The Indwelling by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

Nicolae Carpathia, the Supreme Potentate of all the earth has been murdered unexpectedly at a worldwide gala in Jerusalem. As the Global Community authorities study videos of Carpathia's murder and the body itself, they come up with differing opinions of the cause of death. As millions of worshipers flock to New Babylon to attend his funeral and mourn his death, the Tribulation Force are keeping their eyes on Carpathia's dead body, waiting for the moment when Satan will indwell the corpse and rule the world for himself. David Hassid and Annie Christopher see firsthand the evil that is brewing in New Babylon-namely the outright worship of the Antichrist. Meanwhile, the stateside Trib Force begins a relocation project to the abandoned city of Chicago while the GC is distracted with Carpathia's funeral. It's only a matter of time before Satan enters the corpse of the world's most loved man and begins to take the throne-namely rule the world-for a time.

Time comes to a halt in this seventh installment of the Left Behind series as it is the first and last book to contain no judgements. The Indwelling spends a painful amount of time on the attention to detail and the dissection of the three days the Antichrist lies in state, describing every little detail of the funeral. While there are many other good plot elements, this fact keeps the book from being five stars.

Chaim Rozenweig becomes a better character than he ever was in this book because the authors suddenly "turn on" his personality. The same is done with David Hassid, in that he is no longer a Trib Force spy tool. Otherwise, there are no other career moves in the character department. All other characters stay the same.

It seemed as though the authors wanted another suspenseful end, namely Carpathia coming back to life, thus they slowed time down dramatically and did not institute any judgements. While there is a single key character death as a product of another rescue mission, this book is mostly a waste of time. Had the authors not been so intent on writing another suspenseful end, this book could have been five stars. This book makes the series very time-inconsistent. However, one could say that The Indwelling is another transitional novel like Nicolae, this time transitioning the series into the Great Tribulation.

The good thing about the Great Tribulation is that the authors can no longer produce Hollywood-ish judgements and protect their special characters. It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty in the final five books ahead, and I'm interested to see what will happen.

4 stars

Wonders Never Cease by Tim Downs

Kemp McAvoy is living the hard life of a UCLA night nurse while his aspirations are to be an anesthesiologist. These aspirations were put to rest, however, when his residency at Johns Hopkins was rejected because of drug abuse. Now, he lives with his girlfriend and her "loony" daughter from a previous marriage. Kemp is tired of being strapped for money. He wants to be free. The opportunity presents itself when he is assigned to monitor an aging movie star who was the victim of a car accident. She has been put into a medically-induced coma to prevent her brain from swelling, but an "angel" by the name of Kemp McAvoy is about to lower her drug dosage slightly and appear to her with a message she is proclaim to all the world. With the help of her agent and a struggling publisher, they will write the ultimate bestselling book about her experiences in the coma. But little do they know that they are tangling themselves up in their own web-all because they practiced to deceive.

Tim Downs is back. That was my first thought when I finished his latest release. He has returned to his land of originality after being exiled to typical island for too long. Through superb characters and a highly original plot, Tim has written himself a second five star novel.
Kemp is one of the most imperfect leads I have ever met. This is probably because he has an underused personality. He rivals Nick Polchak for one of the best leads ever developed. I cannot think of a single character in this plot who does not have a personality. One of the best things about the character department is that there is no real villain. If anyone is a villain, it's Kemp. Tim Downs already proved that his character developing skills are exquisite, but he did not stop just because he has now become popular. He is truly a master of characters.

The plot is most similar to Deceived by James Scott Bell, yet it is unlike any other plot. It is a highly underused plot style I call Deception. It begins with an elaborate money-making scheme and becomes more and more complicated as more people get involved, making this book more of a comedy than any of Tim's other books. The dealing and the scheming don't end until the book ends. While this book does not have a smashingly original end like that of Chop Shop, the entire book is a constant; it is wholly original rather than partly. Not only is there nothing wrong with this book; there are also many things right about it.

In short, Tim Downs is a man to be reckoned with because his writing career is far from over. No, he is only getting started with the great impression he will make on Christian fiction.

