Daniel Grace’s debut novel is a bold, mythic meditation on guilt, redemption, and the long shadow of betrayal. Echoing across two millennia, In the Wake of Golgotha entwines ancient history with modern horror, as three crucified bodies discovered in a New York basement summon the ghosts of Calvary Hill.

Jude Issachar and Peter Pheiffer—reincarnations of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate—are cursed to relive the consequences of their fateful choices. Grace’s prose is rich and evocative, steeped in philosophical weight and psychological nuance. The narrative moves with a dreamlike intensity, where time folds and memory bleeds, and the past is never truly past.

This is not a conventional thriller—it’s a literary reckoning. A story of addiction, violence, and the aching desire for absolution. Grace writes with the precision of a mythologist and the heart of a poet, crafting a tale that is as unsettling as it is profound.

A daring, unforgettable debut that asks: what does it mean to be condemned—and can the condemned ever be redeemed?

With thanks to Daniel Grace, the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.