Overview: In 1986, abusive and substance-addicted action movie star Kirk Decker realizes that his survival is inextricably tangled with the fate of a matriarchal barangay (tribal community) in the 16th-century Philippines.

Verdict: Meet Kirk Decker, abusive 1980s B-movie actor. He’s self-destructing from drink and drugs, and some people want him dead. While shooting an action film in the Philippines, he has unearthly visions and weird encounters.

Meet Dayang, the dutiful queen of a matriarchal tribe in 16th-century Luzon. Why are her people suffering from mysterious diseases? How can they call on the spirit world to save them? And what connects them through time, space and magic to Kirk and other violent white men in need of redemption?

In what is a most wondrous, genre-blending, reality-blurring, masterful storytelling new prose, author Tom Sykes brings us his quite stunning new novel Tangled Saviours. In all truth, I read this in two very quick sittings because it is that kind of book that from the very first pages, you become addicted to knowing where the story is going to take you next.

A historical setting combining Spanish colonization of the Philippines within the 16th century together with American Nazism in the 20th century along with the underbelly of the movie world in the eighties, it brings together a veritable smorgasbord of oh-so vividly described themes, feelings and choices.

In short, this novel is already a genuine contender round here for a top ten spot on our Best Novels of 2026 list, because it is masterfully created in such a way that if you close your eyes at the end of each chapter, you can clearly visualize the scene being played out. Not every book will do that for you but moreover, if you know someone that has also read this book you will want to discuss it with them very soon thereafter. That is guaranteed.

About the Author - Tom Sykes is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth, UK and, as a journalist who has travelled extensively in Africa and Asia over the last 10 years, he has written for the London Telegraph, New Statesman, The London Magazine, Private Eye, The Scotsman, New Internationalist, Southeast Asia Globe, The Journalist, The Philippines Free Press and a dozen other titles.

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