INTO THE LION'S DEN

Two men on opposite sides of a bitter conflict find unexpected love in Patrick’s novel.

In the near-future United States, Daniel Ridley has grown up isolated in his Christian Evangelical bubble and been fed lies about the world. He and his friend Marcus are sent to Boston on two different missions. The first is to proselytize and bring people into their religion; the second is the much darker task of trying to find an individual who, they have been told, is responsible for kidnapping and murder. As Daniel and Marcus set about their work, they learn more about the real world and other people’s lives. One of the first people they meet in Boston is Jaxtyn Keller, a Buddhist gay man confident in his sexuality and worldview who is committed to hearing out different perspectives. Jaxtyn’s handsome appearance triggers Daniel’s struggle with same-sex attraction, and the missionary keeps finding reasons to spend time with the Buddhist. Daniel’s intense personality draws Jaxtyn into becoming closer with him, despite Daniel’s insistence that they are sinners and must seek God’s forgiveness. Meanwhile, Jaxtyn’s friend Skylar has become involved in a group calling themselves the New Riders whose members risk their safety by going into unfriendly territory to give queer youth useful information. Daniel’s secret mission and Skylar’s activism will lead to a series of violent encounters no one is braced for. Patrick has envisioned a convincing future for the United States in which the federal government doesn’t regulate or restrain state governments’ religious extremism or racist policies (“Even here in New England, the religious fundamentalists were gaining a solid foothold”). Daniel and Jaxtyn are realistic characters with complex personalities—particularly Daniel, who has a distinct and recognizable arc; he begins as a very repressed character with a narrow view of the world, and over the course of the book (mainly through his conversations with Jaxtyn and Marcus) he finds a different light to follow.

A well-written political romance that reflects the growing dangers in our social divisions.