Times of Distress

REVISION 2023 MYSTERY ROMANCE AND SUSPENSE
Fr Jos van Engelen, a Dutch missionary priest, stationed in New Guinea before World War II, is recalled to Holland to help his superior general combat ideological subversion within his fraternity. He arrives in March 1940.

British intelligence enlists him for covert operations, but after the Nazis invade Holland, it all goes horribly wrong. He flees from betrayal and the murder of trusted colleagues to Amsterdam, where he joins the Dutch resistance. For the next five years, directed by the mysterious Femke, he works in covert roles, staying ahead of Nazi detection units and dealing with the occult.

When the Nazis fire on a crowd in May 1945, he saves a young woman and her baby from being crushed. So begins an unspoken relationship with the Strict Reformed Truus van den Donker and a deadly tussle with her brutish occultist husband.

After the war, the conflict continues with those he suspects of betraying him. The conflict comes to a head during and after the Second Vatican Council and results in more measures to get him out of the way. At the same time, he must confront sinister occultist forces that want him dead.

This is a story of unswerving faith and commitment against diabolical forces Fr Jos can hardly conceive.

The CONCILIAR SERIES will consist of six connected but stand-alone stories. The themes of the 'Goddess', neo-paganism, the occult and Gnosticism are threads through the stories. The Second Vatican Council and the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s (1965-1975) form the background. The author attempts to recreate the atmosphere of the times.