Unholy Night

June 25, 2012
Grahame-Smith’s retelling of the story of Jesus and the Three Wise Men follows an infamous thief called the Antioch Ghost—aka Balthazar—as he escapes the clutches of King Herod and the forces of the Roman Empire, only to be eventually humbled by the newborn Jesus Christ. After receiving a vision—and contrary to his atheistic beliefs—he swears to protect the child against Herod and the Romans. Peter Berkrot provides an enjoyable performance with a mixture of character voices and strong narration. His reading is steady throughout, becoming more emphatic during pitched moments. Additionally, Berkrot’s voice has a sardonic edge to it—and this works well with the overall tone of the novel. The narrator lends appropriate voices to the characters, including the young Virgin Mary and the humble Joseph. And his slightly raspy voice is a perfect match for the tough and skeptical Balthazar. A Grand Central hardcover.

April 1, 2012
Three notorious villains protect a carpenter, his virgin wife and their newborn son as they flee the wrath of their Roman pursuers. Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, 2010, etc.) hones his writing chops in this latest take on history's mysteries, but the results lack the unabashed exuberance of his earlier work, despite a fair bit of swashbuckling. Here he tackles the New Testament, circling in on the Biblical Magi, the Three Wise Men from the Gospel of Matthew. The ringleader here is Balthazar, a hunted fugitive known far and wide as "The Antioch Ghost" for his slippery nature. Captured by a clever Roman captain, Balthazar is brought before mad Herod the Great to suffer for his crimes. In Herod's dungeons, Balthazar meets kindred spirits Gaspar and his partner Melchyor, two swordsmen for hire. The trio exchange clothes with the real wise men and make their escape to Bethlehem, where they're attacked with a pitchfork by Joseph and accused of blasphemy by the Virgin Mary. After this auspicious introduction, it's a fast-paced dash across 200 miles of biblical geography to safety in Egypt. Grahame-Smith throws lots of obstacles in the path of his ragged band, including Balthazar's tormented memories of his murdered brother, Herod's approach to solving his messiah problem (the infamous Massacre of the Innocents) and a malevolent Magus with mystical powers and murderous ambition. And that's before the walking dead (naturally) show up. It's an interesting juxtaposition to place this anti-religious thief against this heavy religious backdrop--"Either I'm right and he doesn't exist, or you're right and he's the kind of God who watches children die," Balthazar scolds Mary. But while Grahame-Smith has already sold the script to Warner Brothers, the novel feels less cinematic than its inevitable movie adaptation. A twist on angels and ministers of grace that feels more like a mercenary exercise than a fully fleshed-out adventure.

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November 15, 2011

The genius of mashup revisionism (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) turns the Three Kings into escaped thieves who have come upon the glowy manger by accident. When Herod starts slaughtering the Innocents, the thieves reluctantly agree to help the Holy Family escape to Egypt. Doubtless some readers will be offended, but bound to be in demand.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Blasphemous or brilliant? That was the buzz surrounding Grahame-Smith following his auspicious arrival on the New York Times best-seller list in 2009 with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a clever literary mash-up that launched a new historical revisionism genre of popular fiction. Blockbuster authors don't grow on trees, so it wasn't a huge shock when Grahame-Smith made headlines last December after Warner Bros. paid him $2 million for the film rights to Unholy Night before its publication. The twisted plot revolves around the biblical story of the Three Wise Men, depicted here as thieving scoundrels whothrough a series of outrageous set piecesend up aiding Joseph, Mary, and the little baby Jesus as they escape from the evil King Herod. There's no way of knowing if Grahame-Smith wrote this would-be epic with the intent of having it become a big-budget Hollywood movie, but it's not hard to visualize someone like Jake Gyllenhaal in the role of the murderous yet charming Balthazar. It's a rollicking, swords-and-sandals yarn that could easily have been subtitled in 3-D. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)