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Gloria Patri
"A profound meditation on isolation and loneliness . . . A great writer—get his novel!"
—SENATOR TIM KAINE
"Ominous, gripping . . . beautifully observed and cleverly structured . . . A thoughtful and provocative journey into the dark, bloody heart of American lunacy."
—DAN CHAON, National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Sleepwalk
"A pulsating literary thriller."
—Washington Independent Review of Books
Several years after the bitter dissolution of the Becker family, Richard and Solomon—father and son—die on the same day. Shortly after returning home and still unaware of the violence ahead of them, Naomi and her mother Ruth travel across the country to collect the remains of both men and reckon with the legacies they left behind. Along the way, they discover secrets about their family and each other, and soon encounter the dangerous and paranoid militia extremists with whom Solomon—along with an old childhood friend, Andrew Cook—had become entangled. As violent forces collide, Naomi, Ruth, and Andrew are forced to reckon with their pasts and their place in an increasingly dangerous world.
"The story is heartbreaking but the message is powerful in this moving and beautifully written novel."
—SINDYA BHANOO, author of Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
"Reminiscent of writers as varied as Tim O'Brien, Jesmyn Ward, and even Faulkner . . . Gloria Patri simply brims with energy and fierce, evocative intelligence. Not a book you'll soon forget."
—DANIEL TORDAY, two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award and author of The 12th Commandment
—SENATOR TIM KAINE
"Ominous, gripping . . . beautifully observed and cleverly structured . . . A thoughtful and provocative journey into the dark, bloody heart of American lunacy."
—DAN CHAON, National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Sleepwalk
"A pulsating literary thriller."
—Washington Independent Review of Books
Several years after the bitter dissolution of the Becker family, Richard and Solomon—father and son—die on the same day. Shortly after returning home and still unaware of the violence ahead of them, Naomi and her mother Ruth travel across the country to collect the remains of both men and reckon with the legacies they left behind. Along the way, they discover secrets about their family and each other, and soon encounter the dangerous and paranoid militia extremists with whom Solomon—along with an old childhood friend, Andrew Cook—had become entangled. As violent forces collide, Naomi, Ruth, and Andrew are forced to reckon with their pasts and their place in an increasingly dangerous world.
"The story is heartbreaking but the message is powerful in this moving and beautifully written novel."
—SINDYA BHANOO, author of Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
"Reminiscent of writers as varied as Tim O'Brien, Jesmyn Ward, and even Faulkner . . . Gloria Patri simply brims with energy and fierce, evocative intelligence. Not a book you'll soon forget."
—DANIEL TORDAY, two-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award and author of The 12th Commandment
316 pages, Paperback
Published August 22, 2023
2 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Austin Ross
3 books9 followersAustin Ross's fiction, essays, and interviews have appeared in Publishers Weekly, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. His debut novel, Gloria Patri, will be published in 2023. He lives and writes near Washington, DC, where he is a senior editor with HarperCollins.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 31, 2023
The latest book from my Malarkey Book Club subscription:
I was hooked by this story from its start, especially as it taps into one of my greatest fears about U.S. domestic terrorism. The young woman in the beginning—Naomi—is a great character, as is her mother Ruth. Their names point to the family's religious beliefs (a weird mix of Catholicism and Old Testament Protestantism) in which they're completely led by the patriarch of the family, a hypocritical husband and father who arguably sets the plot in motion with his treatment of the other family member, Naomi’s twin brother, Solomon. The other main character, a childhood friend, plays a crucial role in the events.
The name of the book is perfect and its context is carried throughout, though it’s never heavy-handed. Also not heavy-handed are the important points the author gets across, including a late “minor” scene with a Good Samaritan. I was especially impressed with Ross’s prose in a death scene, one showing how repentance is possible, even in one’s last moments.
I was hooked by this story from its start, especially as it taps into one of my greatest fears about U.S. domestic terrorism. The young woman in the beginning—Naomi—is a great character, as is her mother Ruth. Their names point to the family's religious beliefs (a weird mix of Catholicism and Old Testament Protestantism) in which they're completely led by the patriarch of the family, a hypocritical husband and father who arguably sets the plot in motion with his treatment of the other family member, Naomi’s twin brother, Solomon. The other main character, a childhood friend, plays a crucial role in the events.
