PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2025 • INDIE BESTSELLER • USA TODAY BESTSELLER

The critically acclaimed author of the “crazily enjoyable” (The New York Times) Whalefall returns with an immersive, cinematic novel about five World War I soldiers who stumble upon a fallen angel that could hold the key to ending the war.

Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade.

What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell.

Angel Down plunges you into the heart of World War I and weaves a polyphonic tale of survival, supernatural wonder, and moral conflict.

We have read Kraus previously in NUBClub and felt his writing was very strong but his premise was weak, and we wondered what he could create with a better idea. Well, readers, Angel Down is that better idea and Kraus is phenomenal with it. Angel Down is about a set of World War 1 soldiers who find a angel in the battlefield and work to bring it to safety. Our only hesitancy in recommending this book is that it's gory - it's WW1 after all and Kraus is not shy about the bodily and psychological horror that was. If that doesn't put you off, get Angel Down, because Kraus has written a beautiful fable about hope and wishes and gambles. The treatment of the angel itself is stunning: weird and terrifying and comforting all at once and with one of the best cryptic non-answer scenes we've ever seen in fiction. The protagonist Cyril Bagger is an inspired choice, a lowlife with a conscience that serves as a great observer of both the reality of war and the ambiguous potential the angel offers. Kraus uses Cyril to tell a devil at the crossroads style tale of threat and bargains that culminates in a powerful way. We really don't want to give any anything else about this novel. Please just read it. It's just a wonderful example of an adult fairy tale that remains painfully and powerfully real.