5 stars

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

Apollyon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

In the wake of the wrath of the Lamb earthquake, Nicolae Carpathia has rebuilt the world along with his own state-of-the-art city, New Babylon. The Tribulation Force has been forced into hiding in the underground bunker of a deceased friend. Hattie Durham joins them there after being kidnapped by Buck from an abortion clinic, yet she has brought with her a strange disease. Buck soon finds himself torn between his very pregnant wife Chloe and his very unsaved friend in Israel, Chaim Rosenweig. In the midst of all this, the next trumpet judgement hits in the form of poisonous locusts instructed to torment those not bearing the mark of Christ for nine months. Buck finds himself caught in Israel when their resident physician Floyd Charles finds something wrong with his unborn child. In the midst of all this uncertainty, the Tribulation Force must prepare for a future when they can no longer be seen or heard.

Apollyon

is a slight improvement from Soul Harvest if not for any reason other than the fact that the authors finally learned how to write a realistic Buck Williams Rescue Mission. Actually, several of these take place in the book, which suggests that the authors cannot come up with anything better to write, yet on of these such incidents they actually end realistically. The series has not reached its full potential yet, but it is getting there.

It's hard to know what to expect out of a series' characters in its fifth installment. They did not take any steps forward or backward, yet remained the same. Tsion is still the most under developed character. Buck, Chloe, and Rayford are still their usual selves. Hattie is still an interesting character. One character in particular became ambiguous when the authors decided to do something unexpected with him. When a series is five books deep, the characters should be superb because they consistently show off their personalities. However, Buck is consistently used as a stunt-rescue man yet has not developed any conclusive personality. Chloe has settled into being a nothing-character ever since her earthquake injuries. Rayford in the only one with a varietous life at this point. I think the biggest problem with the character department is the number of characters. There are too many for any of them to be given personal attention. The authors do this to cover a lot of bases since this is a virgin series idea, but it isn't working.

The locusts are a Hollywood-ish plague because the believers can basically do whatever they want during the span of this plague, but one cannot contradict the Bible. There aren't really any key character deaths in this book for that reason. The authors are trying to create a romantic subplot between two characters in the underground bunker. This needs to be stopped because one of the characters has already had way too many romantic interests. Introducing the issues with Chloe's baby was unnecessary unless the authors were actually going to use them originally.

Basically, Apollyon is an average novel, yet an improvement from Soul Harvest. The authors need to continue improving like this to bring the series out of its nosedive.

2.5 stars

Soul Harvest by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

The wrath of the Lamb has come upon the earth. The largest and most destructive earthquake ever recorded has just shaken the entire globe. Cities are leveled, mountains have fallen, thousands have died, meteors have fallen from the sky, the moon has turned blood red. God's most severe judgement yet has struck the earth as millions were unprepared. The Tribulation Force themselves is shaken from its effects as they scramble to discover how many of them are dead. Rayford Steele fears that his wife is dead, as does Buck Williams. Neither Amanda nor Chloe have been spotted according to their sources. Something Rayford finds disturbing is that Nicolae Carpathia seems to have known that the earthquake was going to happen, yet did nothing to warn people about it. As the world regroups from this terrible disaster, it is a perfect time to convert more people to Christ, yet the Tribulation Force finds this a hard task when some of their own are missing.

The Left Behind series has dipped to a low point in Soul Harvest because there are many unrealistic plot points. The authors use the earthquake as a tool to kill off unnecessary characters and to create drama about important characters. Nothing very interesting is accomplished throughout the book except for many unrealistic circumstances, thus making it the worst book of the series.

Character development is halted in this installment in the midst of drama and catastrophe. This book reminded me of a B-grade action adventure movie-all show and no realistic plot or good characters. While the situation could have been used to bring out the characters' personalities, it did not.

