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In the meantime, the murder of his wife received only the most cursory of scrutiny from the authorities because he's a pastor and pastors, it is widely believed, don't smother their wives, then burn their corpses in their bedrooms and try to make it look like an accident. I'd say that's a fair assumption if you're Joe Sixpack, but not a very fair assumption if you're a criminal investigator.
But what do I, Joe Sixpack, know about anything? I don't even think God makes people speak in tongues aside: I encourage you to witness this phenomenon firsthand, if you haven't already or issues instructions for the murder of specific people. But Nick did, maybe even still does, who knows? He's got some time to think about it because his first mistress ratted him out to the cops and now he's in prison for the murder of his wife.
Although one of the mistresses saw fit to become his next, and current, wife, murder conviction be damned, because that is, apparently, what God wants. If you want to get laid, become a preacher. View all 24 comments. Some of the intimate details and verbatim conversations where only the perp and one other person are present tend to set off my crap detector. Certainly this was a fun book to listen to while mowing and doing summer chores. Hacheney drugged and killed his wife, then set the house on fire to cover his tracks. The original investigation into the fire was very sloppy. God and his minions always get away with have to meet a lower standard.
I think the first part of the book could have been cut and the last part concerning the investigation expanded. Hard to put down though. Sort of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Sep 15, Robin rated it it was amazing Shelves: If you are looking for an Ann Rule read-a-like or book that reads like a suspense novel, then look no further. This is what I hope is his breakout book because it deserves to be picked up by anyone who likes a fascinating story about faith and love gone wrong.
Nick Hacheney was a charismatic preacher for a small church on Bainbridge Island in Washington who burned do If you are looking for an Ann Rule read-a-like or book that reads like a suspense novel, then look no further. Nick Hacheney was a charismatic preacher for a small church on Bainbridge Island in Washington who burned down his house with his murdered wife inside and was found to be canoodling and more with four women from his congregation. You'll quickly flip the pages to find out how and how long it takes for everyone to finally figure out what is going on.
Olsen deeply delves into the psyches of everyone involved and it's apparent that he did his homework. All I can say about this book is I found it amazing what people will do and what they will believe in the name of the Lord. This will be published in April , and if you want to meet Olsen, he will be at the Tea Party Bookshop on February 12 at 6: There can be different types of Faith A very good book. It shows you, when you mix religion with a lie, it's not going to work out good.
Jun 04, Constance rated it really liked it Shelves: Truth can be stranger than fiction, but what I initially found strangest about this book was that so many people would be taken in by Nick Hacheney for as long as they were - believing even that his actions had the sanction of God. This book takes place in the late s in Bremerton and Bainbridge Island, Washington, where I have lived more than half my life.
Bainbridge Island is known for having a well-educated demographic, more people with secondary and post-secondary degrees than just about Truth can be stranger than fiction, but what I initially found strangest about this book was that so many people would be taken in by Nick Hacheney for as long as they were - believing even that his actions had the sanction of God.
Bainbridge Island is known for having a well-educated demographic, more people with secondary and post-secondary degrees than just about anywhere in the US, but this story could have happened in the dark ages for the number of people that accept God's word could come in the form of apostolic visions that okay just about any action, in this case, from "God wants me to buy diamond earrings or a new car" because God wants me to be happy to "God needs me to have sex with the pastor" to give him comfort right after his wife just died in a pretty sketchy-looking accidental fire where all the valuables in the house just happened to be safely stored out of harm's way.
Even while I feel sorry for the women that Nick Hacheney duped most especially the one woman with no voice in this story, Dawn Hacheney , it is hard for me to understand the naivete that would lead some of these people to think God would advise them to run up credit card debt so that they could be happy while others go hungry in the world.
A disturbing read that keeps you turning pages to find out where this story will go and whether justice will be served. Jul 19, Hava rated it it was ok Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It's a voyeuristic experience, like you're peeking into someone's life and seeing all of their dirty laundry aired. Well, this is the book form of that same experience. There are three ministers for a Christian church: Then the last one who is sexual pervert who thinks that the solution to ANY problem is to sleep with the woman who has the problem.
Struggling in your marriage with your husband? Miss your daughter who is dead because I killed her but you don't know that - sleep with me! All problems equal one solution - have sex with me! He simply asks them if they'd ever had an uncomfortable situation with the sexual predator minister - if he had ever made an advance, or hit on them, or whatever. Out of the entire congregation, only one said no, that never happened. The book doesn't say, but I'm guessing that this female was 92 and in a wheelchair, because if you had two legs, boobs, and were breathing, you were hit on by this guy.
