Reviews, Podcasts & Features

San Francisco Book Review

“Daniel Grace's debut novel is a powerhouse debut . . . A bold, ambitious, sprawling epic of literary fiction . . . Grace establishes a sense of timeless terror from the very first page . . . The author ingeniously crafts two distinct yet equally torturous purgatories . . . A masterful exploration that succeeds as a profound religious mystery and a dark literary thriller.”

Kirkus Reviews

“A philosophical fantasy about the recurring traps in which we find ourselves . . . Two of history's greatest villains seek redemption through reincarnation in Grace's debut novel . . . Grace uses these infamous characters as a means of playfully questioning notions of infamy, evil, and the tendency to become mired in the past . . . He finds clever ways to confront his characters with their former identities.”

BookLife

“Grace's debut thriller plummets readers into themes of justice and mercy that echo through millennia . . . Grace's unsettling mix of spiritual quagmire and supernatural mystery gives the book's suffocating atmosphere serious weight . . . A dark thriller exploring guilt, shame and redemption . . .”

Literary Titan

“In the Wake of Golgotha is a theological thriller about responsibility, addiction, justice, and the long reach of one moment on a hill . . . It treats time like a loop rather than a line, and rarely lets the reader off the hook . . . The prose is lush and sensory, full of heat, dust, blood, and cramped city air . . . Like a long argument between God, the devil, and everybody who ever stood between them. . . . If you are up for a dark, ambitious story that blends ancient sorrow with modern city grit, I think it is worth your time.”

Independent Book Review

“A gripping, dramatic, layered tale of biblical forces . . . There is an exquisite quality to the language that makes every page riveting . . . Writing that can be enjoyed deeply at the sentence level.”

BlueInk Review

“Daniel Grace's novel In the Wake of Golgotha is a fusion of thought-provoking speculative fiction, gritty crime thriller, and deep dive into reimagined Christian mythology . . . The surprise here is how much joy the author experienced writing a novel with such thematic gravitas and Grace's writing style reflects a storyteller glorying in his element . . . Readers will cherish this wildly entertaining, provocative tale.”

BookTrib

“This is not a gentle novel. . . . In the Wake of Golgotha will appeal to readers who like legal thrillers with real bite. It will appeal to fans of dark crime fiction and stories that wrestle with big religious ideas. Grace writes with a strong ear for rhythm, and he knows how to build tension across scenes that feel grounded and immediate. This debut aims high, and it hits its mark.”

Readers' Favorite

“In the Wake of Golgotha is a masterful thriller that intertwines supernatural and psychological elements . . . Daniel Grace proves to be a master storyteller.”