Waco, Texas, 1993. A charismatic figure known as the Lamb gathers his flock and his weapons to await the fulfillment of God's prophesy for the last days. The novel follows a teenage girl named Jaye and her mother as they leave their California home to move in to the Lamb's compound and be counted at the time of redeeming. Jaye is a smartass kid who doesn't care for rules, much less religion, and can't understand what her mother saw in the Lamb – a landscaper who wanted to be a guitar god and became an actual god instead. But when she meets Roy, the sheriff's son, the two teenagers are drawn to each other, even as they careen toward the fulfillment of the Lamb's final, violent visions.
It couldn’t be farther from the exploitative pocket paperback you’re probably picturing ... Lines that in a lesser book might simply act as mood setting or descriptive filler regularly surprise ... Curiously, it’s when the guns finally start blazing that the narrative spins its wheels a bit ... Once again, what comes to Johnston’s rescue is his ability to ground even the most flashy stylistic flourishes in convincing, unexpected detail.
Like Shakespeare’s tragedy, a story of star-crossed lovers who fall victim to circumstances beyond their control ... The interviews, some friendly, some contentious, give the novel a polyphonic feel, a sense that the discussions and arguments continue to this day.
A heartfelt yet unsparing read, one that manages to return to the victims of the Branch Davidian cult their humanity, making us see more of them than their misdeeds.
