I’ve been waiting for the sequel to R.S. Belcher’s Brotherhood of the Wheel since the book first appeared in 2016, and next week my wait is finally over.

Expectations for King of the Road, the second book in the series, are high. In a starred review Publishers Weekly said,

Belcher’s masterful storytelling and worldbuilding make for a gripping and consistently surprising follow-up to Brotherhood of the Wheel. Long-haul trucker Jimmie Aussapile; his squire, Hector “Heck” Sinclair; and Louisiana State Police Officer Lovina Marcou, a road witch gradually coming into her powers, are members of a secret society descended from the Knights Templar, protecting the roads and travelers. While Lovina works a missing-person case involving a ghost clown and an alchemist who assembles a cult of disaffected souls, Jimmie and Heck battle a number of supernatural horrors, including animated corpses and living shadows… [a] fascinating series.

King of the Road will be published in hardcover by Tor on December 4. The first book was released in paperback last year. Here’s the book blurb.

Set in R.S. Belcher’s urban fantasy Nightwise universe, the Brotherhood of the Wheel returns to explore the haunted byways and truck stops of the U.S. Interstate Highway System in King of the Road.

Jimmie Aussapile, Lovina Marcou and Heck Sinclair are members of a secret society dedicated to protecting those who travel America’s highways from the monsters, both supernatural and mundane, that lurk in the darkness just beyond your headlights. They are the Brotherhood of the Wheel.

At home in Lenoir, North Carolina, Jimmie and his squire Heck find themselves drawn into an all-out war between two competing biker gangs. One is led by a rival biker in possession of new found supernatural allies and the other is an all-female werewolf pack.

Meanwhile, Lovina is drawn into a missing-person case that leads to a Pennsylvania trailer park seemingly haunted by killer clowns.

One way or another peace must be maintained and the many roads of America must be protected. But it might just cost the Brotherhood their souls if they aren’t careful.

King of the Road will be published by Tor Books on December 4, 2018. It is 384 pages, priced at $28.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. The cover artist is uncredited.

See our previous coverage of Belcher’s Nightwise fantasy detective novels here, and his Weird Western Golgotha trilogy here.

Still looking for something to read? You’re inexhaustible! Try looking over all our coverage of the best new fantasy releases here.