There are several expendable character deaths, most of them characters who were never fully developed. Yet none of the main characters pass on to eternity-even though Chloe spent a good long time on death's door. Her situation is the most unrealistic because it's so much like a disaster movie that jumps through hoops to keep the central romantic subplot alive even through adversity. By the time Buck finds her, her body is completely battered and torn, yet her-and her unborn baby who no one knew about-are not dying at all. Half the book is spent trying to find her, and the other half is spent bringing her back from death's door. Another problem with the plot is Buck's unlimited GC credit card that allows him to cover any expenses immediately. This becomes a sort of CRT that keeps several characters from spending a few nights in the streets. The sooner this convenient feature is eliminated from the plot, the better.

The wrath of the Lamb could have been a good outlet to change things up in the Tribulation Force-kill off a few key characters, bring out personalities in those that were left. Yet this was not accomplished in Soul Harvest. But now that Buck and Rayford have to leave the GC scene very soon because of their Christianity, the series could take a turn toward more interesting plots. The authors definitely need to pull the series out of this nose dive somehow.

1.5 stars

Nicolae by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

Nicolae Carpathia has now established himself as the leader of the world by orchestrating a treaty between Israel and Egypt. He has seized the control the world gave him after the disappearances. The Global Community has been firmly established. Rayford Steele and Buck Williams are walking the line by serving Jesus Christ and serving Nicolae Carpathia at the same time. Tsion Ben-Judah, a world-renowned Jewish scholar, has shocked the world by publicly professing that Jesus is the Messiah the prophets spoke of. Nicolae sees him as an automatic threat and attempts to snuff him out deceptively, thus forcing the Trib Force to take Tsion into their care. As the time nears for the wrath of the Lamb earthquake to shake the earth, the Trib Force does their best to prepare for and warn others about the looming catastrophe, but most of the world has already turned their hearts toward the Antichrist.

Nicolae

is a transitional novel in the series between the earlier judgements and the famed wrath of the Lamb earthquake. Because it is a transitional novel, there are not many outstanding qualities, good or bad. In the end, the rating comes out average.

The character development done in Tribulation Force comes to a halt seemingly because Buck and Chloe and Rayford and Amanda are married. Tsion, the new perfect mentor character is a worse character than Bruce because of his constant pithy sayings and Scripture quotations and general care for all mankind. I have nothing against mentor characters; an End Times series needs a mentor character to keep the reader up with Scripture, but mentors do not have to be perfect. Because there are already too many characters in this series, the authors are taking shortcuts on character development.

Seemingly to fill time, the authors had Buck preform a lengthy rescue mission in Israel. It seems as though the authors are using the label "End Times" as an excuse to write cheap action fiction. The fact that Buck and Rayford work for the GC only adds to this because they are able to manipulate things from the inside. To compound this, more and more Christians are discovered on the inside.

All in all, Nicolae is an average novel whose only purpose to bring the series into the next era of judgements. Hopefully the authors will be more diligent in their efforts next time.

2.5 stars

A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin

Violet Hayes has just recently found out that her father has deceived her all her life by telling her that her biological mother was dead. When he tells her that she is still alive yet divorced from him, she makes it her mission to find her mother-not to mention prevent her father's marriage to a widow whom Violet suspects for murdering her own husband. Through deception and conniving, Violet convinces her father to allow her to travel to Chicago-the supposed location of her mother-in order to stay with her grandmother and three aunts, not to mention attend the Chicago World Fair. But she reaps what she sowed through her deception by getting more than she asked for out of her aunts. She does her best to search for her mother-while her Aunt Agnes isn't constantly trying to marry her off, while her grandmother isn't constantly trying to get her to do mission and church work, while her Aunt Matt isn't constantly trying to convince her than women need to be free to vote and do many other "scandalous" things, while her deranged Aunt Birdie isn't always trying to ask her when her dead husband is returning from fighting the Civil War, and while Violet is trying to ignore the four men competing for her heart and her hand in marriage-all for different reasons. These abnormal encounters away from home force Violet to examine her own life to see if she is really living the way she needs to be living.

