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Left Behind (Left Behind #1)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 71,248 ratings · 2,114 reviews

An airborne Boeing 747 is headed to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun

Mass Market Paperback, 342 pages

Published September 1st 2000 by Tyndale House Publishers (first published December 30th 1989)

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Oct 12, 2008 Ancient rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: absolutely no one

Shelves: current-ish-fiction, f-this-crap

Left Behind is one of the most wretchedly awful books I have ever forced myself to read.

If possible, I would give this book zero stars. Only by sheer willpower and by listening to the audio book one short installment at a time was I able to get through this one. Whole essays/rants could be written on how much this book sucks, but I'll limit myself to just a couple observations.

The worst thing about LB isn't LaHaye's crazy religious beliefs, it's the fact that it's such a horribly written pi...more Left Behind is one of the most wretchedly awful books I have ever forced myself to read.

If possible, I would give this book zero stars. Only by sheer willpower and by listening to the audio book one short installment at a time was I able to get through this one. Whole essays/rants could be written on how much this book sucks, but I'll limit myself to just a couple observations.

The worst thing about LB isn't LaHaye's crazy religious beliefs, it's the fact that it's such a horribly written piece of garbage. The only other books I have read that have been written this poorly are L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series (which, interestingly enough, are also religious propaganda fiction written by an aging, fanatical religious leader in his declining years). C.S. Lewis was a popular Christian author who's ideas I disagree with often, but Lewis is infinitely more readable and infinitely more enjoyable than LaHaye and Jenkins regardless of whether you agree or disagree with him.

Apparently, the writing process for the LB books was as follows - LaHaye would write up a couple hundred page outline of notes and then submit the notes to his co-author Jenkins who would turn these notes into a story. Jenkins set a goal of writing 20 pages a day, which means that within less than one month's time he could crank out a whole book. A real writer worth his or her salt might spend years taking notes, writing, editing, rewriting, editing some more, re-re-writing, etc. It's not surprising then that LB reads like mass-produced crap, because that is exactly what it is - McFiction for the McMasses. No, scratch that. Stephen King used to joke about how his books were the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries (most of what he wrote was at least a hundred times superior to LB). LB is the four-day old, rotting McFiction that somebody salvaged from a dumpster.

A final comment on this travesty of the written word - there is an almost total absence of Christian virtue or compassion in LB. The Christian scriptures speak of the fruit of the spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. None of the "Christian" characters in this book embody these kind of virtues.

Christianity in LB is more like a form of Manichean dualism than a religion of faith, hope, or love. The so-called Christians in LB are grim survivalists resigned to a fatalistic worldview of kill-or-be-killed. Their only concerns seem to revolve around taking care of their own and signing up more recruits. It's no wonder that so much of what passes for Christianity in America consists of extremist, right-wing militia groups holed-up in their gated compound mall fortresses rather than genuine religious communities when books like this are what so many "Christians" imagine to be representative of their faith.(less)

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Jun 23, 2009 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: shabby

It has been a long time since I read Left Behind, but I have one interesting memory of reading it that remains clear and is, I think, worthy of discussion. I'll get to that memory in a second, but first I must digress.

I read this book for a student of mine. She was a very nice lady who came into my English classes worried for everyone's souls (and I say this with all honesty). Left Behind was her favourite novel (her favourite book was The Bible, obviously), and she asked me to read it just afte...more

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Jun 17, 2009 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Most people do now know that I have read 7 of the 13 Left Behind books (12 actually, but then they threw on that extra one, and this is not counting the prequels, the kids versions and the horrendous graphic novels: Armageddon can pay off nicely as long as it's delayed). I don't hide the fact, it just doesn't come up that often. I would have read all of them, but when I went through my Left Behind phase these were the only ones out. The phase lasted I think 2 weeks. The books read quickly.

Why?

