Do We Not Bleed? A Jon Mote Mystery
A young woman is dead. A man with diminished capacity is accused. His friends, also wounded, try to help him. In the process, they teach Jon Mote a thing or two he desperately needs to learn. Jon no longer hears voices, but he's not convinced a silent universe is much better than a haunted one. He's returned his sister Judy to her group home and taken a staff job there that puts him in the company of six folks who, a bit rebelliously, he calls Specials. Jon thinks his job is to teach these people basic life skills like telling time, making change, and riding the bus. The world says they are to be pitied, perhaps even eliminated. At best taken care of. But he finds that Judy, Ralph, Bonita, Jimmy, Billy the Skywatcher, and J.P. possess something that he and the world badly need. The accused, J.P., is a gentle man who can't tell time or temperature, but wants you to be happy. Is he also a killer? The bureaucracy judges him so and sends him to an institution for the criminally insane. His friends know that if they do not get him back he will wither and die. Meanwhile, Jon has his own problems. He finds himself threatened not so much by disintegration as by normality--the meaningless of the mundane. Alive but trivial. While searching for something to fill the emptiness and for a way to rescue his client and friend, Jon unexpectedly reconnects with his estranged wife, Zillah, and he has an unsettling encounter with an unusual nun who presents him a way of seeing the world that puzzles and intrigues him.
"This is a brilliantly crafted novel. Not only is Daniel Taylor
a master of plot and subplot, but he also weaves threads together
toward surprising and ironic revelations that delight and amaze.
Yet his highest achievement may be the creation of a metonymic
character who, in many ways, is a diagnostic for our culture and
times. In this sequel (of sorts) to Death Comes for the
Deconstructionist, Jon Mote the accidental detective returns in
a distinctly non-academic setting, not just to find out 'whodunit,'
but to discover the unexpected opening of his own being to real
love, love in a new and revolutionary light. Don't miss this
book!"
--David Lyle Jeffrey
Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor
University
"Daniel Taylor does it again, showing there is life after (his
earlier) Death Comes for the Deconstructionist. Do We Not
Bleed? reconstructs Jon and Judy Mote in ways that precipitate
our laughter, inspire our imagination, and even prompt our
thinking--about literature, philosophy, religion, theology, and
life, no less--all the while helping us to see that we are no more
normal than Jon but certainly no less special than Judy and her
friends. These two must-read novels leave us wondering how many
more lives, and deaths, Jon and Judy Mote have left."
--Amos Yong
author of The Bible, Disability, and the Church
"The prophetic spirit of Walker Percy infuses this unusual whodunit
about a lost man stumbling unawares toward love in the ruins of
both his own life and the postmodern world. As in his memorable
debut, Daniel Taylor's disarmingly shrewd Christian humanism
diagnoses the disorders characteristic of our time, and points the
way toward healing."
--Rod Dreher, author of How Dante Can Save Your Life and
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming
Praise for the first Jon Mote Mystery, Death Comes for the
Deconstructionist
Christianity Today's 2016 Book Award Winner in Fiction
". . . not only a highly engaging murder mystery but also a
metaphysical page-turner." --Paul J. Willis
"This is a brilliantly crafted novel. Not only is Daniel Taylor
a master of plot and subplot, but he also weaves threads together
toward surprising and ironic revelations that delight and amaze.
Yet his highest achievement may be the creation of a metonymic
character who, in many ways, is a diagnostic for our culture and
times. In this sequel (of sorts) to Death Comes for the
Deconstructionist, Jon Mote the accidental detective returns in
a distinctly non-academic setting, not just to find out 'whodunit,'
but to discover the unexpected opening of his own being to real
love, love in a new and revolutionary light. Don't miss this
book!"
--David Lyle Jeffrey
Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor
University
"Daniel Taylor does it again, showing there is life after (his
earlier) Death Comes for the Deconstructionist. Do We Not
Bleed? reconstructs Jon and Judy Mote in ways that precipitate
our laughter, inspire our imagination, and even prompt our
thinking--about literature, philosophy, religion, theology, and
life, no less--all the while helping us to see that we are no more
normal than Jon but certainly no less special than Judy and her
friends. These two must-read novels leave us wondering how many
more lives, and deaths, Jon and Judy Mote have left."
--Amos Yong
author of The Bible, Disability, and the Church
"The prophetic spirit of Walker Percy infuses this unusual whodunit
about a lost man stumbling unawares toward love in the ruins of
both his own life and the postmodern world. As in his memorable
debut, Daniel Taylor's disarmingly shrewd Christian humanism
diagnoses the disorders characteristic of our time, and points the
way toward healing."
--Rod Dreher, author of How Dante Can Save Your Life and
The Little Way of Ruthie Leming
Praise for the first Jon Mote Mystery, Death Comes for the
Deconstructionist
Christianity Today's 2016 Book Award Winner in Fiction
". . . not only a highly engaging murder mystery but also a
metaphysical page-turner." --Paul J. Willis
Product Details
- Title : Do We Not Bleed?: A Jon Mote Mystery
- Author: Taylor, Daniel
- Publisher: Slant
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9781498299886
Daniel Taylor is the author of twelve books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children, Tell Me a Story, Creating a Spiritual Legacy, The Skeptical Believer, and, most recently, Death Comes for the Deconstructionist. He speaks frequently on a variety of topics. Dr. Taylor is married and the father of four adult children. Website: WordTaylor.com