The name of the book is perfect and its context is carried throughout, though it’s never heavy-handed. Also not heavy-handed are the important points the author gets across, including a late “minor” scene with a Good Samaritan. I was especially impressed with Ross’s prose in a death scene, one showing how repentance is possible, even in one’s last moments.
March 6, 2024
Well-written tale of the dissolution of a dysfunctional family, exacerbated by the pious hypocrisy of the husband and father, Richard. A subplot describes how the son Solomon got caught up in racism and violence of right-wing domestic terrorism.
(Full disclosure: The author is my nephew. And yes, I did look for comparisons between the characters and real life family members. Thankfully, my nephew is the opposite of Solomon, but I won't comment on the other characters.)
Austin has been an aspiring writer for as long as I can remember so his quality of writing was no surprise to me. Prior to this book, I had started reading "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson, one of the most acclaimed writers of the 20th century. Austin's writing style and some of the topics he addressed reminded me of Robinson's work. Yes, I am a bookaholic and a proud Auntie.
(Full disclosure: The author is my nephew. And yes, I did look for comparisons between the characters and real life family members. Thankfully, my nephew is the opposite of Solomon, but I won't comment on the other characters.)
Austin has been an aspiring writer for as long as I can remember so his quality of writing was no surprise to me. Prior to this book, I had started reading "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson, one of the most acclaimed writers of the 20th century. Austin's writing style and some of the topics he addressed reminded me of Robinson's work. Yes, I am a bookaholic and a proud Auntie.
September 19, 2023
Gloria Patri is as harrowing as it is prescient. It's proof that small presses and indie publishers are putting out books that rival those from the big publishing houses.
September 12, 2023
This book kinda blew me away. Gorgeously written, it takes on this character-forward approach to rising Christian nationalism and domestic terrorism in a way I've not read before. Split between the perspectives of three characters, each grappling with the impact that the lives and deaths of father and son, Richard and Solomon, had on them, Gloria Patri is an extremely dark novel ... and yet, it deftly dodged any semblance of hopelessness.
I found (unfortunately) so many of the characters extremely familiar, and Ross treated each of them honestly and even compassionately, in many ways. I've heard the author point to Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible as an influence, and you can certainly see where (i.e., if you liked that one, definitely grab this book too). This one felt very timely and present. Great read!
I found (unfortunately) so many of the characters extremely familiar, and Ross treated each of them honestly and even compassionately, in many ways. I've heard the author point to Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible as an influence, and you can certainly see where (i.e., if you liked that one, definitely grab this book too). This one felt very timely and present. Great read!
September 26, 2025
4.5 stars.
Every now and then a novel comes along that expertly captures the zeitgeist. Gloria Patri, by Austin Ross's own words, is a novel that had a long road to publication, and once you read it you will wonder what goes in the minds of publishers that someone didn't snatch it up sooner, and why isn't it getting more attention. This is an awesome novel that simmers from the first page until its nightmarish climax. If you’re ready to dive into the darkest pockets of America’s disunion, read this book.
In an early chapter, one of the secondary characters in Gloria Patri sullenly states, "Sometimes the world needs a little suffering. Not out of spite. Bit out of correction. In a good way. A way that moves things closer to light and goodness." This cockeyed conservative ethos, both nihilistic and obtuse, is, I think, the brick and mortar of the nation's current cultural divide. Swaths of people are in the mood to do bad things, whether they feel justified through pretzel logic only they can understand, or out of a sadistic desire to watch others suffer, even if it means they have to suffer as well. Religious zealotry, domestic terrorism, white supremacy, and the crumbling infrastructure of Western masculinity are major themes that course through this novel. Ross captures the intersection of historic, cultural, and political forces that power these threats to democracy and the rule of law, crafting a novel that both memorializes our current moment and critiques it.
At the heart of Gloria Patri is a bildungsroman about Solomon and Andrew, two young, wayward white guys recruited into a paramilitary cell of white supremacists driven by racism, authoritarianism, religious fervor, and a cluster of conspiracy theories. Ross demonstrates how men like Solomon and Andrew—white, working class, and uneducated, either fatherless or with a fractured relationship with their father—can become seduced by these groups in their search for identity and belonging. One gets the sense that one of the novel’s main messages is that most of the world’s miseries can be traced back to men who didn’t receive love and guidance from their fathers. When it comes to its themes, Gloria Patri is spot on. Ross clearly knows this world and the people who inhabit it, and the gadfly’s view he provides is both fascinating and chilling to witness.