O...more

32 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Jon added it

Recommended to Jon by: Brad Simkulet

Shelves: fiction, religion-spirituality, read-in-my-40s, apocalyptic, liked-it

3 stars

Even the Antichrist bowed before the pervasive malevolence of Amazon, but my review didn't get left behind. You can still read it at my blog here: http://bit.ly/17fX3Po

10 likes · like · see review

Apr 18, 2009 Nick Black rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: unlikely-to-acquire

My mother demanded I read this in my senior year of high school (I was no slouch reader or anything, I assure; this was indeed punishment for a handful of books the parents had found, and thrown away -- Henry Miller, The Story of O, Beyond Good and Evil, and for some incomprehensible reason Invisible Man, which all ought indicate the parents as not particularly illiterate people themselves (aside from the Ellison, their Index Librorum Prohibitorum at least evidenced a self-coherent ethos), and g...more

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Jan 01, 2008 Summer rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007, novels

I felt left out of the Bad Books Club because I completely failed to get past the first chapter of The DaVinci Code, so I read this to keep up. And boy, is this one horrible book! And there's at least 11 more of them! (N.B. - I will not be reading the rest of the series)

The writing is beyond terrible. In a story that presents so many interesting narrative possibilities - the grief of those "left behind" after The Rapture, the breakdown of society after a massive tragedy, the personal pain and so...more I felt left out of the Bad Books Club because I completely failed to get past the first chapter of The DaVinci Code, so I read this to keep up. And boy, is this one horrible book! And there's at least 11 more of them! (N.B. - I will not be reading the rest of the series)

The writing is beyond terrible. In a story that presents so many interesting narrative possibilities - the grief of those "left behind" after The Rapture, the breakdown of society after a massive tragedy, the personal pain and soul-searching of those who believed they had faith but who were found wanting - and ignores them all in favor of people sitting on beds and talking on phones. The authors say that there is violence and mayhem, but don't show any of it. The main characters' conversions to Christianity happen as almost an afterthought - there is little description of the feeling of God's love, of how they will change their lives and live by the teachings of Jesus. The book could have been about 300 pages shorter for all it has of any substance, or it could have remained the same length and added some actual plot or character development.

Oh my, the characters. Our Two Heroes are named Rayford Steele and Buck Williams. The current president is named Gerald Fitzhugh (totally not supposed to evoke John Fitzgerald Kennedy, I'm sure!). Williams's editor is named Steve Plank, and I presume that if this naming scheme keeps up, later volumes will include media mogul Robert Mudrock and sassy reporter June Heat-Register. There are two women in the book, and both of them are boy-crazy and even find the time to get makeovers in the middle of the horrors of the post-rapture world. They are also wholly without personality, but so are all the male characters. The Antichrist shoots his two closest business partners in order to command respect, and then uses his evil hypnosis skills to make everyone in the room forget about it. So what was the point? There's also a great throwaway line about how much Planned Parenthood loves its filthy abortion money, and how they're so sad they no longer have any babies to abort (no mention is made of reproductive health, etc.)

Theologically, this book is on shaky ground as well. There is the aforementioned avoidance of actually describing the process of converstion, and there is little Biblical evidence given for the Rapture itself (an event which many Christian sects do not believe in and see no textual evidence for). Questions are brought up (in the book!) about God's seemingly abusive role in forcing people to accept Jesus's sacrifice and love for humanity by secondhandedly killing scores of people in the aftermath of an event where drivers of cars disappeared suddenly. If the seven years of tribulation are supposed to give the unbelievers a second chance, how about all of those poor souls who died in accidents, or who were stricken with heart attacks? These questions are not answered in the slightest, and I was slightly thrown off by the book's refusal to capitalize "Him" when speaking of the divine. It's an ostensibly religious book without any real faith.

This could have been such an interesting story, but the writing is so utterly awful that the series stands as dangerously bad. It does nothing to address the mystery of faith and the horrors of the Apocalpse - it could be any third-rate spy thriller gathering dust on an airport bookshelf. And it's so damnedly popular! (less)

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Jan 19, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind (Tyndale, 1995)

So I figured after nine years, it was time for me to get around to reading the first book in the bestselling Christian fiction series in history, Left Behind. I had always avoided it, not because of the subject matter, but by and large books that break records tend to be writ large by those with the wit, talent, and grammatical skill of overly enthusiastic six-year-olds. Dame Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, S...more Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind (Tyndale, 1995)

So I figured after nine years, it was time for me to get around to reading the first book in the bestselling Christian fiction series in history, Left Behind. I had always avoided it, not because of the subject matter, but by and large books that break records tend to be writ large by those with the wit, talent, and grammatical skill of overly enthusiastic six-year-olds. Dame Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Sandra Brown, you get the idea. Why should Christian fiction be any different?, I wondered. But despite all that, I dove into it.

