Cleave the Sparrow
by Jonathan Katz
You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Apr 26 2025 | Archive Date Oct 15 2025
Holofernes Publishing Group | Holofernes
Description
#1 AMAZON BESTSELLER • 2025 LITERARY TITAN GOLD BOOK AWARD WINNER • STARRED REVIEW (Hollywood Book Reviews) • NOTABLE BOOK (Pacific Book Review) • FIVE STARS (Chanticleer Book Review) • FIVE STARS (Literary Titan) • FIVE STARS (Readers’ Favorite)
“Daring, unpredictable, and utterly consuming.” —San Francisco Book Review
“Uproariously funny and incredibly prescient.” —Hollywood Book Reviews
“Delivers a philosophical gut-punch unlike any other.” —Chicago Book Review
Wilder Crick, the worst presidential candidate in history, is dead.
Now his reluctant apprentice Tom and ruthless campaign manager Shelly must carry out his final order—a bizarre, posthumous search for the true, hidden nature of reality.
“Some books tell a story,” writes Literary Titan’s Priscilla Evans. “Others drag you into a chaotic, unrelenting experience that scrambles your brain and leaves you questioning everything. Cleave The Sparrow is for people who enjoy satire so sharp it draws blood, philosophy so deep it makes your head hurt, and humor so dark you feel guilty laughing."
[CONTENT WARNING: This novel contains dark, controversial, and upsetting material. It includes depictions or discussions of suicide, genocide, rape and sexual violence against women and children, Islamic extremism, terrorism, drug abuse, mental illness, abortion, kidnapping, and nuclear war.]
Advance Praise
"There are books that challenge you, and then there's Cleave the Sparrow. With a narrative that feels like a fever dream engineered by a rogue AI, this novel is a stunning collision of political satire, psychedelic horror, and existential dread. It revels in its absurdity while dissecting profound truths about power, belief, and the fragility of perception. Daring, unpredictable, and utterly consuming, this is a novel that lingers in the mind long after you've closed the cover." —San Francisco Book Review
FIVE STARS. "No summary can do this novel justice as its blend of surrealist humor, political satire, sci-fi, and philosophy made it the most unique book I've read in years." —Readers' Favorite
"Successfully pushes satire to the absolute limit, and then some... Smacks of Burroughs, Burgess, and Philip K. Dick, with a good dash of Robert Anton Wilson." —The Independent Review of Books
"At its core, Cleave the Sparrow is a novel about control—over perception, power, and reality itself. It's a book that weaponizes satire to peel back the layers of human delusion, from political theatrics to the very nature of existence. Wilder Crick's chaotic vision of the world is terrifyingly plausible, making this a story that is as intellectually provocative as it is disturbing. For those willing to question everything, this novel delivers a philosophical gut-punch unlike any other." —Chicago Book Review
"In a narrative as mind-bending as it is darkly hilarious, Cleave the Sparrow dissects the illusion of reality with razor-sharp wit and philosophical depth. With a plot that spirals from political satire to metaphysical horror, the novel explores the futility of perception and the consequences of enlightenment. Every page brims with biting dialogue, psychological unraveling, and a cosmic punchline that lingers long after the final chapter. A brilliantly unsettling read that demands—and rewards—careful attention." —Los Angeles Book Review
"Gear up for a wild ride." —Kirkus Reviews
"To read Jonathan Katz's satirical novel Cleave the Sparrow is akin to being repeatedly struck on the funny bone: every laugh is accompanied by a wistful groan at the pickle the world finds itself in." —IndieReader
NOTABLE BOOK. "A truly moving ode with a keen sense of place that blends philosophy, elements of humor and science adroitly." —Pacific Book Review
"Creative and bitingly satirical... Cleave the Sparrow becomes something that, as its plot beats direct, transcends objective understanding in its self-awareness and distinctive choices." —The Black List
"Imagine a political thriller, a sci-fi mind-bender, and the weirdest cult documentary you've ever seen all mashed together, with a narrator who somehow makes existential horror laugh-out-loud funny. The characters are a mess (in the best way), and just when you think you know where it's going, it pulls the rug out from under you. If you like your books wild, smart, and just a little unhinged, this one's for you." —Manhattan Book Review
"A vigorous, edifying satirical novel." —Clarion Reviews
FIVE STARS. "Existential horror, political satire, and absurd comedy in perfect harmony, Cleave the Sparrow pulls readers out of their comfort zone into a realm demanding constant introspection." —Chanticleer Book Reviews
"A captivating, mind-bending ride... Cleave the Sparrow is raunchy, witty, incisive, and provocative. It reads like a mix of Chuck Palahniuk, Garth Ennis, and Neal Stephenson." —BlueInk Reviews
STARRED REVIEW. "Aside from being the title of Jonathan Katz's uproariously funny, incredibly prescient novel, 'cleave the sparrow' is a Zen kōan, meant to enlighten spiritual students with its blunt and violent suggestion—devoid of all meaning except for that of the moment and of the action itself. Cleaving the sparrow is exactly what happens in the 300-some-odd pages of this extraordinary book." —Hollywood Book Reviews
GOLD BOOK AWARD WINNER. "Some books tell a story. Others drag you into a chaotic, unrelenting experience that scrambles your brain and leaves you questioning everything. Cleave the Sparrow is the latter. It's a fever dream wrapped in satire, political absurdity, existential horror, and bursts of unfiltered genius." —Literary Titan
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9798218656751 |
| PRICE | $13.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 337 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 1474393
Wilder Crick is dead—thank God, and also, maybe, oh no? That’s the chaotic, razor-sharp energy Jonathan Katz injects into Cleave the Sparrow, a genre-defying fever dream of a novel that reads like Hunter S. Thompson freebasing Kierkegaard during a political campaign meltdown.
At its surface, the book follows Tom—Crick’s awkward, bewildered apprentice—and Shelly, the hyper-competent campaign manager with the empathy of a guillotine, as they attempt to honor Crick’s dying wish: uncovering the “true, hidden nature of reality.” Whatever that means. What begins as a surreal scavenger hunt quickly spirals into a gonzo exploration of ego death, apocalyptic politics, quantum uncertainty, and the kind of philosophical whiplash that leaves you wondering whether the book’s next twist will be a nuclear explosion or a sudden monologue on the illusion of free will.
And somehow, it all works.
Katz is a literary bomb-thrower, gleefully mixing satire, existential dread, and absurdist comedy in a narrative that’s part dystopian political thriller, part metaphysical head-trip. The pacing is relentless, the tone whiplashes from hilarious to horrifying, and the prose reads like poetry written during a panic attack. It’s a book that demands your full attention and pays it back in wild revelations and deep, soul-punching questions.
This isn’t a comfort read. It’s a challenge, a dare—equal parts chaotic road trip and philosophical descent into madness. But for readers willing to lean in and let go, Cleave the Sparrow is one of the most original, thought-provoking, and gloriously unhinged novels in recent memory.
