Consuming Revenge and Bill Shaul

What is Consuming Revenge about?

Consuming Revenge is a faith-based suspense mystery romance novel surrounding the exploits of Lane, a police officer who leads an elite team, and his new girlfriend, a newspaper reporter, named Danny. They have been attacked by an unknown person(s) wanting revenge upon one of the two. Consuming Revenge begins with the inadvertent killing of two of Lane’s officers, which then follows a couple of other attacks, some stalking going on against both Lane and Danny. The climax includes a scene in which the character seeking revenge is given the chance to kill Lane in a warehouse. The underlying theme is their trust in God. He is the sovereign and in control, even if it doesn’t look that way.

Lane and Danny are both Christians but they’re not perfect. The end of the book talks about how they are not perfect people but forgiven people. They have flaws and difficulties but as they grow in their careers and with each other. This haunting overshadowing effort to seek revenge upon them for what the perpetrator believes one of them has done causes great suffering for them and eventually almost takes the life of one of them.

My philosophy is that much of the Christian fiction today is not as wholesome as it portrays or is very shallow. I try not to get preachy, but these characters not only say they’re believers but walk what they believe. Recently I read a Christian fiction book where the author said it was inspirational fiction. In the book, I only found one character who prayed once and another mentioned attending church. That was all the Christianity I could find. A Christian fiction book doesn't need to include scripture on every page or delve deeply into philosophy, but if you're presenting yourself as a Christian author or writing a Christian book, it's important to portray characters who engage with or reflect on their faith in key situations.

I have a former student I taught when he was in high school, and he is now a pastor in Wisconsin. He read the book and couldn’t wait to give it to his thirteen-year-old daughter. He had the confidence that this book was clean and wholesome. There’s death in this book but it’s not glorified or told in graphic detail. There aren’t any seedy interludes that are offensive or inserted just for their shock value. Much of our media today thrives on the sensuous and scandalous: my fiction does not.

Consuming Jealousy, the sequel to Consuming Revenge, continues with the same characters and adds many more. It’s not quite the seven deadly sins but the third one will likely feature greed. These are issues that we fight with every day.

What inspired you to write this book?

I imagined something could happen to someone walking through a revolving door so I wrote a story around this scene. This expanded into Consuming Revenge. I have a photo of the door that inspired me to write this book.

I wanted to encourage believers that life is not always smooth, but God is always in control. It may not be obvious, it may not be seen, it may not be clear, but he is always there. I wanted this story to entertain, encourage, and inspire people that read it. It has entertainment value for those who are not people of faith, it’s not where it gets so preachy that it would turn people away. I’ve had some people read it and they weren’t glowing reviews, but they did enjoy the story. It’s to encourage and inspire those that are people of faith.

Will the book feature different messages or teachings?

The first book is set around revenge and its harmful impacts. It shows that sometimes we are the subjects of revenge, but we haven’t done anything to cause that. The subtle message is that revenge is in the world, and we must be prepared for it even if we don’t see it coming our way.

The next book will deal with jealousy and what it prompts people to do. Jealousy is something we all battle with. Lane and Danny are going to deal with jealousy within their relationship. A second couple, introduced in the second book, will have a major jealousy issue that must be resolved.

In the sequel, Lane and Danny develop their relationship when they have their first argument, where they go a week without communicating, which is terrible for them. They must work through that misunderstanding. There are things that I’m going to keep exploring that take place during their relationship.

The basic themes are wrapped up in the title. How do you face when someone is vengeful towards you? How do you face jealousy, whether it’s others or your own? How people gain opportunities through shady activities, indirectly affects Lane’s unit.

Lane’s transportation unit is called the Inmate Transport Unit (ITU). It’s a clandestine transportation service for prisoners and key political figures from one location to another. When a prisoner needs to go to the dental office or a court office, they don’t do a big SWAT truck like you see on television but instead dress in regular clothes and use discreet transportation, so the public doesn’t notice.

Consuming Revenge takes place in August. Consuming Jealousy picks up after Labor Day and concludes in December. Hinted at the end of the first book is Danny wanting to visit her family in Ireland, and she wants someone to travel with Lane and her. There’s an innuendo that this would be a great honeymoon trip. Another hint implies that they are more romantically involved than they are, and maybe more than they realize. They go out looking for property, and others think they are buying a house. Instead, they are looking to secure a place for a business venture together.

Does each character face their own challenges, or do their struggles and developments go together?

Lane struggles with a particular character flaw. He has a good friend called Barney, who is like a mentor to Lane and works for Lane, in their personal and church relationship Barney is the more mature one. Barney softly beats on Lane about this flaw, explored through Lane’s journey in the books.

For example, Lane hides the fact that Danny is a woman, leading Barney to believe that Danny is a man, not a woman. Lane is an eight-year widower and was never interested in another woman until he met Danny. Therefore, he doesn’t want to clarify to Barney that Danny is a woman. Lane struggles with the openness of his relationship with Danny and not wanting to disappoint Barney.

Danny is a thirty-year-old never-married woman who lost a fiancé who died in a skydiving accident right in front of her. She struggles with getting involved with another man who leads a dangerous job every day and risking losing him. Can she face that? They don’t solve everything together. They have the issues they’re dealing with, but it does affect their relationship. But they also have joint problems they face together as well.