Assassins by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

The four horsemen have been released from the Euphrates River to slay a third of the world's remaining population. The Tribulation Force witnesses the deaths of many at the hands of these invisible horsemen. Since the deaths of many of his Christian friends, Rayford Steele has come to blame Nicolae Carpathia for it all. This blame has birthed into utter hate for the Supreme Potentate. Ray knows that someone must kill the Antichrist, so why can it not be him? Hiding his plans from the rest of the Trib Force, he acquires a deadly weapon for the job. David Hassid has become the Trib Force's full time inside spy since he has access to the Antichrist's very conversations. He does not know how much time he has until he must join the others in hiding, but he hopes that he will be able to take his new love, Annie Christopher into hiding with him. Apocalyptic events come to a head as Nicolae Carpathia issues a Utopian gala in Jerusalem of an unknown length. Tsion Ben-Judah predicts the deaths and resurrections of both the Two Witnesses and the Antichrist during the gala. But the question is, at whose sword will Nicolae fall and when?

The idea behind Assassins is probably the most interesting idea of the series yet because someone must kill the Antichrist, and it was only so fitting that one of the Trib Force plot to do so. Rayford becomes a better character because of his scheming, yet a majority of the book is wasted on David Hassid exhibiting all that he can do as the Trib Force's spy so that the book can end with Nicolae's death. Because of this, the book is not five stars.

The characters go in more extreme directions than they ever had before. Rayford becomes more imperfect and actually develops a personality. Buck loses personality and becomes a perfect character. Chloe becomes an extra character. Tsion stays the same, as always. David Hassid is a non-character because his purpose is based entirely on an idea instead of a real person. Albie is one of the more interesting characters of the series because is against Jesus and Nicolae Carpathia and has not converted to either yet. Basically, the character department took a step forward and a step backwards.

Assassins

is definitely a good theme title for this book because it covers the assassinations inflicted by the horsemen, the assassinations of the Two Witnesses, and the assassination of Nicolae. Even though the true murderer of Nicolae is not revealed in this book, it still makes for an interesting story. Yet there are also many weak points in the plot, such as the convenient abilities of David Hassid, his unnecessary romantic subplot, and the unnecessary antics of Mac McCullum and Abdullah Smith. However, this book is an improvement from the previous three installments. The biggest thing keeping this book from five stars is its wasted time.

All in all, the series is progressing in the right direction because the time of the Mark of the Beast is nearing.

4 stars