A Mile Apart by Sarah Jae Foster

 MY REVIEW

The title really says it all. The two most unlikely characters are thrown together and fall in love. Of course he gets sick and she has to nurse him back to health. His little boy is thrown into the mix, and the boy tugs at her heartstrings.

This is a fairly well written novel, but the premise is really unbelievable. Why would a woman whose husband has died stay in a crude, rude place like a mining town? No reason is given. Also, it is clear the author did zero research about mining towns and how men treated women in the Old West. Men had respect even for prostitutes!
A good woman commanded even more respect. Those men would never have treated her like is depicted in this story. I started to lose interest after that.

The general rule that the first man the woman comes in contact with and has conflict with is the man she falls in love with is broken in this book. The reader is not told the male friend (and protector) is too old to be the love interest until much later in the book.

Because the characters are so well developed, the storyline falls apart about the middle of the book when you suddenly realize [spoiler alert...maybe] who she's falling for and who is falling for her. Makes no sense, because there are really no reasons given for falling in love that I could tell.

The story starts to get boring about 1/3 of the way into the book, so I might have missed the reasons given because I started to skip around a bit. In my experience in reading thousands of books (no exaggeration) when a book falls apart, it just doesn't get better as you go along.

You might like it. I did not because things didn't seem believable, and I get really tired when an author tries too hard to make two people fall in love for no reason.

ABOUT THE BOOK
She was guided by prayer…and a little boy

Eden Montgomery arrived in the lawless territory of Whistle Creek as a newlywed, but she quickly lost her husband to his mistress…gold, and the claim he called The Golden Angel. When a premature blast at the cave killed her husband, and took the life of her unborn baby, Eden closed the mine…for good. Now she runs the local supply store, and in her bitterness, looks down on the men who shirk familial responsibilities in pursuit of something as meaningless as gold.

Joseph Benton knows the crime, filth and disease of a mining camp is no place for a child. So when his young son Christopher suddenly arrives at his tent, he turns to Eden Montgomery to care for the boy. But the uppity and righteous Eden refuses. Joseph is shocked at what he thinks is her lack of maternal instinct. Now he’s torn between his need to strike gold…and his desire to be a father.

When a ruthless speculator encroaches on the camp, threatening Joseph and the other miners, Eden knows she must do the one thing she vowed never to do…for the one man she vowed never to love.

Creating characters

inShare2

Photo by Gina Burgess

Creating a truly good story is not only an art, it is a skilled art. There are certain skills in writing that do come naturally. Some people have a way with words that are incredibly interesting, while others have to work to get the same effect. However, character development is something that no one can just sit down and do unless they are a scholar of human nature.

Georgette Heyer was such a scholar. Her mastery of character development was so powerful you did not have to read a name to know who was talking in the dialogue. She had distinct personalities similar to Jane Austin's, although not quite as striking. For example, in The Black Moth the evil character Devil Andover is actually the same person as as Satanas the Duke of Avon in These Old Shades. Same characteristics, same mannerisms, same syntax of speech, the same man. What is so interesting about this character is that Devil in The Black Moth is the person you wish to die because he is so evil, while in These Old Shades you soon develop a great empathy for him and hope for his salvation.

Some good tips for character development come from The Creative Writer (Addison-Wesley, 1998).

1. Give physical details about the character within prose. Don't just list long, black hair, ruby red lips, curvaceous body, wearing sneakers and an evening dress. Do it creatively.
Her raven black hair shimmered under each street light as she ran up the street. Her lips looked dark red in the dim light, and were parted as she panted for air. The tail of her evening dress was tucked into her belt, showcasing each of her delicious curves. The slap of her sneakers echoed down the empty street, and was accompanied by screeching tires and manly shouts to stop. She ignored them all.

2. Describe the physical environment surrounding your character. (See #1). You get the feel that it is night, urban, and in a part of town that might be industrial because it is deserted, but lighted.

3. People the character associates with. (See #1). She's being chased by men who have at least one motor vehicle. You know they want something from her, or want her for something.

4. The things the character does. We don't know this from the first paragraph, but we know she's planned for this run because she's wearing sneakers with an evening dress. We know she is in shape or she would have planned a different kind of exit from wherever she was. She knew she'd be followed, she knows her enemy. She has a lot of growth to do. She didn't plan very well because she's running down an empty street. Is there safety up that street?

