Although the cosmic-clash elements feel underserved, Bentley’s exploration of earthly sin is bankable entertainment.
Angels and demons take sides in a struggle between a church and a villainous sheriff in this Christian fantasy thriller.
Bentley’s novel opens with Bo Ostermon, pastor of the South Point Community Church in Texas, and his wife Mary adopting the Vasquez siblings—Jorge, Jacob, and Margarite—from a Mexican orphan camp. Their act of charity sours when Jorge, who proves to be a glue-huffing, machete-swinging psychopath devoted to the demoness Lilith, falsely accuses Bo of abusing him and tries to rape a girl. The Ostermons promptly return the Vasquezes to the camp, but not before a demon poisons Bo’s mind with negative thoughts (e.g., “You are a spineless coward”). Back in South Point, Bo runs afoul of the town’s evil Sheriff Marcus Wheeler, who frames him for rape. When Bo is paroled eight years later, Marcus continues persecuting him, and the Vasquezes, who now run a human trafficking ring with Marcus, abduct Bo’s daughter Julia. She manages to escape and falls in with the mysterious Manny Maylock, an amnesiac fisherman with a Labrador called Roxie. The plot gravitates toward a showdown at South Point Community Church, which hosts a public meeting to present video evidence exonerating Bo and implicating Marcus in many crimes.
Bentley’s yarn is in part about a grand celestial war between beings who are awesome—one demon “wielded a cruel whip of living fire in one hand and a massive shield glowing blood-red and black in the other”—but don’t have much of an impact. The teeming cast of angels and devils pop in and out of the story haphazardly without much individuation or dramatic presence, with the angels especially cutting rather stolid, Tom Clancy–ish figures. (“Double the patrol schedules. I want eyes on every approach to this town, and constant monitoring of the spiritual atmosphere.”) More gripping is Bentley’s noirish portrait of South Point’s small-town corruption and vendettas, where the bad guys steal the show: While the Christian heroes usually act as prayer warriors summoning angelic intervention through faith, Marcus acts with a worldly, swaggering verve rendered in punchy prose. (“‘I tell you what, Alice. If things go bad and I feel like I am in dire straits, rather than worry about what you may tell the authorities, how about I just come to your place and snap your pretty little neck!’”) Much of the book’s conflict occurs within human souls, and Bentley’s depiction of said struggle is vividly phantasmagoric, with demons perched on shoulders murmuring toxic ideas, as when a fellow pastor questions Bo over Jorge’s allegations. (“The imp of Deceit flitted between the two men like a mosquito, invisible wings beating frantically. Its whispers were silk-smooth poison, dripping doubt into Austin’s mind, rage into Bo’s heart. He doesn’t believe you, it hissed to Bo. Your own friend thinks you’re a monster.”) In passages like these, Bentley paints a shrewd and compelling Christian view of the psychology of evil.
Although the cosmic-clash elements feel underserved, Bentley’s exploration of earthly sin is bankable entertainment.Pub Date: May 1, 2026
ISBN: 9798994708064
Page Count: 588
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.
Second of the Walter Nash thrillers—following Nash Falls (2025)—in which the remade hero seeks vengeance.
Due to urgent circumstances, Nash has bulked himself up to become the “muscled and tatted fighting machine” now known as Dillon Hope. His antagonist is Victoria Steers, a global drug dealer who wants him dead. Not realizing his new identity, she enlists Hope to free her mother, Masuyo, from a prison in Myanmar. As an incentive, she shoots one of her associates and threatens to frame Hope for the murder unless he complies. She also wants him to find Nash. He in turn wants to kill Victoria to avenge the death of his innocent daughter, Maggie. “If I go down,” he muses, “I’m taking others with me. Starting with Victoria Steers.” He learns that Victoria had killed all her siblings to eliminate business competition. But as heartless as Victoria is, her mother, Masuyo, is even worse. In league with the Chinese government in a perverse plan to kill as many Americans as possible through fentanyl overdose, she shows contempt for Victoria for her perceived weaknesses. Readers won’t find many happy family relationships here: mother-daughter, father-son, husband-wife—all fraught. Hope’s employer, who accompanies him to Myanmar, is a billionaire chief executive with a dodgy past (i.e., probably killed his father). And there’s a mega-billionaire with an astronomical IQ and ditch-deep morals who, putting it mildly, does not have America’s best interests at heart. As a teenager, he’d defeated two world chess champions; as an adult, he regards his dealings with the world in terms of master chess moves. Only one character seems truly decent and credible—Hiroko, Victoria’s former nanny and lifelong companion, who provides Hope with valuable insights into the Steers’ background, which is partly Chinese. Searing grudges, simple evil, and not-so-simple misunderstandings carry the cast through this complex, action-packed plot. This sequel ties out the loose ends dangling in Nash Falls, which would be helpful to read first. To get to the requisite ending, though, Baldacci takes pains to surprise the reader. It works but often feels forced.
Filled with action, violence, and more twists than a bag of pretzels.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781538758021
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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