UNHOLY NIGHT is Seth Grahame-Smith doing what he does best: Taking that which we know and putting his own spin on it. Like he's done with Jane Austen (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES) and Abe Lincoln (ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER), Grahame-Smith blends the classic with the supernatural, bringing freshness and excitement to stories that we've all heard many times.
The first thing to note is that this is the best-written of his books. With P&P&Z he was hemmed in by the boring prose of Jane Austen. With AL:VH, since it was written largely as Lincoln's journal, he was restricted to the more formal, anachronistically stilted writing style that our 16th President would have used in the mid-1800s. In fact, with the first two novels, I always enjoyed the concepts more than the actual execution of the novel. But with UNHOLY NIGHT, he's able to open up and write freely. He doesn't use any narrative tools or invoke anyone else's voice to tell the story. He's free to speak as he sees fit, even using modern-day words to describe situations.
The story surrounds the three wise men who are told to have visited Christ at his birth in the manger in Bethlehem. Smith isn't the first to tackle the topic of these three very famous, yet largely obscure, figures. Christopher Moore, in his laugh-out-loud
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, told of Jesus' missing years as he wandered the land searching out the three men from his birth to receive instruction and help him grow spiritually. The story is told from the perspective of Jesus best friend, the girl-chasing, swearing, troublemaking Biff. But while Moore's wise men were enlightened souls rich in both the physical and spiritual sense, Grahame-Smith's trio are a bit less-than-reputable.
UNHOLY NIGHT is really the story of Balthazar, one of the three wise men of the Nativity story. In this world, Balthazar is a master thief, "The Ghost of Antioch", who is the scourge of the Roman Empire. He meets the other two "wise men" as they share a jail cell while awaiting execution. When they do finally meet up with Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, it is more by accident and their alliance is one of necessity, as they are all being hunted by the king of Judea, King Herod (*spoiler alert for those who have never heard of The Bible* who has put out an order that all male children under the age of 2 are to be killed since prophecy foretells of a child that will topple the kingdoms of the world). Seeing as all six are fugitives, they form a group and head for escape.
The book is certainly action-heavy as there are many occurrences of chases, sword fights, near-death experiences, and all other manner of danger. Of course, with this being a Seth Grahame-Smith novel, there is an element of the fantastic. While I won't give anything away, there is something chasing the group that is not altogether of this world. A very unique brand of hunter is brought in to track the group, and it's very much rooted in the history and mythology of the time period. Grahame-Smith does a wonderful job of taking the existing Nativity story and weaving it with what is known about that time in history and the region as well as the mythology and occult stories from the era.
It's a very enjoyable read with some unexpected twists and turns. My only gripes would be thus: 1) The ending left me a little flat. It should have been a bit more epic given the build-up. It was a little weak and it had characters acting in ways that went counter to how they'd acted the entire story (not in the "I'm suddenly heroic" type of way, but more of a "convenient to the plot despite being wholly against my established character" type of way). 2) The story took some time getting going. Much time is spent on setting up Balthazar as a character. And he certainly is rich with a very interesting and complicated back story. But it went on and on. No otherworldly elements enter the fray until the book is well over half-over, which leads me to 3) The supernatural elements were underutilized. They've been built-up and established (and it's a Seth Grahame-Smith novel, so we're looking for them) and when they finally spring there's not much story left to really give them room to invoke fear and wonderment. One scene in particular ends quite abruptly and with little explanation. While the scenes of the "hunter" are generally well done and add a nice menace to the story, they're just needed to be more of them.
The last point, and one that I think is very important, the book is not what I'd consider controversial or blasphemous. Grahame-Smith could have easily taken the book in a direction that would have upset Christians or made a mockery of the Nativity story. But nothing of the kind happens. Mary and Joseph act exactly as you would expect them to based on Biblical accounts; and the baby Jesus is treated as the Messiah. There are no scenes where baby Jesus gets possessed by a demon and starts murdering people or something in that vein. The book is just a fun take that attempts to fill in a lot of the gaps in the Nativity story with fun and creativity that makes for a great read. And, as is the case with the other SG-S novels, I feel like this one would make a better movie than a book as it's written in such a way that it practically begs for a big screen adaptation.
If you liked his previous works or are looking for a good, fun read, this is a safe bet.