5. The things the character thinks and says. Keeping this consistent is not as hard as it seems. You can picture a person you know (in fact, I recommend this) and follow the same kind of syntax this person uses, same kind of whacky word (when I say Crikey, who do you think of?), same kind of mannerisms. Make your character as human as possible. Emphasize a frailty. But don't make your character a caricature (unless, of course, you are writing humorously). Especially, do not force your character to do something that is uncharacteristic unless you talk about it as uncharacteristic. Forcing characters into action that they ordinarily would not do is a classic story flow dam. I know one author who fills out a personality test on each character. Her characters breathe on the pages. They are vibrant and alive. You feel their fear and joy. It's powerful.

Creative tactics in writing -- story flow

I've been an editor for a long time, both in newspaper and various

other industries. I learned a lot about editing then and while earning my Master's, but most of what I have learned is through reading (fiction and non-fiction) since I was a little girl. Since I've been reviewing books, I've had to analyze what works and what doesn't work in a novel.

I've learned more about what not to do than what to do simply because when what I'm reading is working, all the tactics, intricacies, ploys, and tricks are never noticed. The story flow is so smooth and exciting nothing gets to the brain except the story.

Why do authors of today want readers to have any other kind of experience? Don't they want readers to remember what a great roller coaster ride they had when turning pages (or thumbing their Kindle, Nook, whatever)?

First, let's talk about story flow dams.

Flashbacks should be avoided like the plague, especially in the first page or even chapter of any work of fiction. If you must flashback in the first chapter, then you've started your novel or short story in the wrong place/time. Back up, regroup, and decide where is the best place/time to begin. You should always begin in such a way that the reader wonders "Why?" or "How?" so he or she will keep reading and turning those pages. When you answer that question then you want another one to pop up in its place so you've got a smooth Q&A for your reader. That is what keeps those pages flipping.

Empathy Poorly developed characters creates reader apathy for your fictional world. After the first few pages, your book is tossed to the floor or in the donation pile without being read. Of course, no more of your books will be purchased. You want to help your readers to develop a sense of empathy for your main character. That is if you want your readers to finish your novel and buy more of your books. Who wants to read about someone you couldn't care less about? Whether it is a villain or hero or heroine, creating that sense of caring what happens to a character is not hard to do when writing like it is real life. Make me want the villain to receive just desserts, and I'll read to the last page. Make me anticipate that first kiss, and I'll read to the last page just to reward that anticipation.

Head Jumping Like Randy Ingermanson, I do not like head jumping, which is switching the point of view from one character to another character within the same scene. This dams up the story flow because the reader first has to figure out why we're jumping from one character to another. There are so many ways this can go wrong. For instance, if the whole story is told from one character's (main character) point of view, then how can the main character know what is going on in another character's head? This creates a quandary on the reader's part because the story flow is suddenly not making any sense.

Review: While Love Stirs

While Love Stirs by Lorna Seilstad

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Truly unique premise about a young woman who studied nutrition. She's a bit misguided about what she really wants. It seems her real passion is to make sure people in hospitals have good nutrition, but she says out loud that she deeply desires to be a chef or to have her own restaurant.

Seilstad does a good job in developing the main character, and a fairly good job in developing the doctor although she uses a bit of a heavy hand there. On the other hand, men of that day had that same kind of mentality so maybe not so heavy a hand.

She sidetracks the entire story while she builds some back story for the 3rd Gregory sister. Why? The necessity of that is not clear at all. There are too many points of view here to tell this story well.

Head hopping from scene to scene gives the story flow a jerky feel. There are no, or very few transitions that would make the flow much more even. When hopping from one character to another there is no reason given to make the reader want to jump into the head of the next character. That gives the story a forced feeling.

I think Seilstad did her research well, and the historical part of the novel is good. I did not notice any out of place, modern slang or unduly modern motives of the character so the feel of the times comes through very well. Job well done on that score.

If she had stuck with one or two points of view, this novel would have received 4 stars from me. As it is, I rate it with 3 stars.



View all my reviews

Review: One Perfect Spring

One Perfect Spring by Irene Hannon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Novels are funny things because when I pick one up, I expect a story about someone growing, stretching, becoming better for all the experiences in the novel.

That happens in this story... er, stories for there are more than one. Love stories, living with cancer story, little girl with compassion story, burned in love story, depressingly tight on money story, and the list goes on and on.

Far too much happens in this one novel to get a real grip or really care deeply about any one character except the little girl.