Anyway, the book was hard for me to read for several reasons: It was depressing because the guy was a slimebag he had multiple relationships going at all times, and he killed his wife so he could continue this pattern with impunity. It must just be the way that he deals with grief. There were more than a few people who apparently have a direct line to God, and are constantly giving The Word, where they tell everyone else what God wants or is thinking. One of the ladies gave The Word that her husband was going to die in a car crash, and no one seemed bothered by this.
She, of course, didn't tell her husband about this revelation, but she told a bunch of other people. She told her children, matter-of-factly, that their father was going to die, so don't get too attached to him. People, are you listening to this stuff?! How could this possibly be normal? And apparently this God guy is mixed up, because he keeps giving revelations to the sexual predator to have sex with different women and to tell every one of them that God has said that they are The One that God has sent to this minister in order to help him now that he's single.
Every one of them are special and chosen to do this. I've read several polygamy books, and in a way, this book reminded me of that. You have a male who is using religion to get sex from a lot of different women. In one of the polygamy books that I read, I remember that the narrator was saying that the men were to receive revelations when they were supposed to take a young girl to be their 13th wife, and that apparently God kept getting his wires crossed because he would give 15 men a revelation to take the same cute, young, fun girl to be their wife, whereas an older, not-so-pretty lady was completely ignored by God.
Amazing how that happens. But for me, it left me with a slimy feeling, and it certainly wasn't helpful for the Christian cause. May 14, Alison Whiteman rated it it was amazing. It was a hot sweltering week at Christian Youth Fellowship camp just outside Colorado Springs, the now mecca of sprawling evangelical churches to rival that of America's tasteless and tacky strip malls. I managed to narrowly escape the deceitful hands of a camp counselor four years my senior. Actually I didn't escape him entirely because of my numerous unexplained falls.
He always appeared out of nowhere to cradle me with his athletic and toned year-old arms.
I was a scrawny year-old girl It was a hot sweltering week at Christian Youth Fellowship camp just outside Colorado Springs, the now mecca of sprawling evangelical churches to rival that of America's tasteless and tacky strip malls. I was a scrawny year-old girl in braces with frizzy hair who was voted "best dressed camper. I did not have a brain tumor. This was not some Godly based medical intervention under the guise of a probable tumor to save me from this man. No clouds parted, no trumpets sounded and God did not speak to me in my sleep.
Thank goodness for a geographical separation.
After years of sending letters back and forth to one another, he finally revealed his true intentions. He sent me a letter in this twisted "I've groomed you for five years" creepy way that read, "now that you are a young woman, I want to deepen the level of our correspondence. Thankfully he was in Chicago. Thankfully he decided not to become a minister but worse, he became a professor. Oh what glorious joy he must have with a fresh batch of young vulnerable women arriving each year to stare at him and absorb his love of American literature and his toned arms.
Hemingway, the philandering manly man is his favorite author of course. I called him in the late s much to his surprise. He had to go to a meeting. I am not one to suffer fools so I said, "I bet you have a lot of meetings. I bet meetings are a great excuse to end painful conversations.
By the way, I was told you had interest in more than one girl several years younger than you during your volunteer work as a camp counselor. Clouds rarely part in this part of the nation. Olsen's book is yet another story of how everything can go wrong when religion and churches meet.
People falling to the floor and the release of demons is drama no one truly needs. The sordid relationships in his novel are not surprising to me, only the murder. Olsen is undoubtedly a talented writer. I don't normally read true crime but I could not stop reading this book. I have had nothing but bad experiences in organized religious settings. I often wonder if churches are built so one can find God after fleeing the building flinging one's arms in blessed relief. Jan 01, Valerie rated it really liked it.
For some reason, this particular true story just blindsided me. I simply had a hard time believing that the women used by a narcissistic, sociopathic, probably borderline personality, individual who passed himself off as a man of God, failed to heed any of the many red flags they all saw in their relationships with him. I suppose that the fact that their religious community was rather insulated by location Bainbridge Island, WA and not having healthy relationships with many men in their lives For some reason, this particular true story just blindsided me.
