I finished the book. I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to, but I did. I can't say I made a deliberate decision beforehand, but I think I'm glad I did. I had already gotten involved in the characters and knew that Susan Howatch's books always allow for the redemption of the characters I care about. I wanted to see what happened. I noticed almost right away that at the point that I picked it up after not reading it for a couple of days, seemed to be where the main --- offensiveness, I guess --- started to give way to a character's changed life, to the point where he began to trust God, and things started to seem hopeful. I don't know that the end justifies the means here, because parts of the book were very disturbing, but I do believe that it's true to life --- that no matter how far away God seems, no matter how broken our lives are, no matter how bad the choices we've made, God's right there, always ready to take our hands and pull us out of the muck of our situation. He places people in our lives that can help lead us back to Him. We just have to ask.