by Daniel Kraus
First published 2025
Private Cyril Bagger has cheated his way through the Great War, conning fellow soldiers to stay alive. When he and four other grunts receive orders to venture into No Man's Land and put a wounded comrade out of his misery, Bagger expects another grim task in an endless conflict. Instead, the soldiers find a fallen angel among the shell craters and barbed wire, apparently brought down by artillery fire. The celestial being might possess the power to stop the war itself. But first, the five men must overcome their own nature. Bagger's schemes, combined with jealousy and greed among the group, threaten to destroy their chance at salvation. As paranoia spreads and the soldiers turn against each other, their divine discovery becomes a test of whether humanity deserves rescue from its own violence.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, fantasy, adult-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, gritty, philosophical, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, group-dynamics, moral-test, paranoia-and-betrayal, redemption-arc
Setting: No Man's Land
Period: Great War, World War I
285 pages · Paperback · Atria Books
Content warnings: death, violence, war