Lynn Austin spins a comical yet realistic tale set in the late 1800s around the time of the Chicago World Fair. There is almost too much in the book to contain in a single summary, yet this book is nonetheless entertaining and original at the same time. Through excellent character development and realistic plot development, Lynn vaults this book onto the Elite List-yet falls short of five stars for a single reason.

Violet is shown to the reader through a first-person point of view, the best point of view because it allows the reader to relate to the character and it forces the author to create at least a formidable character. All of Violet's family members-her father, her grandmother, her aunts, even her mother-are good characters with imperfection and personality. Three of Violet's suitors are good characters. Unfortunately, the fourth is the inevitable perfect male lead. Even when Lynn had a chance to make him imperfect, she fabricated an escape, causing him to become and unrealistic character. He is the only problem with the book, along with his situation. Had this aspect been amended, we could have been looking at a five star novel.

Otherwise, there are many good aspects of the plot. Violet's frequent conniving and telling of half-truths gets her into no small share of trouble. There were at least five situations that could have ended perfectly but instead ended realistically or imperfectly. The situation between Violet and Silas, her perfect male lead, is the only problem with the entire book, yet it is a fatal problem because it keeps it from being five stars.

All in all, Lynn Austin is a master at character development except in the area of perfect male leads. But once she works out these minor kinks, she will be a truly good author.

4.5 stars

Red, White, and Blue by Laura Hayden

Now that Emily Benton has achieved the honor of first female President of the United States, her best friend and chief of staff Kate Rosen is unsure of which direction she will take. Given the volatile nature of Emily, now that she is on top of the world, anything could happen. Kate soon finds that her job switch from campaign manager to chief of staff does not lighten the load-but it increases it. Politics are demanding, Kate quickly learns, for everyone wants their problems to be fixed. And with Emily's ex-husband still hanging around with believable secrets implicating Emily, Kate finds herself playing the double agent. Her suspicion mounts when Emily launches a three-part energy transformation project as her first big act as President. Many questionable actions and conspiracies surround the project, and Kate soon finds herself working against her best friend. But she can't hide her actions from Emily much longer, so she'll have to make a decision-fast.

In the follow-up to a promising political novel, Laura Hayden has done what she needed to do. She took the situation she had created and did not waste the opportunity to do something original. Rather write another predictable political story, Laura did something different, earning herself a five star novel.

Kate, Emily, Nick, and the rest remain as good of characters as they were in America the Beautiful. Emily's switch to a villain in this second installment of the series creates an interesting and original twist. Where Laura could have easily created a typical corrupt politician or male supremist villain, she used one of her own lead characters. Laura needed to make a move like this in order to save this series from complete mediocrity. Laura Hayden knows how to create good and ambiguous characters.

There is a "maybe" romantic subplot created during the plot, but nothing is finalized. Laura Hayden sprinkled many realistic political issues into the plot to keep things realistic. Many realistic and everyday events occur throughout the plot; it is not all about Emily's energy project. A key character death occurs in the middle of the book to keep things interesting. Laura Hayden held over the good plot structure and plot development she had in America the Beautiful. The deciding factor in the book's rating, save for the characters, is the highly original end. It was the only end Laura could have written under the circumstances without producing a sappy work. It was the key to the book's success, as are most endings.

Laura says there are more books to come in this series, yet I think the series needs to end now because I do not foresee anything good coming out of a third book. However, I could be wrong. All that matters now is that Laura fulfilled this series' potential and did not let it go to waste. She is a formidable author from whom I expect more great things.

5 stars

Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

Having found out the truth behind the disappearances, Rayford, Buck, Chloe, and Bruce, who make up the Tribulation Force must prepare for the years ahead-and bring as many people to Jesus as possible before time runs out. With the world's future uncertain, a previously unknown Romanian UN delegate named Nicolae Carpathia has stepped to center stage with talks of peace and world unity in light of the mysterious vanishings. Bruce suspects him to be the Antichrist because of the way the world is swayed in his direction. Buck begins to see more evidence of this as he witnesses the rise of the Global Community, who is dedicated to Nicolae's causes. More Biblical prophecy is fulfilled through the appearance of two strange bearded men at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem who seem to have the power of God at their fingertips. But in the midst of all this, Buck cannot keep his mind off of his new friend Rayford's daughter, Chloe. Even though she is ten years his junior, he feels an attraction to her. The question is, are the End Times an appropriate time to start a long-term relationship? As the world moves further and further away from God, other things seem more important.

