her. He is killed by Darren, who gives unsuspecting Abner Junior the gun. The National Guard, the state Governor with state police, and numerous journalists show up. The bikers engage in a reign of terror, blowing up buildings and cars all across West Condon. At the hospital, a nurse is forced at gunpoint to identify which room Suggs is in, and a biker proceeds to the room and shoots the helpless man. After the bank is blown open, the mayor shows up, and without anyone noticing, walks off with a million dollars and flees, using Lucci as his fall guy. At the mine, as the Baxterites are confronting the Brunists with armed private militia and surrounded by state and federal troops, Jesus walks up to the Mount accompanied by Jenkins and Priscilla. He delivers new, generally confusing, beatitudes, but Abner Baxter accepts them as genuine. The multiple confrontations end with most of the bikers dead, most of the Baxterites arrested, and the Brunists scattered. Jesus abandons Wesley, who is institutionalized. In fact Suggs is not dead—the nurse had named a room where a man had just died—and Bernice takes Suggs home for safety. She negotiates a fantastic home care deal for herself (including a generous close-out payment upon death) with a lawyer who is taking over Suggs's assets. But when Sally learns Suggs is being mistreated, Bernice murders Suggs with a lethal injection. Epilogue Sally becomes a professional writer, and her first book is The Killing of Billy D, a bestselling non-fiction novel about the murder of Billy Don. Abner Junior is eventually cleared while on death row, but not his father. The novel ends with his execution. Reception Previews Reviews References Further reading Discussion of religion in Coover's Brunist novels. External links 2014 American novels Novels about religion