one step at a time over the course of the whole series. What I did not understand or like in her character was the amount of drama that she continuously exudes. Because the story is related in the first-person from her perspective, the reader is drawn into the nasty details of both the Mentor Sister Serial Killer case and Jo’s divorce. For a police chief, she appears to be lacking in her instinct of what to do about her situation or how to keep herself safe. To me, this seems rather unbelievable, even accounting for the fact that she suffers from abuse.

One of the best inclusions in “Cleansed by Death”, in my opinion, is the character of little Samantha, whom Jo hopes to adopt soon. I appreciate that Finger gives a nod to adoption and enjoy how Sam heals Jo’s heart. As for the other characters, there is a mixture of those with good hearts and those who have more sinister motives. I

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.