A potentially powerful narrative about the Second Coming obscured by weak storytelling and editing.
Mumford’s novel chronicles the tribulations of numerous characters on their respective spiritual journeys of self-discovery in the time between the Rapture and the second coming of Christ.
Revolving around a group of protagonists who lost loved ones during the Rapture (as foretold in the Bible)—including Cooper McCoy, owner of a trucking firm based in San Marcos, Texas; computer guru Jennifer Hatfield; and high school football coach George Doaks—the story follows their quest for the truth. When 225 million people in the United States (and countless others around the world) simply disappear, McCoy and friends investigate. With the help of religious leaders and scholars, they eventually realize that the Great Tribulation is looming—there will be long years of intense suffering before the day of Christ’s return at the Battle of Armageddon. With chaos and death spreading across the world and the antichrist gaining power, McCoy and company embrace their faith and prepare to become “Mighty Warriors.” With so much jaw-dropping apocalyptic action occurring throughout the narrative (plagues, earthquakes, giant hailstones, floods, droughts), there is an expectation set for richly described, immersive scenes that readers will not soon forget. In many of these sequences, however, the author misses opportunities to entertain fans of end-of-the-world narratives or to highlight biblical prophecy with powerful imagery to engage Christian fiction readers. After the antichrist releases nuclear warfare upon the world, for example, the author simply writes: “The descriptions of what had happened were beyond horrific.” Another issue is the conspicuous number of grammatical errors throughout the text; these will undoubtedly distract readers, and they detract from the novel’s thematic heft. For example, the seven bowl judgements as described in the Book of Revelation—bowls containing God’s wrath—lose much of their impact due to the lack of careful proofreading: “The effects of these Seven Bowel Judgments will be well known to those who have the Mark of the Beast.”
A potentially powerful narrative about the Second Coming obscured by weak storytelling and editing.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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