June 15, 2023
All hell breaks loose in Portland, Oregon, when a pair of thugs stumble into a world-breaking government conspiracy. Grungy fantasist Rosson pivots to full-on apocalyptic horror but takes his time with talky, crime-heavy character arcs interspersed with 1970s-era conspiracy vibes and a compassionate family drama to boot. Hutch Holtz has a good heart, but he looks like 10 miles of bad road after a scrap with some bikers a while back. Hutch and his pal Tim Reed are stuck doing collections for small-time hood Peach Serrano, but things get weird when they roll a junkie client and find, in his freezer, a withered, supernatural hand that triggers madness, self-mutilation, and worse in those it infects. Through interstitial reports and slow-burn introductions, the inevitable black ops agency, here dubbed ARC, joins the search for the hand and reveals itself to be in possession of an honest-to-God angel with inexplicable powers. To the detriment of "Saint Michael," the agency's director, David Lundy, delights in torturing and mutilating his captive despite profiting from the being's visions. Meanwhile, the book's Mulder and Scully emerge when hyperambitious field agent Samantha Weils finds herself saddled with John Bonner, a disgraced undercover agent with political coverage. Down at street level, a nice circular narrative arises when Hutch passes the devil's hand to Serrano's long-suffering lieutenant, Nick Coffin. Nick's grit belies his deep compassion for his mother, Katherine Moriarty, a former rock star whose marriage to Nick's father, Matthew, ended in his suicide and locked her into crippling agoraphobia. Not only were there reasons behind all her suffering, it turns out, but Katherine's most famous song could portend the end of the world. The mythology is a bit overstuffed, � la John Wick, but Rosson wields the tropes and trappings of horror nimbly, balancing nicely between familial devotion, big-screen apocalyptic visions, and full-throated splatterpunk. Angels and ministers of grace don't have a chance in hell against this nasty, fun-to-read indulgence.
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Starred review from June 12, 2023
In this stellar supernatural thriller, Rosson (Road Seven) makes suspending disbelief easy by creating plausible, multidimensional characters who just happen to get caught up in the chaos surrounding a dangerous relic. Hutch Holtz and Tim Reed work as debt collectors for loan shark Peach Serrano in Portland, Ore. When Holtz and Reed go to strong-arm Wesley, a drug addict who owes Serrano $12,000, their thoughts are invaded by a powerful negative aura like “an itch in the dark meat of the skull.” They trace the sensation to a severed hand that Wesley keeps inside a Wonder Bread bag and decide to take it along to their boss. That choice leads to some unexpected consequences, as proximity to the hand triggers murderous instincts. Rosson ups the suspense by intercutting this story line with transcriptions of an interrogation by a covert U.S. intelligence agency of a being named Michael, who’s asked to use his remote-viewing abilities to help locate the hand. Sophisticated characterizations—even brutish Holtz and Reed are imbued with a degree of sympathy—distinguish this page-turner. The result should win Rosson a legion of new fans.
July 7, 2023
Rosson's (Road Seven) wildly imaginative new novel is a thrill-a-minute joyride that will keep readers guessing up to the final page. The story follows a cast of characters as they fling themselves after their own infernal goals and features cursed body parts, a washed-up rock star, brutal gangsters, even more brutal wetworks agents, mysterious deaths, and a surprisingly fresh take on a zombie apocalypse. Rosson's writing is propulsive and sucks readers in, spitting them out battered and bloodied but overjoyed at the journey they've have been on. The book is creepy and violent with relatable characters. The cover, portraying the dangerous severed hand in the story, fits the motifs of the book perfectly; it is grotesque, rock and roll, and makes promises that the novel more than delivers upon. VERDICT This is a must buy for any library looking to expand its horror collection. It will be snapped up by fans of the modern day masters of the genre such as Joe Hill or Stephen Graham Jones and is also a great read-alike for Grady Hendrix's We Sold Our Souls and The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias.--Jeremiah Paddock
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