Sins of the Father-Angela Benson

Sins of the Father
Angela Benson
Avon, Aug 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 9780061468520

Feeling remorse that he never recognized his two children from out of wedlock and encouraged by a letter his late mom left him, Abraham Martin, after informing his beloved wife Saralyn what he did three decades ago just before he married her, admits he sired Michael and Deborah with their mom Leah. His revelation upsets his son, Isaac, who quits abruptly the family business, MEEG. As he tries to develop a relationship with the two adults he abandoned when they were babies and patch up the split with Isaac, Leah demands Abraham take care of his other offspring.

Deborah welcomes his efforts and is elated he has given her a firm to manage while her brother Michael rejects everything offered by Abraham to him. His acrimony impacts his relationships with his mom and wife Josette as he is filled with rage and a thirst of vengeance. Isaac also takes his anger with his dad into his relationship with his spouse Rebecca. Meanwhile the only seemingly contented child of his since his pronouncement Deborah is attracted to Abraham's attorney, Alan Weems, who is the same age as her parents, which has her mom worried that her daughter seeks a father figure.

With a modernizing of the relationships of the biblical Abraham, Angela Benson provides an engaging contemporary drama. The story line feels like a soap opera as one melodramatic event follows another. Still the cast is full dimensional (even Abraham’s late mother) with each reacting differently to the patriarch’s revelations. Fans will appreciate the SINS OF THE FATHER as Abraham’s efforts for redemption seem to have fallen apart as his past transgressions with two women appears to be repeated by his offspring.

Harriet Klausner