Brink of Chaos

September 3, 2012
In fine Ironman-meets-the-Rapture style, LaHaye (Left Behind series) and Parshall add a third volume to The End series of political apocalyptic thrillers. Weapons specialist Joshua Jordan is narrowing down who he thinks may be the anti-Christ when the Rapture, the belief that faithful followers of Christ are snatched away to heaven before the end of the world, arrives, and he must prepare a protégé, Ethan March, his assistant and a former pilot, for the time of tribulation to come. Joshua’s wife, Abigail, defends him against false charges that led to his exile from the U.S. Joshua and other followers of Christ wage battle with divine intervention against the powers of darkness and convince people to join Christ’s side. Characters teach predictive prophecy as they hurtle through the fast-paced worldwide quest to save as many people as possible from doom. Quick pacing and a heart-pounding resolution lead to a dynamic scene of the afterlife and a cliffhanger for the next book. Fans of Left Behind ought to enjoy this new blending of a familiar (to some) premillennial doctrine with new characters and complex story line.

September 15, 2012
If you use Jesus as a character in a novel, do you have to pay him royalties? It's not spoiling the story--it's all right there in the latter pages of the New Testament--to reveal that in LaHaye and Parshall's (Thunder of Heaven, 2011, etc.) latest exercise in fundamentalist fiction, the brink of chaos of the title inaugurates a time when every good person on the planet can be found "worshipping and singing to the One who had ransomed them. Their Champion. Their Lord." There's no need to ask who the capitalized Person in question is. If you're one of LaHaye's legion of followers, then you won't need to ask who supersecret agent Joshua Jordan, he of the double Old Testament moniker, is either. Jordan's brief in this latest is to thwart the ambitions of the very, very bad secularists in power ("Let me tell you, those folks in power, including our president, really are bogeymen") and the even worse secularist who is rising to attain world rule: "His global regulations against climate change," the authors tell us, "have industries around the world being monitored by his environmental police." Of course, in the fun worldview of the apocalyptic set, there's no such thing as climate change, and anyone who hampers the desire of a corporation to do whatever it wants to is an agent of the Antichrist. When Jordan isn't chasing after this impeccably groomed baddie, he's jetting off to the Middle East to prep the world for the end of days. That's work that can make a person tired, and Jordan's wearisome banter is a mark. As with formula fiction since before the dawn of time, no one in these pages ever speaks like anyone in real life does. But why would they need to, when they're floating rapturously up into the clouds? A dictionary-definition specimen of preaching to the choir, and one that begs yet another question: Is it unkosher to be so ham-fisted?

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November 15, 2012

A hero pilot turned weapons designer, Joshua Jordan was banished to Israel after he was accused of treason. His attorney wife, Abigail, is working fervently to ensure he gets a fair trial. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to clean up after a nuclear attack by Russia. Most citizens believe the Rapture to be upon them. VERDICT Full of intrigue, the latest entry in the action-packed thriller series (after The Edge of Apocalypse and Thunder of Heaven) by LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" prophecy series, and Parshall ("Chambers of Justice" series) will appeal to fans of spiritual thrillers by T. Davis Bunn.

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