The Last Day

November 3, 1997
A millennial thriller that's as cranky as it is intense, Kleier's first novel grinds a sharp ax against organized religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, as it imagines the arising of a possible global messiah. Kleier narrates primarily through the viewpoint of a cable-TV reporter who witnesses many of the novel's bizarre events. On December 24, 1999, a meteor strikes a secret Israeli defense facility, freeing one of the site's experiments--Jeza, a beautiful woman who is an artificially gestated clone and whose unsurpassed intelligence may arise from computer chips implanted in her brain. Days later, Jeza performs a miracle in Bethlehem; shortly thereafter, she delivers her "New Beatitudes" ("Blessed are you who are tolerant, for you shall attain Unity") to a worldwide TV audience. Within months, the world teeters on the brink of anarchy, torn between pro- and anti-Jeza forces. The latter are spearheaded by the Vatican, for Jeza's apocalyptic message includes the dismantling of all churches. If Kleier's prose, particularly his dialogue, lacks subtlety, his melodramatic story will have readers racing through the narrative with its many plot twists--political, scientific and theological. A warm and fuzzy conclusion can't mask the novel's bombast and bad taste, however. Kleier's portrayal of the Vatican as a venal cabal and of the pope as a bumbler, his swipes at Protestantism and Islam, his use of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to endorse Jeza's sacred status, his employment of the maybe-messiah as a mouthpiece for politically correct religion (feminist, pro-choice, anticlerical)--all make this work as much an offensive rant as an entertaining read. 500,000 first printing; film rights to Columbia/TriStar; Time Warner audio; foreign rights sold in the U.K., the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

August 1, 1997
A combination of scientific thriller, religious satire, and New Age mysticism, this debut novel offers a view of what might happen as the end of the millennium approaches. At a remote research facility in the Negev Desert, a meteor wreaks massive destruction. Meanwhile, at midnight on New Year's Eve, 1999, in Jerusalem, a young and mysterious woman appears who seems to have a powerful gift. She calls herself Jeza, and soon everyone wonders whether she is a prophetess, the Messiah, or the Antichrist. On hand is Jon Feldman, a skeptical reporter for the World News Network. Beset by his own doubts and lack of strong faith, Feldman is nevertheless fascinated and attracted by the mysterious Jeza. Is she truly a manifestation of God, or is she simply the result of a bizarre experiment of bioengineering? Feldman won't rest until he finds out the truth. Kleier's novel offers a view of how organized religion would react to such a threat. Though the prose is pedestrian and the dialog often overwrought, the story is so well paced that most readers will perhaps forgive the other deficiencies. For large fiction collections.--Dean James, Murder by the Book, Houston, Tex.

Starred review from July 1, 1997
This book is so full of hot topics, readers might burn their fingers turning pages. It's the turn of the millennium, things are getting very hyper, and plenty of folk are flocking to the Holy Land just in case the world is going to end. Jon Feldman, a star reporter for WNN, a cable news outlet, is on the job, but he is not prepared for the story that begins on Christmas Day, when a powerful and beautiful young woman steps out of the Negev Desert and proclaims herself the new messiah. Her gospel includes an admonishment to abolish all organized religions--a position that causes the considerable power of the Catholic Church to be turned against her, beginning a series of events that just may lead to Armageddon. Kleier, a first-time author, doesn't miss a beat in this story, capturing all the craziness of the last decade of the twentieth century, firing it with the latest scientific advancements (like cloning), and wrapping it all with the gauze of mysticism. Complex plotting seems smooth as silk here, and the idea of using a CNN-style reporter as the messiah's confidant is a perfect touch for today's media-crazy world. The question of whether the enigmatic Jeza is the daughter of God or the anti-Christ engages everyone from the pope to the president, and it will keep readers enthralled until the very end. Expect to hear a lot about a new subgenre called the "millennial thriller" in the next couple of years, but don't expect to find one any better than this. ((Reviewed July 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)