Vigilante Priest, while ominous and heavy, is written with a bit of comedic relief. It confronts moral issues, and offers, ultimately, a vision of enlightened reform. The book is led by two protagonists. Father Tony and Detective Eddie Rodriguez. Father Tony, a once-popular New York priest and a member of a family connected to the mob, was falsely accused of abusing a student. He is torn by his secret knowledge and troubled by what is right or wrong and if the end really does justify the means. And Detective Eddie Rodriguez, a gay Latino cop, with a comically large chip on his shoulder and an internal affairs investigation on his back. He is on a bad-luck bender through much of the novel. He is a likable, comical antihero with dubious instincts, who engenders admiration.