Left Behind

Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days by Tim LaHaye
My review
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I ran across a Snopes item the other day that I thought was extremely appropriate for this book review. The claim: Airlines will not pair Christian pilots and co-pilots out of fear that the Rapture will snatch away both crewmembers capable of landing the flight.
The claim is, of course, false. But if you think that is something that airlines might want to think about, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you’ll probably want to skip it. The word that kept coming to my mind while reading this was “awful.” The plot itself isn’t all that bad (although it’s fairly easy to pull Bible passages, plug in a fictional modern-day analogue, and drive a story). The writing was just really grating to me. The characters had the worst inner monologues I’ve read in a long time, and the authors seemed intent on making sure every tiny detail was spelled out. The poor writing was not helped by the fact that the series goes 12 books long (plus 3 prequels, and the Left Behind Kids Series), and the ending is not an ending at all. Really, just skip this one. I’ve heard good things about The Christ Clone Trilogy, so I may try that at some point in the future.
Next up is Lisey’s Story, by Stephen King.