Comes A Horseman

Written By Robert Liparulo

Reviewed By Nike Chillemi

Can you believe there are people who anticipate and await the coming of the antichrist, who will do anything they can to facilitate his arrival, and who will rejoice when he gets here? And these people are rich and powerful?

FBI profiler Brady Moore and special agent Alicia Wagoner, in Comes A Horseman , run right into this chilling scenario as they hunt down a crazed, butchering serial killer who has crossed state lines. In these grisly Pelletier murders, a pack of wolf dogs restrains and savages victims while the killing blow is made with an ancient-type war axe. The book is fast paced, seat of your pants stuff. Don’t let the length put you off. It’s a page turner.

Brady and Alicia cannot find a link between the murders, except for the method used. Emotionally damaged and still mourning his wife’s death, Brady realizes he is a target of the killer and moves his young son to a safe place. The tender scenes between Brady and his son give us a break from the terror and tension. Then it’s back into the soup.

While Alicia, outwardly tougher than Brady, uses electronics and suspect methods to move their investigation forward, Brady, often soul weary and broken, relies on what he sees as his duty and his faith. This spellbinding book’s Christian theme weaves throughout without sermonizing. Intense action and the chase is the thing. It touches on the apocalyptic, but is ultimately grounded in the reality of the interrelationships of its characters.  

Alicia discovers Father McAffee, a Catholic priest in an aging church in New York City who’s entire life work, research on life after death experiences, has been taken. In addition, a malovent presence haunts the priest, trying to drive him insane. Liparulo does an exceptional job showing how evil takes control of the ruffian harassing the priest. You can almost smell the death and decay oozing from the cretin.

At the same time, Lucas Scaramuzzi, a charismatic con man, using murder, bribery, and devastating charm is now Italy’s ambassador to Israel. Luco starts believing his own hype while trying to pass himself off as the antichrist to a powerful, centuries-old satanic cult called the Watchers. In this intricate thriller, Luco is assisted by renegade Vatican priest Father Randall’s knowledge of Bible prophesy. These two twist ancient prophecies to convince the Watchers Luco is the one they await. In this way, Luco can gain control of the fortune they aim to bestow upon the antichrist.

With Alicia’s often-flagrant disregard for procedure and the emotionally and spiritually wounded Brady making mistakes, the authorities as well as Scaramuzzi’s earthly forces of evil are after the duo. Scaramuzzi captures Alica and it looks as if the gig is up. Brady finds out how true it is that you don’t know what you have until it’s lost or almost lost. With Alicia in the hands of ultimate evil, he begins acknowledging he has deep feelings for her. But the odds are overwhelming and even he doesn’t think he can save her.

Nike Chillemi is an avid reader of police procedurals and action thrillers. She likes her bad guys really bad, and her good guys smarter and better. Since the ocean is important to her, she lives with her husband, daughters, and menagerie of pets in southern Brooklyn near the Atlantic. Before embarking on a life as a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, she worked in the bridal industry traveling to bridal fairs in Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Dallas.