Yet the novel has two faults. First, its structure and organization need attention. At several moments in the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure where we were in time. But as the book went along, the core story involving Solomon, Naomi, Andrew, and their families, both held under the cult-like spell of Solomon and Naomi's Christian fundamentalist father Richard, flourished. It’s those sections that resonated most with me and kept me turning pages. The second problem is that I don’t think Austin Ross renders female characters successfully. They’re relatively one-note compared to the male characters, and there is a section in the middle of the novel with Naomi that strains credulity. He could have cut that section out and enhanced the other characters in the book. Nevertheless, Gloria Patri is a fine debut novel, and I hope the publishing industry takes notice and well as readers.
Every now and then a novel comes along that expertly captures the zeitgeist. Gloria Patri, by Austin Ross's own words, is a novel that had a long road to publication, and once you read it you will wonder what goes in the minds of publishers that someone didn't snatch it up sooner, and why isn't it getting more attention. This is an awesome novel that simmers from the first page until its nightmarish climax. If you’re ready to dive into the darkest pockets of America’s disunion, read this book.
In an early chapter, one of the secondary characters in Gloria Patri sullenly states, "Sometimes the world needs a little suffering. Not out of spite. Bit out of correction. In a good way. A way that moves things closer to light and goodness." This cockeyed conservative ethos, both nihilistic and obtuse, is, I think, the brick and mortar of the nation's current cultural divide. Swaths of people are in the mood to do bad things, whether they feel justified through pretzel logic only they can understand, or out of a sadistic desire to watch others suffer, even if it means they have to suffer as well. Religious zealotry, domestic terrorism, white supremacy, and the crumbling infrastructure of Western masculinity are major themes that course through this novel. Ross captures the intersection of historic, cultural, and political forces that power these threats to democracy and the rule of law, crafting a novel that both memorializes our current moment and critiques it.
At the heart of Gloria Patri is a bildungsroman about Solomon and Andrew, two young, wayward white guys recruited into a paramilitary cell of white supremacists driven by racism, authoritarianism, religious fervor, and a cluster of conspiracy theories. Ross demonstrates how men like Solomon and Andrew—white, working class, and uneducated, either fatherless or with a fractured relationship with their father—can become seduced by these groups in their search for identity and belonging. One gets the sense that one of the novel’s main messages is that most of the world’s miseries can be traced back to men who didn’t receive love and guidance from their fathers. When it comes to its themes, Gloria Patri is spot on. Ross clearly knows this world and the people who inhabit it, and the gadfly’s view he provides is both fascinating and chilling to witness.
Yet the novel has two faults. First, its structure and organization need attention. At several moments in the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure where we were in time. But as the book went along, the core story involving Solomon, Naomi, Andrew, and their families, both held under the cult-like spell of Solomon and Naomi's Christian fundamentalist father Richard, flourished. It’s those sections that resonated most with me and kept me turning pages. The second problem is that I don’t think Austin Ross renders female characters successfully. They’re relatively one-note compared to the male characters, and there is a section in the middle of the novel with Naomi that strains credulity. He could have cut that section out and enhanced the other characters in the book. Nevertheless, Gloria Patri is a fine debut novel, and I hope the publishing industry takes notice and well as readers.
October 31, 2023
I really wanted to love this book - especially because I spent $22 on a whim to read it :/ I agree with the other reviewers saying they appreciated Ross’ compassion towards the characters, especially when in the 2020s it’s so much easier to get radicalized via the internet and people need to be allowed to change and grow and all that, but beyond that point, I was not impressed. The language of the book was redundant and I found myself skimming paragraphs rather than slowly reading them because the descriptions felt repetitive and flat. The jump back in time (Part 2 I believe?) to Naomi, Solomon, & Andrew’s youth felt like it could have been cut in half - I was bored out of my mind with all of the unnecessary background, as well as with the cheating subplot. I think a more traditional braided style instead of a huge portion of the book detailing their childhood would have served the narrative better. The jump back right after setting up the beginning of the book with Solomon & their father’s death messed up the pacing and didn’t give me enough time to actually be interested in the characters’ tragic backstories since I didn’t know enough of why I should care. Also, I was not attached to any of the characters, Naomi bothering me especially - I didn’t feel like she had any actual personality or agency until the end of the book, when she decides to keep Johnathan (and if this was a choice, to make her deliberately bland because of how sheltered she was, it could have been set up a lot better). there is so much more I could say, especially as I think I am the only person leaving a negative review, but I’ll save it. Sorry Austin Ross if you’re reading this, good idea for the book but poor follow through.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2023
Not a perfect book, but definitely one of my top reads of the year.