Expecting the worst may not have been enough. To call the book naïve would be, perhaps, too kind. It uses the conventions of satire without being in any way satiric, treats its readership like total idiots, has all the spelling and grammar mistakes one could possibly want from a mass-produced piece of claptrap, and various other things, all of which I will attempt to make sound as tactful as possible below. But the bottom line, for those who would rather stop reading now, is this: plot's not bad, but execution is some of the worst I have seen outside self-publishing. Ever.

Without getting into the theological aspects of the book, it is impossible to write a comprehensive review of Left Behind without at least glossing over some of the more interesting (and less Biblical) assertions made by the authors, the most notable being the Rapturing (for lack of a better term) of everyone under the age of puberty. Hmmmmm. Including the ones in juvenile detention for murder? Okay, we'll drop the point. After all, our society is based (wrongly) on the idea that people can't make up their minds until they reach the magic age of eighteen. At least LaHaye and Jenkins dropped the magic age to twelve, for which they must get grudging respect.

But little niggling theological concerns are perhaps less galling than LaHaye and Jenkins' complete and utter inability to ascribe a mote of intelligence to any of their characters, and by inference any of their audience. Not being a Christian and a regular attendee at church, I can't say for certain what the average joe learns about the end times. But even without regular church attendance for the last number of years, I remember enough of the Revelation of St. John from Bible study back in the day to have seen all the major twists coming at least a hundred pages before they actually do. And yet his characters, including the wife and daughter of a fundamentalist, are completely oblivious. Writing a book like this as a mystery/thriller, it seems, was not the way to go. Or if it were, perhaps adding a couple of extras who might have looked like they, too, could be the Antichrist might have helped with the suspense angle. (They do attempt a move exactly like this, but way too late and way too ineffectively.)

(review too long; read it in full at Amazon, review date June 7, 2004)(less)

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Oct 16, 2007 Matt Mazenauer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought at first that I wouldn't be who this book was aimed at, but instead, I found the opposite. Since all the devout Christians have been taken by the Rapture, the protagonists are a mix of atheists, agnostics, Christmas Christians, even seemingly devout Christians who could have been truer. This means that no matter where you fall on the devout scale you have someone to follow through the tribulations fo teh Rapture. There's fun semi apocalyptic planes falling from sky disaster movie after...more

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Jul 06, 2008 Allen rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: nobody with a functioning neuron

Shelves: religion

I usually have students fill out a card at the start of the semester with information like their major, where they went to high school, etc. One thing I always ask is what book they read most recently. The Left Behind series started showing up on those cards a lot a few years ago, so I decided to read the first one to see what they were like.

This is absolutely the worst-written book that I've ever picked up. The dialogue is painful, the characters are wooden, the descriptions are hackneyed. In...more

26 likes · like · see review

Sep 18, 2007 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianfiction, lost-lit, fiction

i read this entire series.....almost non stop...
they came out with a prequel series, but i figured how many times can you beat a dead horse....

This series was really really good.
I didnt know how i was going to like it, not being a practicing catholic and all, but even if it doesnt keep to scripture 100%, it gives you enough of an eye-opener....

I remember thinking, wow. If this really happened, i would be one of the ones suffering through all this. And what would it take for me turn and accept...more

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Aug 29, 2007 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: series, novels

The concept is great: what would the Biblical end times prophecies really look like if they happened today? How could the ancient words of Isaiah and Revelation actually play out in today's world? What if the rapture occurred right now?!!

While some elements are admittedly intriguing (the anti-Christ's rise to power, the underground believers' economy, the covert operations) one frustration for me is the characters' glaring lack of depth. With maybe a few exceptions, these are flat, unrealistic s...more

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Aug 16, 2007 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read the whole series but I can't remember which book was which at this point. So I'm rating the series overall as a 4.

The story begins the day after the rapture. Everyone who was "left behind" has to figure out what happened. Was it aliens or a terrorist attack? The story unfolds over the books and you get to watch people come to terms with the reality of the situation. You get to see the rise of the antichrist and how so may people don't understnad what's really going on.

