Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Actor Duchovny's cinematic fourth novel (after Miss Subways) takes a bucking ride through the 21st-century American West, ranging from Hollywood to religious fervor out in the desert. Former stuntman Bronson Powers has left Los Angeles to embrace the Mormon faith, forging a life with three wives and 10 children on a vast tract of land near Joshua Tree, Calif. But a snake comes into this Eden in the form of ambitious young developer Maya Abbadessa. Determined to buy a portion of the Powers plot, Maya schemes to put the homeschooling Bronson in a bind with the state's board of education. Three of his children end up placed in a San Bernardino public school. The youngest, 11-year-old Hyrum, is troubled, as is his mother, Mary, Bronson's third wife. Having chosen to stay with the children, Mary quickly reverts to her old caffeinated, self-medicated ways of coping. Things spiral out of control, epically and violently, after Hyrum is beaten by a group of kids in a school parking lot, and Bronson, swept up in the righteousness of his faith, takes the boy's fate, and the law, into his own hands. The characters tend to be flat, but the author manages to spin this tall tale exceedingly well. Duchovny's jam-packed page-turner is just waiting for someone to snap up the film rights. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In this fourth novel from actor Duchovny, former Hollywood stuntman Bronson Powers has converted to Mormonism and lives deep in the Utah desert with his three wives and 10 children. All's well until a hotshot young developer schemes to get hold of their land. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A deeply religious and pious family of Latter-day Saints finds their world upended when a corrupt real estate company targets their land. Duchovny is best known for his idiosyncratic roles in The X-Files and Californication, and he has a wildly unpredictable voice as a writer. Here he offers a dramatic parable involving trespasses against others and the dire consequences that follow. The patriarch of the family is Bronson Powers, who, two decades earlier, was an over-the-hill stuntman with a growing opioid addiction. His fortune changes when a relative dies, leaving him a huge but desolate property in the desert near Joshua Tree--with one caveat: Bronson must convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now, in the present, Powers is deeply devout, with two wives, Mary and Yalulah, 10 children, and a few members of the clan already in the ground. The family is completely cut off from civilization, living primarily off the land. The triggering conflict comes when 27-year-old Maya Abbadessa, an ambitious executive with a deeply corrupt investment firm, stumbles across the property and realizes it's worth millions. To nudge Bronson into selling, the firm recruits Child Protective Services to force the family to send the older children to public school. It's a troublesome but interesting journey for Deuce, Hyrum, and Pearl. Deuce becomes an ace student, Pearl vacillates between drug-fueled rebellion and a burgeoning interest in theater, and Hyrum furiously fights everybody and anybody who messes with him or his siblings. It's a lot to take in: Bronson not only feels invaded, but his struggle with his faith and his relationships with his wives and children are unsettling. Maya grapples with her conscience while the kids find themselves strangers in a strange land. It's a heady mix of philosophy, faith, family drama, and violence, but Duchovny's characteristically nimble prose not only connects the various narratives, but exposes the complicated humanity of his multifarious cast. An engrossing story about a clash of cultures and the extremities of faith. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
