Conservative Novelist Follows in Steps of William F. Buckley, Jr.

William F. Buckley, Jr. formed and popularized the modern-day conservative movement. Oh yes, and by the way, he was a great thriller writer. Award-winning novelist Ray Keating has followed in the footsteps of Buckley, who is a personal hero of Keating’s. While a longtime conservative columnist and economist, Keating also has written six Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers – MURDERER’S ROW, THE RIVER, AN ADVENT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, ROOT OF ALL EVIL? and WARRIOR MONK.

David Keene was president of the American Conservative Union, president of the NRA, and is now the opinion editor at The Washington Times. It doesn’t get more conservative. So, what does Keene say about Ray Keating’s Pastor Stephen Grant series? “Thriller and mystery writers have concocted all manner of main characters, from fly fishing lawyers to orchid aficionados and former ballplayers, but none has come up with anyone like Stephen Grant, the former Navy Seal and CIA assassin, and current Lutheran pastor. Grant mixes battling America's enemies and sparring with enemies of traditional Christian values, while ministering to his Long Island flock. The amazing thing is that the character works. The Stephen Grant novels are great reads beginning with WARRIOR MONK, which aptly describes Ray Keating's engaging hero.”

CNBC’s Larry Kudlow said, “Ray Keating has created a fascinating and unique character in Pastor Grant.”

Lutheran Book review declares, “I miss Tom Clancy. Keating fills that void for me.”

A Touchstone magazine review of MURDERER’S ROW says: “This is a fun read, though the embedded theology is real and salutary. There is death and life, adultery and commitment, friendship and betrayal, violence and victory over violence… Perhaps the best part of the book for the reviewer is that the clergy are good at helping people bring Christ into their vocations.”

In a Washington Times review of THE RIVER, Kenneth Blanchard writes, “Mr. Keating's storytelling is so lifelike that I almost thought I had worked with him when I was at Langley. Like the fictitious pastor, I actually spent 20 years working for the U.S. intelligence community, and once I started reading "The River," I had to keep reading because it was so well-crafted and easy to follow and because it depicted a personal struggle that I knew all too well. I simply could not put it down. What Ian Fleming's 007 series has probably done for ex-MI-6 agents and Tom Clancy has done for retired CIA officers, Mr. Keating has done for the minority of former CIA agents who have served their country by working in the intelligence community, but now wish to serve God.”

Finally, Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of WORLD magazine, lists Ray Keating among his top 10 Christian novelists.