October 2, 2023
Gloria Patri
In the opening chapter Naomi Becker wakes to discover her barn is on fire. She takes her baby Jonathan and flees.
How we ended up here is the matter of the novel. We learn that the year before in 2012, Solomon Becker, Naomi’s brother, killed sixteen people and wounded twenty three more in a mass shooting in Seattle before being killed himself. On the same day Richard, her father dies. Naomi and her mother Ruth have to deal with both, heading for Seattle on a road trip at the invitation of an FBI agent.
The shooting causes concern for a group up in the mountains, House CORE. A militia of sorts, led by Big Boy, Amos Brainerd, a former soldier. Amongst them is Andrew Cook, who recruited Solomon to the group.
Solomon and Naomi were twins, or triplets, the third Noah having been stillborn. Brought up by their parents Richard and Ruth, they were homeschooled on a farm. Richard led them in worship, believing the outside world to be sinful, and the government worst of all, though they were kept by Ruth’s government job. They met Andrew when he, part of the homeschooling group, catches chicken pox and they go over so that Solomon and Naomi catch it. Later Andrew and his mother move in.
When he turns eighteen Andrew joins the army and goes to Iraq. Solomon leaves home, gets caught up in sovereign citizen conspiracy ideas, then deeper into mystical connections with the universe. In the army Andrew learns that everything is messed up, the officers, the government, the country. When he gets out Big Boy offers him books, and they are the classic set of White Supremacist texts. When the socialist Muslim is elected president it becomes clear to Big Boy that a war is coming, and he sets up House CORE.
This is a novel about being brought up outside the mainstream, because it’s corrupt, and then going deeper down the conspiracy well. Into violent, white supremacist fantasies. Because the America they believe in is not only gone, but never existed, they’re adrift, their best instincts turn to dark ends.
It’s also a novel about family, and coming of age, and death and burial. And about faith and how it can be taken for granted, and twisted and not sustain.
And on top of the important, maybe even necessary ideas, it’s a pretty good thriller.
Read This: A powerful, timely, yet unfortunately timeless book about violent conspiracy and those who grow up in the penumbra of these ideas
Don’t Read This: We’re just living through it
Available From Malarkey Books: Who provided me with a review copy
In the opening chapter Naomi Becker wakes to discover her barn is on fire. She takes her baby Jonathan and flees.
How we ended up here is the matter of the novel. We learn that the year before in 2012, Solomon Becker, Naomi’s brother, killed sixteen people and wounded twenty three more in a mass shooting in Seattle before being killed himself. On the same day Richard, her father dies. Naomi and her mother Ruth have to deal with both, heading for Seattle on a road trip at the invitation of an FBI agent.
The shooting causes concern for a group up in the mountains, House CORE. A militia of sorts, led by Big Boy, Amos Brainerd, a former soldier. Amongst them is Andrew Cook, who recruited Solomon to the group.
Solomon and Naomi were twins, or triplets, the third Noah having been stillborn. Brought up by their parents Richard and Ruth, they were homeschooled on a farm. Richard led them in worship, believing the outside world to be sinful, and the government worst of all, though they were kept by Ruth’s government job. They met Andrew when he, part of the homeschooling group, catches chicken pox and they go over so that Solomon and Naomi catch it. Later Andrew and his mother move in.
When he turns eighteen Andrew joins the army and goes to Iraq. Solomon leaves home, gets caught up in sovereign citizen conspiracy ideas, then deeper into mystical connections with the universe. In the army Andrew learns that everything is messed up, the officers, the government, the country. When he gets out Big Boy offers him books, and they are the classic set of White Supremacist texts. When the socialist Muslim is elected president it becomes clear to Big Boy that a war is coming, and he sets up House CORE.
This is a novel about being brought up outside the mainstream, because it’s corrupt, and then going deeper down the conspiracy well. Into violent, white supremacist fantasies. Because the America they believe in is not only gone, but never existed, they’re adrift, their best instincts turn to dark ends.
It’s also a novel about family, and coming of age, and death and burial. And about faith and how it can be taken for granted, and twisted and not sustain.
