After King Saul and three of his sons are killed at the battle of Gilboa, the way seems open for David to assume the throne, but Abner crowns Ish-bosheth, the weak, fourth son of Saul to rule over the tribes north of Judah. When the elders of that tribe crown David king, the stage is set for civil war.

Assassinations and betrayals are the order of the day, finally leading to David becoming king of all Israel, although he is not implicated in any of the treachery.

However, it will be David's own actions that will prove to be the greatest threat to the kingdom.

The heroic stories about King David are among the best-loved in the Bible. They are also some of the most detailed, recording events that happened 3,000 years ago. Yet the purpose of the Bible is not the same as a novel, so there is much the Bible doesn't tell us about the interrelationships of the characters and the personal and political motivations which caused them to do what they did, not to mention the emotional turmoil which preceded and then resulted from their actions. That is what historical fiction tries to do; to discern the unspoken emotions that eventually break out into action.

There are fascinating relationships that the Bible doesn't quite tell us about directly. Only by reading and rereading the accounts do some of those connections and the pressures they must have caused become clear. Some of the events are shocking and worthy of the seamiest romance novel or scandalous tabloid. They give the lie to the fiction that the Bible is prudish and irrelevant to the lives of real people.

This third book in the Age of the Kingdom series, even more than the two preceding it, is about relationships and how they are challenged by events and clashing personalities.