The biggest factor that distances Tribulation Force from Left Behind in a good way is the better character development. Another factor in this second installment's higher rating and Elite List placement is its realistic end. Yet one other factor kept this book from being all that it could be, namely five stars.

Buck, Chloe, and Rayford developed more personality in this book than they had in the first installment. They did not become perfect just because they became Christians, which is a good thing. Bruce Barnes is the worst character so far because he is still playing the perfect mentor role. He is a stereotypical character because he always has a Mother Teresa way of going about things, not to mention he is an expert in End Times prophecy. He only serves to degrade the character department. The interesting thing about Nicolae Carpathia is that in this situation, his being a typical villain is justified. While the character development could be better, the authors have definitely improved their character development skills.

The authors continue using Biblical prophecy in the correct way-by creating imperfection instead of keeping all the special characters alive. However, romantic subplots are not avoided. The courtship of Buck and Chloe is at least realistic and serves to bring out their personalities. However, it was completely unnecessary to introduce a romantic subplot for Rayford-especially in the last one hundred pages of the book. The end of the book is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Its strength is a key character death that occurs as a product of one of the judgements. Its weakness is that a love interest for Rayford suddenly materializes without any previous character development or background. In the span of about ten pages, Buck and Chloe and Rayford and Amanda are engaged and married at the same exact time each. While the union of Buck and Chloe was eminent and almost unavoidable under the circumstances, Amanda was an unnecessary character to bring into the series.

All in all, Tribulation Force is better than Left Behind. One can only hope that the series continues this pattern of getting better with each installment.

4 stars

Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins

In one moment, millions disappear from around the planet, leaving their clothes and whatever other accessories they were wearing behind. They disappeared from in fronts of steering wheels, from the cockpits of airplanes, from their own homes, and in broad daylight. All of this causes mass destruction across the globe and sends the world into chaos. The pattern of the disappearances is seemingly random to those who were left behind. Among these are Rayford Steele, a pilot whose whole family disappeared except for his grown daughter, Chloe; Buck Williams, a single magazine reporter who has witnessed catastrophes, yet cannot digest this; and Bruce Barnes, a pastor who thought he was saved. The paths of these four people cross as they all search for the truth behind the vanishings. When it all comes around, there is only one answer that is plausible-Jesus has returned and taken His children home, leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves as judgements descend upon the earth.

This book was groundbreaking for the Christian fiction market because it brought it out of the dark ages by providing it with its first suspense novel. The foundational idea behind the book is revolutionary even though it may seem old school now. Yet even with these merits, this book is not perfect. It still has its problems.

The characters department is the biggest problem. One cannot feel like these characters are actually real people. The authors tell the reader too often what the characters are thinking or feeling instead of showing the reader through action and dialogue. Slight personalities are meant for Rayford, Buck, and Chloe, yet Bruce Barnes cannot be grasped as a real person. He is the mentor character of the book, even though he was left behind. Basically, in the wake of the authors' inferred delirium over the groundbreaking plot idea, character development was left by the wayside. Had it been tended to, this would have been an entirely different book. If anything keeps this book off the Elite List, it is the characters.

The majority of the plot is spent showcasing and expanding upon end-times prophecies, Tim LaHaye's understood strength. This gives the authors room to create a lot of imperfection, which they did. Imperfection is, in fact, the point of the book. Many realistic events happen, mostly because the authors could not contradict the Bible. The one flaw of the plot is that all four main characters are Christians by the end of the book, but this is preferable than dragging it out over the series dramatically making a spectacle of salvation, as some have done.

All in all, Tim and Jerry's work that began in the '90s and has exploded up until now has been both under appreciated and over appreciated. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the series produces.

3 stars