exceeded expectations 
 so much development of the characters, with their hopes and flaws and fears 
 interesting treatment of faith and spiritual crisis in face of loss and brutality of life 
 spotted what i think is recurrence of the Columbo / Crime and Punishment's Porfiry Petrovich character in Detective Kinderman - faking incompetence and simplicity and some false exits... 
 "Hi ya, Faddah." 
 He winced. Sagged. Couldn't turn. He could not bear to search for Christ again in stench and hollow eyes; for the Christ of pus and bleeding excrement, the Christ who could not be. In absent gesture, he felt at his sleeve as if for an unseen band of mourning. He dimly remembered another Christ. 
 "Hey, Faddah!"