Blah, Blah, Rapture… Book Review
I was thrilled to get a review copy of the latest release from an author I truly enjoy, Thomas Steele. This one is titled, Blah, Blah, Rapture and it just came out on October 3rd. You can get it for yourself on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions.
There are 46 chapters, expertly formatted and planned to keep you turning the pages. And this book is dedicated to his wife, “For my beautiful wife. You were right… my hit song has always belonged to you.”
Chapter one dives right in with a first-person account from a witness to the “initial event” named Mia Sanders. It’s delivered right in her own words and sends us spiraling directly into the meat of the story.
In Blah, Blah, Rapture…: Assorted Creeds from a Backwater’s Bliss, Thomas Steele delivers a hauntingly beautiful portrait of faith, delusion, and longing in small-town America. A colorful analysis of believing itself emerges from what starts as the mysterious disappearance of “Baby” Mae Gypsum, a college student who was last spotted floating across her peaceful Pennsylvania street like an apparition.
Police files, diaries, witness accounts, and frenzied whispers are just a few of the contradictory viewpoints that Steele uses to paint a picture of a town consumed by its own need to believe. Seldon, Pennsylvania, transforms from a scene into a live being, teeming with rumors, anxiety, and the flimsy faith that the ordinary could still contain the sublime.
Being from a small town in the south myself, I really love stories like this, and Steele does it all so well. From the realistic characters to the rich southern backdrop, and the drama-filled storyline, it’s all very engrossing to read.
The focal point of the book is Mae’s diaries, which come to light after she vanishes. I really love stories told from the point of view of diaries or journals, so this aspect really appealed to me. I also know how it needs to be done just right to deliver well to the reader – and Steele does it!
Mia’s speech oscillates between revelation and insanity, half skeptic, part mystic, and intimate. The ultimate product is a narrative that combines elements of Southern Gothic, true-crime mockumentary, and theological fever dream, feeling both sacred and inquisitive. Every page of Steele’s writing hums with subtly uneasy tension as it treads that delightful line between beauty and discomfort.
The way this book analyzes the workings of belief and the need for miracles in a time of cynicism is something that is uniquely American. Fans of Flannery O’Connor’s incisive moral paradoxes, House of Leaves, or even Under the Banner of Heaven will be captivated. However, this compassion is what gives Blah, Blah, Rapture… its special power. Steele reveals how we all strive for transcendence when reality fails us, without making fun of the devoted.
It will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading not because it provides an answer to the question, “What happened to Mae Gypsum?” but because it dared to pose the question, “What do we actually mean when we say we believe?”
Verdict: Blah, Blah, Rapture is a stunning and eerie mosaic that explores human need, faith, and myth-making. Once again, Thomas Steele demonstrates his skill at striking a balance between narrative tension and philosophy. Anyone who enjoys literary fiction with heart and bite should read this book.
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