A studied, compelling, and unapologetically lengthy depiction of the end of days.
Global disasters plague humanity in BeauSeigneur’s apocalyptic thriller.
Dr. Harold “Harry” Goodman is part of a team tasked with an investigation of the famous Shroud of Turin. The Shroud is said to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, but can such claims hold up under scientific scrutiny? Goodman and a group of scientists head to Italy to find out; Decker Hawthorne, a journalist and acquaintance of Goodman’s, tags along. Years later, Goodman shares some information with Decker that he isn’t quite expecting: Goodman has a theory that “Jesus’ reported abilities to heal and such, resulted from the fact that he came from an advanced alien race.” Additionally, Goodman found live dermal cells in the Shroud that he intends to clone. Goodman goes ahead with the plan and creates a child he names Christopher. Goodman pretends that Christopher is his grandnephew whom he has taken in, but Decker quickly figures out the ruse. While a living, breathing clone of Christ is certainly a big deal, Decker heads off to Israel when another major development occurs: Jerusalem’s Western Wall is destroyed with explosives. This is only a hint of the calamities to come—the biggest being something called “the Disaster.” As a result of the Disaster, people all over the world die suddenly—as is stated in a news report, “Thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe more, are reported dead in what is undoubtedly the worst single disaster in human history.” The deaths occur simultaneously and seemingly without reason. As Decker and others come to realize, the Disaster is merely the beginning of more turmoil and momentous events to come.
Per the author, the aim of the narrative is to dramatize biblical end-time prophecies and portray how they “might find fulfillment in the real world, in ways consistent with Scripture, science, and modern geopolitics.” The novel includes many references to biblical quotations, such as this one from the Book of Revelation: “[The Antichrist] was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them.” Decker’s adventure unfolds in a world steeped in strife (Russia occupies Israel, for example) and in a text full of scriptural discussions. (In an example of the latter, one character, referencing a passage from Exodus, argues that “Yahweh doesn’t want peace on Earth. The Bible itself proves it!”) BeauSeigneur arranges these elements in a meticulously constructed work that tackles everything from the Knights Templar to “the sum total of all the evil that had been done upon the Earth.” While the result is a vigorous story, it’s also a protracted one—the book comes in at nearly 900 pages. These pages often include unnecessary dialogue; when Decker goes to see Goodman, he’s told, “Harry is out in the backyard playing with Christopher. They probably didn’t hear you drive up.” At other times, the author’s tendency to overly describe things can deflate the narrative’s tension. Still, the book’s stated intentions do ultimately shine through, and fans of apocalyptic fiction are in for an unrelenting, epic journey.
A studied, compelling, and unapologetically lengthy depiction of the end of days.Pub Date: July 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780965694803
Page Count: 944
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This thriller’s eerie mood is deflated by a plot with more holes than a Halloween sheet.
Could making a movie about the disappearance of five women from an island reawaken an evil presence there?
Five dresses hang from the topmost limbs of an oak on a remote island in a Vermont lake. That memorable image marks a mystery from a century ago, when five women believed to have been part of a commune vanished forever. As this novel opens, another group gathers on the island to make a movie based on that tale. Marin Keane, the narrator, is surprised but thrilled to find herself cast as one of the leads; she’s a struggling actor whose biggest part so far has been “Bridesmaid with Eczema” in a drug commercial, so playing Daisy Rue, whose haunting diary is the basis for the movie’s script, could be a career-making move. Ronan Peters, the writer-director, is talented and, Marin notes, hot. His reason for gathering the cast on the island is a kind of boot-camp rehearsal: They’ll spend a week living there, wearing period clothes, and managing without internet or phone service. Oh, and holding séances. What could go wrong? Marin quickly meets the other women in the cast: regal character actor Julianne Brown, cool and competent Heather Benchley, bratty former Disney star Susie Hutchinson, and, striking awe in all of them, Violet Wright, a much-awarded Meryl Streep-ish figure who will play the woman who brought the others to the island, which she owned. They get to work, but soon enough someone disappears. The book’s plot, like the movie’s script, largely follows Daisy’s journal, and since the reader is supplied with pages-long sections of that journal, there’s not much suspense about what will happen next. There are some effective set pieces, such as the group’s first séance. But in its last quarter, the plot collapses into a muddle of #MeToo vengeance, improbable secrets, and jarring character reveals that is, as Marin says, “the most Scooby-Doo thing I’ve ever heard.”
This thriller’s eerie mood is deflated by a plot with more holes than a Halloween sheet.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9798217044092
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.
A disturbing household secret has far-reaching consequences in this dark, unusual ghost story.
Mallory Quinn, fresh out of rehab and recovering from a recent tragedy, has taken a job as a nanny for an affluent couple living in the upscale suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey, when a series of strange events start to make her (and her employers) question her own sanity. Teddy, the precocious and shy 5-year-old boy she's charged with watching, seems to be haunted by a ghost who channels his body to draw pictures that are far too complex and well formed for such a young child. At first, these drawings are rather typical: rabbits, hot air balloons, trees. But then the illustrations take a dark turn, showcasing the details of a gruesome murder; the inclusion of the drawings, which start out as stick figures and grow increasingly more disturbing and sophisticated, brings the reader right into the story. With the help of an attractive young gardener and a psychic neighbor and using only the drawings as clues, Mallory must solve the mystery of the house's grizzly past before it's too late. Rekulak does a great job with character development: Mallory, who narrates in the first person, has an engaging voice; the Maxwells' slightly overbearing parenting style and passive-aggressive quips feel very familiar; and Teddy is so three-dimensional that he sometimes feels like a real child.
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81934-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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