Conflict is better than depressing circumstances for reader interest. I got so depressed reading about the terrible condition the house was in when the woman bought it I might add that I shut down my Kindle and turned the light out. I have zero desire to pick up this book again. Harping for 7 pages on the cosmetically bad shape the house is in detracts from a real reason to fall in love and get married.

The truly bright spot is the little girl, and for her I give the book 2 stars.



View all my reviews

Fair Play by Deeanne Gist

MY REVIEW
I have been an avid reader of Gist's books ever since her novel debut. She has always been teetering on the edge of edgy. This one topples over that edge. I have to say as well that Gist usually does her homework when it comes to research. This one, not so much.

I am by no means a prude. I realized more than two decades ago that steamy romance was erotica and just as much pornography as Playboy. When I get uncomfortable reading a romance novel, that raises all sorts of red flags for me. I took a lot of hard work to remove the foul language from my mind so I would not spew it out of my mouth, and it took a lot of hard work to shake myself of the steamy romance habit as well.

I love well-written Christian novels. I know that they can be better than most classics if authors and editors work hard at their craft. This one starts out definitely humorous, with really good references to actual events. It not only strikes true, but rings true. Then Gist falls apart. Using the guise of the female being a doctor, and the male being the patient with a bowel movement problem, this novel goes downhill from there.

I get enough garbage from TV commercials without having to read it in a Christian novel. This was the worst of Gist's efforts. Why go there? What was the purpose? The examination scene was written as nothing short of erotica. I balk at that. If Gist want's to write that kind of junk then she needs to move away from the Christian label.

The major problem most authors have is they think readers have no imagination. Why are we reading if we do not exercise our imagination to the fullest? I do not need an author to spell out that a female hand is on the abdomen of the male character and then have the male think something erotic even while he is in severe pain and has fainted in the elevator.

I read Christian books so that I can be assured of a clean imagination ride.

I give this book one star (I may be selling this one short just a bit, but going over the edge of edgy takes away that second star.)

ABOUT THE BOOK
From the bestselling author of It Happened at the Fair comes a historical love story about a lady doctor and a Texas Ranger who meet at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Saddled with a man’s name, the captivating Billy Jack Tate makes no apologies for taking on a man’s profession. As a doctor at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, she is one step closer to having her very own medical practice—until Hunter Scott asks her to give it all up to become his wife.

Hunter is one of the elite. A Texas Ranger and World’s Fair guard specifically chosen for his height, physique, character, and skill. Hailed as the toughest man west of any place east, he has no patience for big cities and women who think they belong anywhere but home…

Despite their difference of opinion on the role of women, Hunter and Billy find a growing attraction between them—until Hunter discovers an abandoned baby in the corner of a White City exhibit. He and Billy team up to make sure this foundling isn’t left in the slums of Chicago with only the flea-riddled, garbage-infested streets for a playground. As they fight for the underprivileged children in the Nineteenth Ward, an entire Playground Movement is birthed. But when the Fair comes to an end, one of them will have to give up their dream.

Will Billy exchange her doctor’s shingle for the domesticated role of a southern wife, or will Hunter abandon the wide open spaces of home for a life in the “gray city,” a woman who insists on being the wage earner, and a group of ragamuffins who need more than a playground for breathing space?

Review: How Sweet The Sound by Amy Sorrells

MY REVIEW
This is touted as a coming of age in the 1980s story. I remember that decade very well. I have lived in the South for my whole life. This must take place in a different South than I know. But then, the author is from Indiana, so we have to give her some leeway.

I found this book annoying for the most part. It is not even close to Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Of course, not every coming of ag story that takes place in the South can come close this this classic, at least some could come close. Why do authors think that if they study a region deep enough, they can write about it and truly get the heart of it? It just doesn't happen.

 The story is written from several points of view that make it difficult to follow the story flow. You hardly have a chance to get to know one character before you are yanked into the head of another character. When the ***spoiler alert*** shooting/killing takes place, you are not sure who shot who and who the two are who died. I quit reading after that because I was aggravated at having to go back several pages to understand which was the brother and who the other guy was, the father of the girl? The boyfriend?

This book had the potential to be a truly great modern classic. It fell sadly short in that respect.

 I just could not get past the head jumping. There were no transition except for the name of the character talking at the beginning of the chapter. When will editors AND authors finally get it that to do this kind of writing you MUST have good transitions? You MUST give the reader a desire to get into the head of the character that you jump to. It is imperative in order to maintain that level of trust between author and reader. I don't think it is entirely Sorrells' fault. The editor of this book shares the blame, and should have caught this at the beginning of the editing process. One place it was well done. When the little girl put the basket of goodies at the door of the bereaved aunt, you really wanted to know why the aunt had locked herself into the guest house. Grief is one thing, but removing yourself completely from all society of family is something different, almost troubling.

I have to give it 1 star. It just wasn't good enough to hold my interest.



ABOUT THE BOOK
Amy K. Sorrells writes about broken places...and the hope of healing. Her debut novel is a Southern coming-of-age tale set in Alabama in the summer of 1980 - where three generations of the well-to-do Harlan family must finally face their dark secrets.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Amy K. Sorrells writes words of hope for a hurting world. Winner of the 2012 Women of Faith Writing Contest, and two-time ACFW Genesis Award Semi-Finalist, Amy got her start in journalism writing for medical publications, and enjoyed a three year stint as a weekly op-ed columnist for her town newspaper. Her passion for healing is also reflected in her role as a registered nurse for a large hospital. When she's not writing or reading, she can be found bare-handed in garden dirt, or covered in paint while refurbishing antiques. A graduate of DePauw University, Amy lives with her husband, three sons, and a gaggle of golden retrievers in central Indiana.

Writing a powerful scene

You have seen several of Randy Ingermanson's newsletter articles on this blog. I have full permission to copy/paste them here, and I do so because he makes a whole lot of sense.

In the numerous books that I've read in my reading career since I learned to read, I see common mistakes that authors (and editors) make. My goal is to thwart those mistakes, and help you become a better writer if you so desire. One huge mistake I see all too often is the poor construction of scenes.


Randy talks about Dwight Swain’s book, Techniques of the Selling Writer.

image credit: centervillewebdesign.com

It makes so much sense, I wanted to share it here. This can be modified for non-fiction, but I'll get to that later. Here is what Ingermanson says:

Large-Scale Structure of a Scene

The large-scale structure of a scene is extremely simple. Actually, there are two possible choices you can make for your scene structure. Dwight Swain calls these two choices “scenes” and “sequels”. This is horrendously confusing, since both of these are what most ordinary people call scenes. In what follows, I’m going to capitalize these terms, calling them Scenes and Sequels. That is your signal that I’m using Swain’s language. When I use the word “scene” in the ordinary non-Swain sense, I’ll leave it uncapitalized. Since you are exceptionally brilliant and perceptive, you will not find this a problem. Let me give you the high points on Scenes and Sequels right up front.
A Scene has the following three-part pattern:

1. Goal
2. Conflict
3. Disaster

A Sequel has the following three-part pattern:

1. Reaction
2. Dilemma
3. Decision

You may think these patterns are too simple. You may think this is reducing writing to Paint-by-Numbers. Well, no. This is reducing fiction to the two patterns that have been proven by thousands of novelists to actually work. There are plenty of other patterns people use. They typically work less well. It may well be that there are other patterns that work better. If you can find one that works better, please tell me. But for now, let’s pretend that Dwight Swain is right. Let’s pretend these are absolutely the best possible patterns for writing fiction. Let’s pretend these are the keys to writing the perfect scene. Let’s move on and look at each of these in turn.
As we said, the Scene has the three parts Goal, Conflict, and Disaster. Each of these is supremely important. I am going to define each of these pieces and then explain why each is critical to the structure of the Scene. I assume that you have selected one character to be your Point Of View character. In what follows, I’ll refer to this character as your POV character. Your goal is to convincingly show your POV character experiencing the scene. You must do this so powerfully that your reader experiences the scene as if she were the POV character.

1. Goal: A Goal is what your POV character wants at the beginning of the Scene. The Goal must be specific and it must be clearly definable. The reason your POV character must have a Goal is that it makes your character proactive. Your character is not passively waiting for the universe to deal him Great Good. Your character is going after what he wants, just as your reader wishes he could do. It’s a simple fact that any character who wants something desperately is an interesting character. Even if he’s not nice, he’s interesting. And your reader will identify with him. That’s what you want as a writer.
2. Conflict: Conflict is the series of obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his Goal. You must have Conflict in your Scene! If your POV character reaches his Goal with no Conflict, then the reader is bored. Your reader wants to struggle! No victory has any value if it comes too easy. So make your POV character struggle and your reader will live out that struggle too.
3. Disaster: A Disaster is a failure to let your POV character reach his Goal. Don’t give him the Goal! Winning is boring! When a Scene ends in victory, your reader feels no reason to turn the page. If things are going well, your reader might as well go to bed. No! Make something awful happen. Hang your POV character off a cliff and your reader will turn the page to see what happens next.

That’s all! There is literally nothing more you need to know about Scenes. Now let’s look at Sequels . . .
The Sequel has the three parts Reaction, Dilemma, and Decision. Again, each of these is critical to a successful Sequel. Remove any of them and the Sequel fails to work. Let me add one important point here. The purpose of a Sequel is to follow after a Scene. A Scene ends on a Disaster, and you can’t immediately follow that up with a new Scene, which begins with a Goal. Why? Because when you’ve just been slugged with a serious setback, you can’t just rush out and try something new. You’ve got to recover. That’s basic psychology.

1. Reaction: A Reaction is the emotional follow-through to a Disaster. When something awful happens, you’re staggering for awhile, off-balance, out of kilter. You can’t help it. So show your POV character reacting viscerally to his Disaster. Show him hurting. Give your reader a chance to hurt with your characters. You may need to show some passage of time. This is not a time for action, it’s a time for re-action. A time to weep. But you can’t stagger around in pain forever. In real life, if people do that they lose their friends. In fiction, if you do it, you lose your readers. Eventually, your POV character needs to get a grip. To take stock. To look for options. And the problem is that there aren’t any . . .
2. Dilemma: A Dilemma is a situation with no good options. If your Disaster was a real Disaster, there aren’t any good choices. Your POV character must have a real dilemma. This gives your reader a chance to worry, which is good. Your reader must be wondering what can possibly happen next. Let your POV character work through the choices. Let him sort things out. Eventually, let him come to the least-bad option . . .
3. Decision: A Decision is the act of making a choice among several options. This is important, because it lets your POV character become proactive again. People who never make decisions are boring people. They wait around for somebody else to decide. And nobody wants to read about somebody like that. So make your character decide, and make it a good decision. Make it one your reader can respect. Make it risky, but make it have a chance of working. Do that, and your reader will have to turn the page, because now your POV character has a new Goal.

And now you’ve come full circle. You’ve gone from Scene to Sequel and back to the Goal for a new Scene. This is why the Scene-Sequel pattern is so powerful. Read more here.

If you think this is too hard or doesn't make sense, then open your Bible to your favorite Bible story and compare this to how the story unfolds in the Bible. It is the same. No kidding.

Later we'll analyze a story using these "rules". Hopefully, you'll be able to see how it all packs together.

Review: Shadow Hand

Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the first one in the series that I read. While I did not feel lost at the beginning of it, I began to feel like something was missing as I kept reading. I didn't know why the things that happened, happened. Without motivations, it is difficult to have empathy for any character. There was no clear villain or hero.

Character development must happen in previous books.

I think the book is very well written, and I'll certainly look for more by this author. But you really need to start from the beginning of the series because this is not a stand alone book. Too much happens before it to comfortably start here.

I received this book from the publisher at NetGalley for an honest review.



View all my reviews

Review: Caught in the Middle

Caught in the Middle by Regina Jennings

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Jennings has several novels under her belt. This is the first of hers I've read. I'd like to know why editors, publishers and authors think it is okay to put out historically incorrect novels?

If I may rant for a bit here. One reason I love the books better than the movies is because the books have, heretofore, been generally historically correct. Hollywood takes such liberties there is no reason to believe anything that comes out in movie form. They made Belle Starr a hero for crying out loud. There is no excuse, absolutely none for a novel to have inaccuracies these days. I spent hours and hours in the library researching my first novel about the Old South back in the 1980s. Nowadays one need only do an internet search. Why don't editors insist upon it? Powdered formula for babies was not introduced until 1915. This story takes place long before that, but after the railroad was finished. But let's set that aside for the moment.

The premise of this story is extremely good. Very much like the remake movie Bundle of Joy with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Single girl gets stuck with abandoned baby. While Bundle of Joy was a cute comedy, Caught in the Middle is not so much. For me, the premise does not match the writing/storyline. [shrug]

The question of what happened to Anne back east to make her hide as a buffalo hunter in the west drags out way to long to make me even care what happens to her. It's like playing "I've got a secret that is too secret to tell you right now. I'll tell you later, maybe." Why? Get on with the story already. But most importantly develop those characters to a fine point so they will interact with the reader not just with each other.

Flipping back and forth between two storylines makes for a piecemeal story with a jagged feeling. The different stories for Anne and Nick do not have transitions so moving from one to the other has a jerky stop-start feel, which is rather jolting.

Such a great premise that just didn't follow through. I have to give this one 2 stars.



View all my reviews

Review: A Cast of Stones

A Cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



There are some authors who can write gripping action/adventure, but cannot capture a real empathy for the main characters. And there there is Patrick Carr who goes far beyond great storytelling of action/adventure and fantasy into the realm of roller coaster emotional experience rarely offered to readers today.

Hooray! Finally, a single main character and the story is told in third person completely from the main character's point of view! No head hopping, no head jumping, no wondering how did he/she know that. Excellent storytelling and superb character development. The story actually goes somewhere with a satisfying ending even though there are more in this series to come. You do want more, but still the ending is satisfying.

Carr has mastered character development. He has done everything right in telling this story. He thanks Dave Long (editor) for helping him become a better writer. I've read several books edited by Dave, and I recognize the excellence of Dave's skill. However, an editor cannot make a bad story premise great, and cannot make a good writer better if the writer is unwilling to master the skills of writing. This is an excellent example of both author and editor in top form.

We first meet Errol Stone as a small, drunken lad who had the misfortune of being an orphan. He was taken in by a stone mason but that man was killed, and Errol couldn't face that horror so he drowned the memories. Ever mindful of a way to line up tankards of ale in front of him, he did odd jobs for the people of his tiny village. The people knew the cause of his problem so didn't think too ill of him. So when Errol offers to take a message to a hermit priest through the gorge, Cruk assures the messenger that the message will get to the priest. But, an assassin follows Errol shooting whining arrows at him. Thus begins Errol's epic journey to the Green Isle, the conclave, and King Rodran.

What I love so much about this novel, is that you can see Errol grow into a strapping young man, but his basic character is enhanced not transformed. The character development is along the same lines as Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. If this book series does not become a classic, it should. It could proudly sit beside Lord of the Rings or The Three Musketeers.

Cruk calls Errol "a good lad", and this is echoed by the healing woman, and others. Anyone who has lost a loved one, or who has experienced some life changing catastrophe, or who has lived through some kind of bullying will identify with Errol's lot and empathize with him rooting him on cheering his successes. There are acute disappointments as well, which makes the story's roller coaster so effective. I especially appreciate how Errol's wisdom grows.

Well worth the money, and a keeper. This is a worthy book for anyone's library. It is excellent for adults and young adults.



View all my reviews

Mark of Evil Review

MY Review
I give this book 3 stars because it is well-written and it is centrally based on scripture.

However, I just could not get into the book or care about what happens to the characters because I did not read the first two in the series. This is not stand alone!!!! You cannot just step into the series because so much has happened before, and I guess character development had already been set.

From reading previous reviews, I can tell this book begins after the rapture. So I can imagine reading from the beginning would be fascinating. Sorry I can't be of more help with this book.

About the book
Economies have fallen, freedom has been suppressed, and peace is a distant memory. The world is falling apart. Joshua Jordan’s protégé Ethan March, along with Jimmy Louder and Rivka Reuban have been left behind in a world that is rapidly coming under the complete influence of the Antichrist.
Technology is growing by leaps and bounds, with BID-Tag implants, robotic police units, and drone-bots flying overhead . . . all designed to control and dominate those who resist the Antichrist’s reign of evil. As Biblical prophecy is fulfilled each new day, Ethan and the others in the Remnant struggle to eat, to procure necessary goods, and to avoid the Global Alliance---in short, to survive.
But when the forces of evil attempt to pervert the world’s most powerful information system to their own sinister ends, eliminating everyone who gets in their way, it’s up to Ethan and the Remnant to subvert their dark ambitions. From New York Times best-selling author Tim LaHaye, creator and co-author of the world-renowned Left Behind books, and Craig Parshall, Mark of Evil is the final thrilling chapter in The End series.
With high-tech thrills against a background of prophetic events that seem to leap from today’s news, this is the story of global tribulations bringing the world one step closer to the reign of the Antichrist and the return of Jesus Christ in glory.