It's 1969, and it's a time of turbulence for the nation -- in particular for Mark Christopher Nix, who has just turned 14. He's a longhaired kid in a town full of rednecks. Chris is just starting to learn about drugs and girls, and he's testing his wings on his own for the first time.

In an ill-conceived attempt to establish his own power, he runs away from home on Halloween night. On that fateful Hallows Eve, he discovers CC, a young Black girl whom he falls for. His relations with CC are interrupted by her aunt, and Chris is returned to his family late that evening.

Shortly after, Chris's family is contacted by Jay Dumont, a wealthy benefactor who wants to provide Chris an education in one of the best schools in the nation in return for his grandfather saving his life during World War I.

Chris discovers his mysterious benefactor is a good deal more than he seems. Indeed, both he and Chris are of the Elohim, a rare race gifted with godlike powers. Dumont styles himself the King of the World and declares Chris his heir since his own son Josh has recently been murdered.

Chris goes to the school -- dubbed merely The Academy -- and is immediately entangled in trying to find out who killed Josh. He uncovers more than he expected and must make choices with repercussions not only for him and his family but for the world.

The Publishers' Weekly reviewer who described this book said that not every reader would easily make it across the "pond" metaphor in Will Shetterly's writing. I admit freely to being mired in more than once by The Gospel of the Knife.

Having conducted a bit of research on Shetterly's website, I discovered Gospel was going to be two books and had about 80% of the contents edited out. I'm certain a good deal of my own confusion resulted from that compression of the larger work. One particular instance was where the writing referred to a time period of 10 months when it seemed as though only a few weeks had passed in the manuscript.

Still, what I have read in Gospel has given me a good deal to think about even if I had to work a bit harder to tread water across the pond.

Gospel is not my favorite of Shetterly's work -- that would go to Dogland -- but I do believe that this book is well worth the read even if you do get "dunked in the pond" a few times.