Peck and Pock

Review In Father Justin Zapp, Jim Wayne has created a complex man of religious devotion who struggles with a traumatic past, his vision of what is good and true, and a commitment, despite all, to seeing justice served. In the heart and soul of Zapp, beautifully limned by Wayne, we enter an unfinished man s troubled and inspiring journey of faith as he speaks truth to power and seeks to become whole. --Roy Hoffman, author of the novels Chicken Dreaming Corn and Come Landfall Fast-paced, and revealing, The Unfinished Man follows Catholic priest Justin Zapp through dual struggles: his trauma at the hands of a respected priest; his dilemma about whether to confront his colleagues in Rome, from Bishop to Pope, with the enormity of the issue. Zapp s a wonderful character, brilliant, introverted, conflicted, rich in faith and heart. To watch his journey is to come to understand the inner workings of a deep and courageous priest and of the Catholic church from parish to Vatican. I was riveted reading The Unfinished Man, fascinated by the characters, story and setting, impressed by the beauty and authority of Wayne s storytelling. --Julie Brickman, author of Two Deserts and What Birds Can Only Whisper Jim Wayne gives his readers a psychologically astute window into the ecclesiastical mindset that unwittingly has abetted clergy sexual abuse of children and teens. The Unfinished Man takes us into the highest corridors of the Vatican at the start of the Second Vatican Council long before the abuse scandals made world headlines. Here moral courage and raw careerism clash in a story of grace and corruption and a misguided notion of what is for the good of the church. --Donald Cozzens, author of Master of Ceremonies and Notes from the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest About the Author Jim Wayne, a practicing psychotherapist, received his MFA in fiction at Spalding University. He lives with his wife Debbie in Louisville, Kentucky in a district he represents in the Kentucky House of Representatives.