And on top of the important, maybe even necessary ideas, it’s a pretty good thriller.
Read This: A powerful, timely, yet unfortunately timeless book about violent conspiracy and those who grow up in the penumbra of these ideas
Don’t Read This: We’re just living through it
Available From Malarkey Books: Who provided me with a review copy
December 27, 2025
Lowkey loved this book, or at least I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. I went into it kind of blind and was not expecting it to be about domestic terrorism lmao
There are some pretty jaw droppingly horrific & tragic moments in this book but they all serve to move the plot along and didn’t feel like they were inserted just for the sake of shocking the audience. The author does an incredible job getting into the head of the disenfranchised, frustrated, and distrustful American, and I thought it was a really important exploration of the alt-right pipeline and its real-world consequences.
I can’t help but feel bad for Solomon and Big Boy but especially Andrew — the way this story is told creates these characters that feel so so real, you can see the layers and nuance in them and gain an understanding of why they do the things they do and how their situation escalated in the way it did. Every character shoulders the blame for what Solomon ultimately did and I love that. I love how messed up and complicated and tragic this story was.
RIP Ruth u deserved better
There are some pretty jaw droppingly horrific & tragic moments in this book but they all serve to move the plot along and didn’t feel like they were inserted just for the sake of shocking the audience. The author does an incredible job getting into the head of the disenfranchised, frustrated, and distrustful American, and I thought it was a really important exploration of the alt-right pipeline and its real-world consequences.
I can’t help but feel bad for Solomon and Big Boy but especially Andrew — the way this story is told creates these characters that feel so so real, you can see the layers and nuance in them and gain an understanding of why they do the things they do and how their situation escalated in the way it did. Every character shoulders the blame for what Solomon ultimately did and I love that. I love how messed up and complicated and tragic this story was.
RIP Ruth u deserved better
October 2, 2023
GLORIA PATRI by Austin Ross is the rarest of books--a thriller that also is exquisitely written. As I read about the dissolution of a family and country due to extremism and fundamentalism, I was torn between rereading sentences and whole paragraphs because they appeared so beautifully on the page and my desire to keep moving forward in the book to discover what happens. This is a stunning debut novel and Ross is a master storyteller. Every character is fully-fleshed out, believable, and presented compassionately in their full complexity. The events of the book always surprised and, yet, also had a tragic inevitability about them. The book was hard to read at times but an undercurrent of hope also ran throughout the pages. I highly recommend this book for its ability to hold a mirror up to our society but also for its ability to move and challenge me and make me fall in love with reading again.
September 19, 2023
Any review I could write would not do justice to this fantastic novel by Austin Ross. Gloria Patri truly felt like I was reading real-world events, not from a media perspective but from the lens of those living through them. Every character is fully developed, authentic, and relatable. Everyone is treated compassionately, allowing the reader to make decisions without being preachy or heavy-handed. Considering the concepts he delves into, that is no small feat! I am so impressed with this debut and have already shared it with a friend who told me they could not put it down.
Everyone needs to get a copy for themselves. You will think about it long after you finish; I know I still am.
Everyone needs to get a copy for themselves. You will think about it long after you finish; I know I still am.
October 9, 2023
This book was a hard hitting, gut punch. Ross has written a novel that feels like a non-fiction and sadly based on very real extremists that exist in our communities. This is the story of family and friendships torn apart by conspiracy and misinformation along with evangelicalism. All the good stuff ya know? Definitely prepare yourselves for a story you can't put down. The writing is superb and even tho the content is difficult the story flows and magnetizes you from page to page.
I took a little longer with this book than I expected. Some for personal life reasons and some because this book takes some time to digest and think on.
Definitely go check out Malarkey books and get this beautiful book by Austin Ross today!
I took a little longer with this book than I expected. Some for personal life reasons and some because this book takes some time to digest and think on.
Definitely go check out Malarkey books and get this beautiful book by Austin Ross today!
September 5, 2024
A blunt, graceful rumination on love, fear, and decisions. Which wisely places lonely extremists on a relatably human continuum and spotlights how every response to one's circumstances ripples through a web of souls with their own hopes and burdens. Consequences shape the futures of those not yet born.
October 20, 2023
Hot damn this here’s a book alright!
July 9, 2024
This novel will pull you in and leave you devastated. Ross holds nothing back here. I can't wait to see what he does next.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews