quite good

Interesting story. Prophetic, political yarn about what could happen to our country if a subversive society that hated God or anyone that believes in Him, took over running the country

Oh, this book was awesomely terrible. I can't remember why I kept it on my shelf for so long.

Pros: 2 stars for (1) a creative imagining of government privacy violations and the eventual collapse of civil society and (2) the entertaining pace of the book.

Cons: (1) Offensive, simplistic and generalizable writing about my people (pro-choices, ACLU lovers, the LGBTQ community), (2) too many characters and little continuity, (3) the inherent assumption that humans cannot think for themselves, and (4) the author's basic argument that the faith of a televised Southern Baptist preacher is the only hope for a fractured economic and political system. I also could have done with fewer Holocaust references.

I'm still not sure if this was time well-spent with a terrible book or if I want my free time back.

What starts as a political thriller slowly starts to turn into a heavily biased book by halfway through. The bad guys are all minions of Satan (yes, actual Satan) and the good guys, regardless of how they started the book, end up Christian because miraculously they see the light. Even a staunch opposer becomes a preacher with his own television show. A lot of stuff rankles in retrospect, but it got so heavily biased towards Christian Faith is good and casting Democrats as Satanic Society-following evildoers that it distracted a lot in the final pages of the plot.

If it had kept out all the heavy faith leanings, it probably would've gotten 3.5 stars from me, but as is, it gets the two.

a riveting and engrossing read....it took me at the edge of my seat literally :)

It is interesting that in the author's acknowledgments he said that his sincere desire was to make "good, non-offensive fiction" available to the public, considering this novel is neither good nor non-offensive.

Let's start with the offensive part since that was the first thing I noticed. This book is fundamentalist, conservative, anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-ACLU Christian propaganda. I have no problem with Christian fiction and read quite a bit of it, but I do not take kindly to the ACLU, homosexuals, or pro-choice people being clearly aligned on the side of evil. Case in point - when the head of the "NCLU" (the fictional stand in for the ACLU) is promoted to attourney general, the pastor main character says something like, "now I REALLY know we are fighting against the side of evil." People protesting for gay rights are frequently described as trouble makers of various sorts, and their symbol is an upside down cross, as an anti-Christian symbol.

As for the writing and plot, there was a lot to be desired. I enjoy a good thriller, especially one of the conspiracy theory persuasion, which is why I picked up this book in the first place. This one was not good. The plot was set in the author's future and our past - written in 1991, takes place in 2001. However, there was a lot of historical information to fill in (from 1991 to 2001), so many of the events in the book took place in the past. Those parts were dry and disjointed. There are also so many characters. Instead of a few main characters or a small ensemble, there were far too many characters. They were always getting killed or carted off somewhere and it became very hard to keep track of them all. Sometimes they would pop back into the story, but sometimes they would pop back into the story 100's of pages later so I couldn't remember exactly who they were. The dialog was terrible. I had to laugh sometimes. And some lines were extremely cheesy - for example, "Randy left the cabin feeling like he had just received the Nobel Peace Price - only from the Lord."

By the last third or so of the book, I realized that it was just a big preachy bit of propaganda. Aside from the whole "gays are bad" aspect, it just got really preachy at the end. And this coming from a Christian! But I suppose since I support gay marriage and don't think abortion is necessarily murder, maybe the author thinks I need to still be saved. Ugh.

This was required reading in a current events/government class at my evangelical high school. *Scratches head

Interesting book

Utter drivel. Pure and simple.

This is the second time I've read this book. The first time was back in very early 2002, and I gave it 3 stars at the time. I found it fairly entertaining back then. This time, I came across it in an old box of my books, and it's the original printing (I guess it was, at a later time, subsequently updated). I enjoyed it much more this second time than the last time, and gave it 4 stars. Back in early 2002 when I read it, it seemed like really "out there" fiction. At this point, and after the way world events, and United States events have transpired, I find it a rather chilling, and perhaps prophetic look at the future, particularly in light of Biblical prophesy. It's a very good read, nonetheless.

I think this book is FANTASIC!!!! It's thrilling, fast paced, twist-full, and pretty good writing. The story behind it is very exciting an the length is well worth it!

Warning of why we never forget history as we see reoccrences in our nation today

This book written by Larry Burkett an author I often read for Christian advice on finances. I came across the book because of my following the author. Mr Burkett did an amazing story which correlates with what is happening in our nation today. Since Larry passed away in 2003 I truly felt God's Grace inspired the writing. To be totally honest this in no way is prophecy, but gives much for every Christian to think about.