A Black and Endless Sky

Starred review from January 3, 2022
Lyons (The Night Will Find Us) burnishes his reputation as a rising horror star with this über-creepy thriller. An opening tease shades what follows; in the Mojave Desert, a team of engineers makes a bizarre discovery—“a massive stone triangle pressed flat into the earth” that appears to be some kind of door. When breaching charges crack the entrance open, black smoke emerges, choking those present and causing multiple fatalities. Lyons then shifts gears to introduce troubled siblings Jonah and Nell Talbot. Jonah’s just gotten divorced, and, with no alternative, heads home to New Mexico from the Bay Area. Nell, with whom he’s had an often-fraught relationship, agrees to split the drive and keep him company on the road. But both Talbots’ reckless streaks emerge after Nell picks a fight in a biker bar, and their subsequent flight leads them straight to the deadly desert location from the prologue. As with the best in the genre, nuanced characterization makes suspending disbelief almost effortless, and Lyons keeps the pages flying with fast-paced chills. Fans of Laird Barron will be especially delighted. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency.

February 25, 2022
At the conclusion of his marriage, Jonah decides to take a road trip from California to New Mexico and his sister, Nell, decides to join him. Their relationship has undergone some strain, so the trip is meant to bring them closer. At an ill-advised stop at a biker bar, they get into a brawl, and one of the bikers ends up dead. Nell and Jonah manage to escape, but this is not the end of their adventures. First, Jonah wakes up in the middle of the desert with Nell missing. Then he finds her, unconscious, in a cave with strange markings. Very quickly after this, Nell starts to notice strange occurrences that seem to indicate that she is not entirely in control of her own body. Bikers seeking revenge are still on their trail, and the siblings slowly realize that an unseen force is also following them. The suspense of the chase and the discovery of the entity in Nell are great plotlines, but the siblings rediscovering their relationship is what will keep readers interested.

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November 5, 2021

A new horror-thriller, set in the American Southwest, from Lyons (The Night Will Find Us). After an amicable albeit devastating divorce, Jonah Talbot heads to his hometown of Albuquerque to recuperate at his father's house, joined by his estranged older sister Nell. An arbitrary pit stop leads to an encounter with a violent biker gang. That alone is a shocking and brutal speed bump but is only the beginning of the detour. Nell seems fundamentally altered after an inexplicable incident, and it becomes clear that the bikers on their trail aren't the only threat against the siblings. Readers will also appreciate the emotional elements in this atmospheric and terrifying book as the Talbots seek to save not only themselves but each other. The heartfelt allegiance between the siblings despite their complicated past increases the level to which readers will hold their breaths as they watch the terror unfold. VERDICT An uncomfortable sibling reunion quickly turns from bickering over the past to attempting to survive the present in this white-knuckle horror-thriller that readers won't be able to put down.

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