The series as a who...more

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Sep 13, 2008 Kelly Maybedog Hawkins rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: what-sf, what-religion

I gave it a go, I really really did. The series is so popular and my ex really enjoys the books (ok, they're the only books he ever read, so maybe that should have told me something) so I thought I'd be open-minded and try it. After all, I did like the movie The Rapture and I love religious science fiction.

This, however, is thinly disguised right-wing propaganda. I can respect people who think differently than I do as long as they respect me back. This book does no such thing. They manage to twi...more

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Apr 30, 2008 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-fiction

I'll use this one review for all the books of this series I've read (just to save time)and that's inclusive of 1-10. I truly enjoyed them, some a little more than others, but that's probably more of a reaction to my over indulgence than anything on the authors part (I was averaging three or four a week around school, yeah too much, kind of like a kid having too much candy and getting ill) These books are creative, action packed, display the gospel credibly and made me care about the characters....more

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Nov 01, 2007 Terence rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of my managers at work actually reccomended this book to me after I told I had read 'The Road'. I have to admit that I was skeptical going into this book only because I knew some of the background due to publicity surrounding the movies. I didn't feel much like reading a bunch of quoted Bible scripture - but I was happy to discover that there wasn't much of that in the book.

The story focuses primarily around a core group of characters all tied together following a mysterious worldwide disapp...more

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 09, 2007 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Christian fans/anyone interested in biblical prophecy

Shelves: spiritual, mystery

I read this book in college but never got around to reading the rest of the series past book three. Re-visiting it, I found that I looked at certain things alot different than I had previously. More of it actually made sense this time around.

After the strange disappearance of thousands of people across the world, those left behind try to make sense of the phenomena through theories of religion, aliens, and government conspiracies. After remembering his wife talking about the Rapture, a pilot fi...more

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May 24, 2007 NumberLord rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this book (and the rest of the series) back before it hit any best-seller lists. I've always been a fan of apocalyptic literature (Salem Kirban anyone?), so this interested me right away.

The series is decent. It's easy reading, with a good mixture of adventure and drama. I give the authors extra points for some of the extra-scriptural additions (the cross markings on the foreheads of the believers--nice touch). But I have to deduct a few dozen points for their portrayal of the Anti-Christ...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Trent rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think whether or not you enjoy this book depends on what you consider a "good" book. If you think all good books are well written, then this is probably isn't for you. If you think good books have to be 100% accurate, then this book probably isn't for you. However, if, like me much of the time, you think good fiction books should make you WANT to keep reading (even to the point of staying up late), then you may enjoy this book.

I remember when this book came out and it sounded interesting. I f...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Mykle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: feeding-to-a-giant-squid

I'm not going to finish this. I thought it would be good research, but it moves so painfully slow, and not a page passes without either a really hackneyed sentence or a totally implausible geopolitical plot twist.

(For example: Russia, at the outset of the story, attacks Israel, attempting to carpet-bomb them back to pre-biblical times. Why would Russia's leaders do such a thing? In order to steal Israel's fertilizer, of course! Even more implausible: Russia is unable to undertake such a balls-o...more

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Mark Russell Part of me is afraid to ask...
Mar 19, 2009 12:21pm

Erika kirk cameron has made them into movies
Mar 30, 2009 09:58pm

Mark Russell "(For example: Russia, at the outset of the story, attacks Israel, attempting to carpet-bomb them back to pre-biblical times. Why would Russia's leade...more "(For example: Russia, at the outset of the story, attacks Israel, attempting to carpet-bomb them back to pre-biblical times. Why would Russia's leaders do such a thing? In order to steal Israel's fertilizer, of course! Even more implausible: Russia is unable to undertake such a balls-out attack without the crucial assistance of their regional ally Ethiopia ...)"

Unfortunately for LaHaye and other fundamentalists prone to such questionable prognostications, their understanding of geopolitical relations is held hostage by their interpretation of biblical prophecy.

The Book of Revelation supposedly foretells an invasion of Israel by "Gog" and "Magog," which many biblical scholars interpret as modern day Russia and Turkey. I'm not sure from whence LaHaye gets Ethiopia, but suffice it to say that neither an invasion from Ethiopia or Turkey (or Russia, for that matter) is even remotely possible.

