Something Must Change Here

For fans of Lisa Jewell and Harlan Coben, a literary thriller set in Haiti that explores faith, power, and moral courage.

In 1999, the Vatican sends Georgetown professor Jack Carson to Haiti to investigate the life of Bernard Emmanuel, a young social activist who died thirty-five years ago. Jack must determine if this indigent, pious man is worthy to be declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Amid murder, secrets, and devastating poverty, Jack discovers competing interests for manipulating Bernard’s legacy. The US government, ambitious politicians, local clergy, and the Vatican each have their own motives for shaping Bernard’s story and what he should represent.

Events take a perilous turn when Annie O’Leary, an aspiring public relations executive, arrives in Haiti with her own ideas about saint-making. She inadvertently blunders into a world of secret police, violence, and extortion in this unfamiliar world, threatening Jack’s investigation and irrevocably intertwining her own mission with his.

Pulsing with suspense and grappling with themes of faith, moral complexity, and personal responsibility, Something Must Change Here reveals tensions between politics and religion while uncovering the saintliness of ordinary people.