Godfall
Published on 8. January 2026
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-85750-808-9 (ISBN)
Description
SOMETHING ASTONISHING IS HEADING OUR WAY . . .
'A gripping blend of sci-fi mystery and small-town suspense . . . an unforgettable ride.'
RON HOWARD, Academy Award-winning director
'I felt slapped awake by Godfall's brilliant conceit . . . thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, and visionary.'
BENJAMIN PERCY, writer of Marvel's Wolverine
'Engrossing, genre bending . . . will have you staying up long past your bedtime.'
KARIN SLAUGHTER
A massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth and humanity is braced for annihilation - but the end doesn't come . . .
Because it's not an asteroid . . . it's a three-mile-tall alien figure that comes to earth outside Little Springs, Nebraska. Dubbed 'the giant', its body apparently pierced by a blade, its arrival transforms this quiet red-state farm town into a top-secret government research site and major metropolitan area, flooded with soldiers, scientists, government agents, bureaucrats, spies, criminals, conspiracy theorists . . . and a killer.
As the sheriff of Little Springs, David Blunt thought he'd be keeping the peace among the same people he'd known all his life, not breaking up chanting crowds of conspiracy theorists, busting drugs gangs, dealing with doomsday cults, struggling to control town hall meetings about immigrants, and invaders and the construction of a mosque. Or trying to catch a cunning and seemingly untraceable killer.
As the brutal, bizarre murders strike ever closer to home, Blunt - increasingly troubled by strange, unsettling dreams of a cosmos in chaos - throws himself into the hunt for a killer who seems somehow connected to the Giant.
With bodies piling up and tensions in Little Springs mounting, he realizes that in order to find the answers he needs, he must first reconcile his traditional sense of things with the town, and the world, he now lives in - before it's too late.
'A gripping blend of sci-fi mystery and small-town suspense . . . an unforgettable ride.'
RON HOWARD, Academy Award-winning director
'I felt slapped awake by Godfall's brilliant conceit . . . thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, and visionary.'
BENJAMIN PERCY, writer of Marvel's Wolverine
'Engrossing, genre bending . . . will have you staying up long past your bedtime.'
KARIN SLAUGHTER
A massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth and humanity is braced for annihilation - but the end doesn't come . . .
Because it's not an asteroid . . . it's a three-mile-tall alien figure that comes to earth outside Little Springs, Nebraska. Dubbed 'the giant', its body apparently pierced by a blade, its arrival transforms this quiet red-state farm town into a top-secret government research site and major metropolitan area, flooded with soldiers, scientists, government agents, bureaucrats, spies, criminals, conspiracy theorists . . . and a killer.
As the sheriff of Little Springs, David Blunt thought he'd be keeping the peace among the same people he'd known all his life, not breaking up chanting crowds of conspiracy theorists, busting drugs gangs, dealing with doomsday cults, struggling to control town hall meetings about immigrants, and invaders and the construction of a mosque. Or trying to catch a cunning and seemingly untraceable killer.
As the brutal, bizarre murders strike ever closer to home, Blunt - increasingly troubled by strange, unsettling dreams of a cosmos in chaos - throws himself into the hunt for a killer who seems somehow connected to the Giant.
With bodies piling up and tensions in Little Springs mounting, he realizes that in order to find the answers he needs, he must first reconcile his traditional sense of things with the town, and the world, he now lives in - before it's too late.
Reviews / Votes
A gripping blend of sci-fi mystery and small-town suspense, Godfall delivers an unforgettable ride. -- RON HOWARD, Academy Award-winning director I felt slapped awake by Godfall's brilliant conceit and the profound change witnessed in a small town that suddenly finds itself on a global - and even cosmic - stage. This book is thought-provoking, awe-inspiring, and visionary but always grounded in human particulars. -- BENJAMIN PERCY, writer of Marvel's Wolverine Engrossing, genre bending . . . will have you staying up long past your bedtime. -- KARIN SLAUGHTER, internationally bestselling crime novelist A fresh and surprising genre mashup, bringing a laconic small-town sheriff together with a crash-landed alien and a series of brutal killings, beautifully interweaving otherworldly images and naturalistic details of rural Nebraska life. Van Jensen is a terrific writer, and I was under the book's strange and extraordinary spell from start to finish! -- DAN CHAON, author of Sleepwalk The genre-mashup novel of my dreams. With breathtaking imagery and razor-sharp prose, Van Jensen gives us a story that is part alien sci-fi, part mystery - with a doomsday cult, a serial killer, and a dash of Sandhill cranes - all set against the beautiful backdrop of rural Nebraska. -- ERIN FLANAGAN, Edgar Award-winning author of Deer Season and Blackout Van Jensen delivers the sense-bending strange in this tale of mystery and wonder. -- GARY PHILLIPS, author of One-Shot Harry Godfall blends rural noir with a daring dose of sci-fi to create something wholly new and engaging. Van Jensen comes in hot with his [fiction] debut. -- ALEX SEGURA, author of Secret Identity and Miami Midnight It isn't easy to infuse magical realism with grit, but Godfall does it with panache. I was under Van Jensen's spell from the first chapter. A striking debut novel from one of my favourite writers. -- KEVIN MAURER, author of Damn LuckyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 41 mm
Weight
595 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85750-808-9 (9780857508089)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Van Jensen was born and raised in the farm country of Western Nebraska where he wrote and drew stories as soon as he could hold a pencil. He became a newspaper crime reporter, then a magazine editor, and eventually an author of comic books and graphic novels.
He has written some of the world's biggest characters, including James Bond and The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern Corps for DC Comics. He also has co-created acclaimed series including Two Dead (with National Book Award-winning artist Nate Powell), Cryptocracy (with Pete Woods), and Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (with Dusty Higgins).
Known for creating fiction that combines mind-bending genre concepts with deeply emotional, character-centred stories that have earned praise from fans and critics alike, Jensen's work can be thrilling, hilarious or terrifying, but it is always heartfelt. Godfall is his first novel.
He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
He has written some of the world's biggest characters, including James Bond and The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern Corps for DC Comics. He also has co-created acclaimed series including Two Dead (with National Book Award-winning artist Nate Powell), Cryptocracy (with Pete Woods), and Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (with Dusty Higgins).
Known for creating fiction that combines mind-bending genre concepts with deeply emotional, character-centred stories that have earned praise from fans and critics alike, Jensen's work can be thrilling, hilarious or terrifying, but it is always heartfelt. Godfall is his first novel.
He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.