Found: mystery/science fiction/religion
Original topic subject: mystery/science fiction/religion
Talk Name that Book
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1TomBurst
Probably written in the 1980s, but I cannot be sure.
Starts with a man crashing a car into or in front of the sheriff's office. But the man had died and the sheriff had seen him buried years before.
The chapters or sections were related to thoughtful religious living. That is: The events in the book centered around a week in Mormon life where you evaluate yourself and your life based on different principles each day the week or 10 day period with one principle evaluated each day. The story events in each chapter related to that day's principle,
The book also has a large federal research facility looking at energy or nuclear power or some other big time research program. The facility is in the background in the early parts of the book, but figures more and more prominently in the story as it goes along.
The sheriff was married with a family and he finds out his daughter had received an abortion with his wife's help and without his knowledge late in the book.
Starts with a man crashing a car into or in front of the sheriff's office. But the man had died and the sheriff had seen him buried years before.
The chapters or sections were related to thoughtful religious living. That is: The events in the book centered around a week in Mormon life where you evaluate yourself and your life based on different principles each day the week or 10 day period with one principle evaluated each day. The story events in each chapter related to that day's principle,
The book also has a large federal research facility looking at energy or nuclear power or some other big time research program. The facility is in the background in the early parts of the book, but figures more and more prominently in the story as it goes along.
The sheriff was married with a family and he finds out his daughter had received an abortion with his wife's help and without his knowledge late in the book.
2beichst
Pretty sure this is the 1991 Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams. The timing fits pretty well (you indicated possibly 80s). The other parts you referenced (religious days, reappearance of supposedly dead person, etc.) match as well (excerpt link below).
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/walter-jon-williams/days-of-atonement.htm
"Williams's ( Angel Station ) flawed futuristic thriller is set at the beginning of the next century, during the ''days of atonement'' observed by the Church of the Apostles, a period of contemplation, each day devoted to one of the seven deadly sins. Loren Hawn, police chief of Atocha, N.M., is driven by overwhelming rage, religious fervor and the desire to ''guard his marriage, his daughters, his community''; he styles himself ''the sword and arm of the Lord.'' Then an experiment at the nearby Advanced Technology Laboratories leaves a body on Loren's doorstep--apparently that of a man who died 20 years ago. As Loren investigates the ''John Doe''--is his appearance some sort of miracle?--he gradually comes to believe that he has been betrayed by all he cherished--his family, his town, his church. Ironically, he is right--ATL is involved in a crime--but Loren is over the edge. He is ultimately overtaken by rage and driven to a frenzy of murder and destruction."
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/walter-jon-williams/days-of-atonement.htm
"Williams's ( Angel Station ) flawed futuristic thriller is set at the beginning of the next century, during the ''days of atonement'' observed by the Church of the Apostles, a period of contemplation, each day devoted to one of the seven deadly sins. Loren Hawn, police chief of Atocha, N.M., is driven by overwhelming rage, religious fervor and the desire to ''guard his marriage, his daughters, his community''; he styles himself ''the sword and arm of the Lord.'' Then an experiment at the nearby Advanced Technology Laboratories leaves a body on Loren's doorstep--apparently that of a man who died 20 years ago. As Loren investigates the ''John Doe''--is his appearance some sort of miracle?--he gradually comes to believe that he has been betrayed by all he cherished--his family, his town, his church. Ironically, he is right--ATL is involved in a crime--but Loren is over the edge. He is ultimately overtaken by rage and driven to a frenzy of murder and destruction."
3TomBurst
>2 beichst: Thank you!
