Synopsis:
Sometimes it’s not the devil you know . . .
The disfigured body of a missing teenager is found in an unmarked grave in northern Maine and FBI agent Gus Wheeler and his partner, Vanessa (“V), arrive to investigate. They are surprised to discover a second grave, but the remains are so badly burned that identification proves difficult. But the two bodies have something strange in common: a large lead cross placed upon each decedent’s chest.
The locals are uncooperative and the rural law enforcement agency is two steps behind. Enlisting help from a theology and biblical studies expert, they learn that the murderer’s methodology is lifted straight from ancient scripture and the burials are consistent with an archaic religious practice. Connecting the victims to a local church adhering to strict Old Testament doctrine only creates more confusion than clarity.
As their investigation widens, Gus and V face threats and suspicion.
But someone in the congregation is leaving them clues. Are they friend or foe? Trying to aid them in their investigative efforts or feeding them false leads?
Time is running out and Gus must determine if their secret guide is leading them toward answers . . . or deeper into an underworld of twisted dogma and ancient rituals.
Review:
R. John Dingle describes himself as “generally a very happy person.” He and his wife raised their kids in a multigenerational home — John’s parents lived with them for about twenty years — living in Australia for a few years when his children were young. When their last child went off to college, he and his wife moved to a small island off the mid-coast of Maine and restored the two-hundred-year-old home they reside in.
An avid reader since his late teens, John says he “longed to be a writer for many years and once the last child launched,” he set out to achieve his goal. The first installment in his popular Gus Wheeler FBI Thriller series, Karma Never Sleeps, was published in 2025, and is the story of small-town murders the locals cannot solve so they seek the assistance of the FBI. He quickly followed it up with Wings of Madness later that year. Dingle says it has a more “urban vibe.” Women begin disappearing after visiting rundown nightclubs in a sketchy part of town. The mystery is centered around one 1980s cover band. Before the Devil Knows is the third volume. He says his books explore the “often-haunting themes of the rocky coast” and his “lifetime of experiences in and around New England’s small towns, farms, and cities, provide excellent inspiration for the tones and moods reflected” in his thrillers.
Dingle has created two fascinating lead characters. FBI agent Gus Wheeler grew up In Colorado and is an aspiring musician, fashioned after Dingle’s own musician son. Gus loves to play his beloved concert bass but obviously cannot transport it when traveling on business. So instead, he takes a cheap plywood bass with a detachable neck along so that he can play while thinking about the cases he is investigating. Playing helps calm his “churning, dyslexic mind” and enables him to analyze the evidence he collects. And also drives his partner crazy when they are forced to share a small motel room.
His partner is Vanessa (“V) Lambert, an unapologetically badass woman with “stop-sign red” hair — this month, but it will be a different color soon – shaved on one side with a single long braid. She also boasts piercings and a lot of tattoos from her days growing up on the rough streets of Detroit where joining a gang was the only way to survive. She is self-confident and has at her disposal an endless supply of wisecracks that match her “don’t you dare mess with me” attitude. She is a self-christened “final girl” as a result of traumatic experiences she survived during previous investigations who loves to taunt Gus about his bass . . . and much more. She is not warmly welcomed by local authorities, primarily male, who find her appearance and no-nonsense approach difficult to deal with.
Theirs is a true, indestructible partnership. They are devoted to each other and their work. And they would readily die for one another, as they prove over and over when they encounter danger. Which they do constantly.
Before the Devil Knows is set in the remote northern region of Maine. It’s a part of the country where people go to live quiet lives, often off the grid, surviving by growing their own food and keeping to themselves. Some seek to disappear and never be found. The scattered small towns are isolated and insular. They don’t welcome strangers, especially FBI agents asking a lot of questions.
It’s there that Gus and V are dispatched to investigate a series of bizarre murders. The first victim discovered is a seventeen-year-old high school student, Adam Carson, who had been missing for nine days and was believed to have run away. He died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. Nearly every facial bone was fractured, and he had extensive bruising and contusions on his body, as well as broken ribs, kneecaps, tibias and fibulas, and three inch wide bruising and cuts on both wrists. The condition of his body and the crime scene suggest the young man was killed after being judged to have committed a mortal sin, because a Bible verse, Galatians 5:9, is carved into a tree trunk near the grave. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery.” Gus observes, “I think what we’ve got here is a little hometown justice. . . . I think it just became a case about religious retribution.”
Similarly, other victims’ bodies suggest their deaths were gruesome, consistent with punishments meted out in biblical times. One victim has been severely burned, another was crucified. Additional scripture references near the gravesites provide clues to the killer’s motives and the message he/she wants the world to hear. And what could a strange series of numbers and letters written in chalk above the front door of each victim’s home – 20 + C ++ M + B + 26 – possibly have to do with the killings?
On the outskirts of town, a defrocked and excommunicated priest leads The Slaves of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a cult-like congregation. A disturbing conversation with “Father” Benedict, whom Gus finds to be “a stern man with a commanding presence,” leads Gus to the conclusion that the case is “steeped heavily in the church’s religion and that was where they would need to start if they had any chance of unraveling what was going on.” The former priest was removed from the roster of priests by the Archbishop of Boston because of his clashes with church leaders over what he believed were lenient practices and a failure to adhere to Catholic doctrine. Gus and V enlist a professor at a nearby college who is an expert on religion to assist and guide them.
Soon, an anonymous informant begins surreptitiously providing information to Gus and V. But are the clues being transmitted to them reliable? With Gus and V’s own lives at stake, they cannot afford to blindly trust that someone affiliated with the church is actually attempting to help them solve the case.
Before the Devil Knows is a fast-paced, dark mystery, but Dingle provides relief from the dramatic tension with Gus and V’s light-hearted, believable banter. It is also a clever, engrossing tale, replete with numerous shocking twists and revelations that upend readers’ assumptions. It is a story Dingle says he has wanted to write “for decades.” He knew little about religion before he began researching and does not consider himself at all religious, yet wanted to craft a thriller that examines “the Old testament and the world that it was viewed as appropriate in, and trying to fit those ideals, views, practices into today’s world.” He pondered where a church adhering to the Old Testament could “hide out” and concluded that rural northern Maine was the ideal location for his richly atmospheric mystery. It indeed supplies just the “eerie vibe” he was seeking.
Overcoming all the obstacles Dingle throws in their path, Gus and V eventually solve the case, but few readers will manage to guess the identity of the killer. Happily, their partnership and story continue — Dingle has three more books in the series planned.
