Book
A Priest, A Brothel and the Fox: A Jack Stern Adventure
A Priest A Brothel and the Fox marks Jack Stern’s adventurous foray into the world of the bizarre and the supernatural.
The accomplished gentleman after dealing with a violent encounter at his pristine offices journeys to the fictional American town of Newburn, he chances upon a disillusioned and sexually frustrated Catholic priest Fr Brendan O’Reilly who has taken shelter in a road side café during a violent freak storm.
They enjoy an early dinner together and after they have consumed several generous glasses of French cognac Jack successfully tricks the handsome priest into swapping places and identities with him on the pretext that Brendan O’Reilly needs a break from his duties to learn more from the world than from the rigid dogma of the Catholic Church. The priest reluctantly agrees and is informed that he will run a community service establishment whilst Jack will attend to all matters dealing with the parish that Brendan O’Reilly has been assigned to.
The community service establishment turns out to be a heavily disguised brothel still in the hands of the mafia under the watchful eye of its manager Louis Badcock.
Brendan quickly sets about changing the nature of the brothel, whilst Jack meanwhile decides to take a rather brutal attitude in his homilies and he challenges and mocks the teachings and beliefs of all and sundry which attract the attention of the Church’s hierarchy.y.
Through the intervention of a murdered priest’s ghost the duo learn about the secret criminal activities in Newburn but before they can expose what is going on attempts are made on their lives and they find themselves on the run from corrupt police, the Catholic Church and the mafia.
Undaunted Jack and Brendan set about to rescue the prostitutes that Brendan has grown fond of but they encounter a supernatural demonic assassin the D-Man who has been enlisted by the mafia and who sets out to destroy Jack and Brendan once and for all. They play an action packed cat and mouse game that is full of twists and turns until the final showdown at Newburn’s St Pious Church. The event is televised live and launches Brendan into the international arena.
The story does not end there it is just the beginning and lays the foundation for a series of successive adventures featuring the same characters.
In the second novel Jack Stern finds himself together with the priest and seven prostitutes holidaying in Mauritius where they make a spectacular discovery that brings tens of thousands of international pilgrims flocking to the island which promises fame and fortune for everyone.
A secret body within the Vatican responsible for preventing the second coming of Christ seeks to discredit and destroy the significance of the discovery and sends several agents as a means to an end.
Besides the central story there is a series of side stories that interweave and add depth to the main plot for example Jack at one point leaves to attend to his ‘secret double agent’ duties for the Catholic Church at the insistence of His Grace Steven Moulds. Jack journeys to Australia to resolve a financial disaster perpetrated by corrupt government officials who have sabotaged a natural therapies company that the Catholic Church has heavily invested in.
The theme that natural is best is furthered by the emergence of various colourful characters such as the freewheeling nun Expedita Schocker who is collecting data in Australia, Max Daarling who supplies the data and Franck Max Climax a man of many disguises whose quest in life apart from looking after beggars and the homeless in London is to uncover the lengths to which the pharmaceutical companies go to spread disease and the means of stopping it.
The mafia known as Dot.org meanwhile seeks to make a fortune with Alljoy a natural extract obtained from mushrooms it employs the services of a high profile drug dealer Nghi Phamhung to instigate and oversee the sales and distribution of the health giving elixir.
Phamhung is known to the CIA which allows his drug empire to flourish in exchange for vital information relating to active terrorist cells operating on American soil. The pharmaceutical industry however is not amused and starts to agitate for the FBI and DEA to shutdown Alljoy as it has affected their profitability.
Jack Stern’s Enchanted Crucifix
Heavily encrusted with precious stones and made from an alien metal alloy Jacks crucifix was bestowed upon him by the Genius Loci once it recognised his extraordinary DNA as a means of protecting him from all harm.
The crucifix loosely resembles the Vatican Cross or Cross of Justin II and is inscribed with the phrase “With this wood I conquer mans’ enemies”
Ever vigilant it automatically analyses the treat of anyone that Jack comes into contact with, alerting him to danger and eager to assist should it exceed his capabilities.
Book reviews
Fantastic read, very spiritual and some points not so fiction. This book takes you on a very thought provoking journey, really takes you to some different places that are well worth the journey. The author has the brilliant knack of taking your imagination into another realm which is quite fascinating. I am very inspired by this fiction book that I look forward to another of the author’s books. I also purchased this book for my sister and she was blown away with what a great read it was. I personally couldn’t put this down down. It’s very, very funny and you can tell the writer is well travelled and educated with a down to earth sense of humour. People out there really really won’t be disappointed in this book.
Buy it! It’s great. One more thing it still blows me away how much can be related from this book and taken into the spirituality of real life. Normally this would’nt happen with fiction, but this book really does it! Thanks for the great read! 5 out of 5 stars. Great story full of twists and turns.
Not having much time to be a reader of fiction this story caught my attention from the first chapter. It’s fun, different, full of interesting characters and intermingling relationships, has an element of spirituality and introduces the thought provoking concepts to our natural world. I won’t give the plot away, but it’s great fun and would probably covert to the big screen rather well. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to the sequel. I recommend this to anyone wanting something different
This book got my brain going. M J Jurand is obviously a bit of a philosopher with a great sense of humour and the ability to write an intriguing plot. His philosophies scattered through the book are rather different from what one would expect in a novel and are really worth thinking (and laughing) about. Enjoyed it a lot!
