Christopher Bryan, Peacekeeper: A Novel (Sewanee, TN: Diamond, 2013). Paperback | Kindle

Peacekeeper is a supernatural thriller, and like all such thrillers requires a willing suspension of disbelief. If golems, demons, apparitions, the music of the spheres, and an imminent apocalypse aren’t your cup of fictional tea, don’t read this book. You won’t like it.

If, on the other hand, you’re a fan of C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce and That Hideous Strength, by all means, take a look. Peacekeeper draws inspiration from those books (and others) and tells an interesting tale about a diabolical plot to launch World War III and the people who try to stop it. It is the second volume of a trilogy that follows the police work of Detective Inspector Cecilia Cavaliere.

My general rule of thumb for evaluating popular fiction is simple: Was it written so well that I kept turning pages? By that rule, Peacekeeper mostly succeeded. Unfortunately, Chapter Nine introduced a supernatural element into this thriller at too early a point in the novel. Supernatural thrillers work by slowly uncovering the super in an otherwise natural setting. Given that the novel has eighty-one chapters, Chapter Nine’s “reveal” came way too soon.

But I still turned the pages…

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