I suppose that the fact that their religious community was rather insulated by location Bainbridge Island, WA and not having healthy relationships with many men in their lives contributed to their blindness. These women, and some men, all seemed to lack a purpose in life and were looking for their church to provide it for them. It does not work that way in any religious or spiritual community.
This is how people end up drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid as in the case of Jim Jones, or refusing to see the evidence of the young man in this story murdering his wife to further his own sexual agenda with many women, including his mother-in-law. All he had to tell them was that God spoke to him; and they fell back with their clothing off. One woman was so caught up in her own delusion, that she claimed the Angel Gabriel was speaking to her, in addition to God, telling her that her husband and the young pastor's wife were both going to die.
She even told her small children this This is pure, unadulterated evil based upon wishful thinking, lost hopes and dreams, perhaps mental illness as to a "higher calling". If that higher calling involves taking the lives of others, or doing emotional harm, it surely isn't a divine voice God speaking to a person. People need to be grounded enough to question everything, and to KNOW that if a person or a "voice" is asking one to perform a harmful, cruel, unjust action, then that voice does not belong to anything divine. Some things truly are black or white.
I cannot believe how naive these people were. It scares the hell out of me to think that this is no doubt, a story that is repeated daily somewhere around the world. Jan 27, Jill Hutchinson rated it liked it Shelves: I like this author, he writes well but his subject in this true crime novel is so maddening that it is hard to give the book any stars in the ratings. I hated the characters I am not conversant with the religion of fundamental Christians but any church in this case, more of a cult than a mainstream denomination that espouses the dogma described in this book cannot be spiritual The women in this group were so incredibly stupid I can't put it down to vulnerability or naivete that I could feel no sympathy for them when they fell under the thrall of their pastor, a true loser and master manipulator.
It is so outlandish that it seems more like fiction. So be warned,this book leaves the reader with a bad taste in your mouth.
In it was the shy, beloved minister's wife Dawn Hacheney. Gregg Olsen does an excellent job telling this story. I really like for the bad guy to get his or her just rewards. When the fire was extinguished, investigators found only her charred remains. Not as much information is given about his relationship with his wife, maybe because the author didn't have anyone to interview who was really privy to that. At some point, I got the point that he was this disgusting womanizer and wanted to get to the part where he finally gets caught. Apr 27, Beverly Garside rated it it was amazing.
Apr 27, Beverly Garside rated it it was amazing. A Minister's Obsession and the Murder That Destroyed a Church I don't read much true crime, but this tale of a Christian role-playing church, complete with apostles, prophets, exorcists, and a minister with an entire harem of married women taking turns in his bed was one I could not put down. By the time the demons are cast out and the prophecies are announced, you can almost forget about the suspicious death. For me, the most fascinating aspect was the degree of deception we ar A Twisted Faith: For me, the most fascinating aspect was the degree of deception we are willing to swallow in the name of "love" and the alleged voices of God and the angels.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only, and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times. Brakes should've been applied to this drug-running drama The year in books: Steve Weinberg Steve Weinberg has reviewed books professionally since for numerous publications. His reviewing for The Seattle Times dates back into the s. Weinberg is the author of eight nonfiction books. His current book under contract is a biography of Garry Trudeau.
No personal attacks or insults, no hate speech, no profanity. Please keep the conversation civil and help us moderate this thread by reporting any abuse. Learn more More Like This. Twist of Faith Hitched for the Holidays TV Movie Darcy TV Movie Wedding Bells TV Movie Home by Spring TV Movie Poppy Drayton, Steven R. Royal Hearts TV Movie Edit Cast Cast overview, first billed only: Nina Jones David Julian Hirsh Jacob Fisher Nathaniel J. Hava Fisher Kyra Zagorsky Ruth Fisher Mykelti Williamson Uncle Moe Viv Leacock Brother Day Dee Jay Jackson Pastor Johnson Colin Lawrence Mike Jones Tanner Saunders Yeeshai Fisher Eliana Calogiros Miriam Fisher Kennedi Clements Sarah Fisher Ken Kramer Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Edit Did You Know? Goofs The beginning of the scene opens with choir rehearsals, and Nina ask the pastor to leave because her ex husband is dropping her son off. Crazy since her Uncle Moe is already home, and she lives right next door to the church. Nina is talking to her ex husband Mike, after dropping off her son, Asher.
You can clearly see her black belt on her blouse. As she walks up the steps of her home, it disappeared.