A profound, engrossing story of self-discovery.
Reeves’ debut novel reimagines the devil as a being who walks the Earth among humans and gods in search of redemption.
Ari isn’t the devil that most people would envision. An entity called Father created him to be his assistant, whose vaguely defined job is to “tie together” the humans’ world; for instance, “it was Ari’s decisions that Moon should move the ocean and your breathing be dependent on the trees.” Sometimes these “ties” loosen, and he attributes the most recent slackening to his own possible, unnamed sin, which he committed in “the grove,” which some may call the Garden of Eden. He visits Earth in hopes of redeeming himself. Ari’s journey in the modern United States slowly brings his purpose on Earth to light. In Virginia, he meets Lula, a kindhearted grandmother who’s clearly more than human. She cryptically says that she wants back what Father had taken from her and what Ari then took from Father. Ari, who rarely strays from the East Coast, lives at a hotel sheltering unhoused people and later opens a restaurant with a very special menu. All the while, he has run-ins with other gods; some of them are helpful, such as his sister Love, and others less so, such as his sharply dressed cousin Death. Ari seeks forgiveness from one of his relations: his half brother, Emmanuel, a man-god hybrid whom humans once crucified. However, Ari first must give a confession of sorts and tell Emmanuel the truth about how his fateful decision in the grove adversely affected the world.
Reeves’ smart, theologically oriented tale provides convincing sympathy for the devil. For starters, the gods whom Ari encounters, as well as Ari himself, seem as conflicted as any mere mortal. None of them is omniscient, and they ask as many questions as Ari does. The introspective protagonist continually struggles to understand humans, and he may not truly understand himself or what he did in the grove. It’s no surprise that he asks his half brother what it’s like being both god and man; Emmanuel bluntly responds, “I don’t think there’s that much difference between the two.” The story aptly tackles serious issues, such as racism and poverty, but the author adds lighthearted touches, as well. For instance, as Ari mingles with humans, he keeps his own world (aka Hell) folded up in his pocket before eventually storing it in a barn. Reeves always treats religion respectfully while also making it clear that this tale isn’t an interpretation of any particular doctrine; the Bible is never mentioned, for instance. Moreover, Father, who intermittently appears on Earth as a cuddly cat, stays mum and allows Ari to make his own journey. Although brimming with gods with colorful personalities—and Evil truly lives up to his name—the story seems intentionally vague and isn’t always easy to follow; even its narrator admits to not fully comprehending the reason behind one particular god’s deed. Nevertheless, revelations in the latter half illuminate unexpected character connections before a satisfying resolution.
A profound, engrossing story of self-discovery.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0578738031
Page Count: 140
Publisher: Anesidora Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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