Aside from the fact that none of those nations neither shares a border with Israel nor has any incentive for such a misadventure, Turkey is a NATO member, Ethiopia can barely secure its own borders and Russia would have to plow through no less than three sovereign nations in order to get to Israel, or perhaps even more ill-advisedly, attempt an amphibious invasion through the Mediterranean, access to which is controlled by the navies of NATO nations who would probably frown upon a Russian invasion force sailing through their waters.

I think an even better idea for an apocalyptic novel would be for a President of the United States, who takes such prophecies seriously, to start World War III in hopes of forestalling such events. Then, after the consequent destruction of the Earth, said President ends up in Heaven where he has a chance encounter with John of Patmos, the author of the Book of Revelation. During the course of the conversation, John reveals that, far from intending it as a book of prophecy, he wrote Revelation entirely as a poetic metaphor for the hardships of 1st century Christians.(less)
Mar 31, 2009 02:18pm

Sep 13, 2007 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: believers and non-believers alike

if you grew up in church like i did, this first book of the series will terrify you. the rest will keep you spell bound.

i would recommend these books to anyone though, they are fantastic and very well written.

they reference scripture a lot and i like to book mark those places and go back and read the scripture later. its amazing.

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Jun 07, 2007 A Rye rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: fiction, crap

This...should not be considered literature....
This...is eschatological pornography...

The narrative and dialogue within this series is simply pedestrian.

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Apr 18, 2009 Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Satirical Critique

Recommended to Joshua Nomen-Mutatio by: Jesus, my mom

Shelves: fiction, from-ages-past, religion

I'd totally forgot that my mom actually paid me 50 dollars to read this book when I was about 11 or 12. Yeah, she's pretty religious. She wanted me to read the second and third books of the series as well. I think I may have lied about reading the second one in order to get another payment. The memory's a bit fuzzy on this. The whole thing is actually kind of unsettling the more I think about it. It's a bit of a drag having parents that really believe in Jesus and heaven and hell.

Oh, and obvious...more

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Sep 30, 2008 Rachel L rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: christians and people curious about the bible

Recommended to Rachel by: my mom

Left Behind is a book based biblically on the interpretation of what the end times could be like. It begins with the calling of all the Christians to join Christ in Heaven. All of the people that are "Left Behind" have to go through the tribulation. Buck Williams experiences what happend when he is flying on an airplane and people disappear only leaving their clothes. The pilot is also a main character who has to try and calm people down when their loved ones have simply disappeared off an airpl...more

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Jul 04, 2008 Jason rated it 1 of 5 stars

It would be unfortunate enough were the prose this book's lone problem. But as knuckle-headedly indelicate (Jenkins describing Carpathia as "not unlike a young Robert Redford" on 114 and later Jenkins's character describing Carpathia as "a young Robert Redford" on 232) and heavy-handed ("you might be asking Carpathia to turn against his own angels" on 231) and weirdly unfunny when attempting to be funny (the entire flirtatious cookie exchange between Buck and Chloe: 365-367 and 372-375) and crin...more It would be unfortunate enough were the prose this book's lone problem. But as knuckle-headedly indelicate (Jenkins describing Carpathia as "not unlike a young Robert Redford" on 114 and later Jenkins's character describing Carpathia as "a young Robert Redford" on 232) and heavy-handed ("you might be asking Carpathia to turn against his own angels" on 231) and weirdly unfunny when attempting to be funny (the entire flirtatious cookie exchange between Buck and Chloe: 365-367 and 372-375) and cringingly pedestrian ("He knew Hattie was not a bad person. In fact, she was nice and friendly" on 89) as the prose is, the book suffers most, perhaps, from its shameless pushing of agendas amidst token attempts to convince the reader that pushing agendas couldn't be further from its intent. At one point in the novel, we learn that Buck had always thought "born-again" to be synonymic with "ultraright-winger" - Jenkins seems to be telling us, in this instance, that such isn't the case, that the two are distinct ideological phenomena or positions. And yet, earlier in the novel, Jenkins forces a disgusting critique of the pro-choice perspective into the narrative, suggesting that doctors and counselors who work in abortion clinics cannot but long for women to decide to abort their babies. The novel is explicit that we needn't subscribe to ultra-conservative ideology in order to be Christians even as it implies that ultra-conservative ideology and Christianity are inextricable bedfellows. (Another example of the novel containing this contradiction can be seen in its sympathy with "stand[ing] up [...] to bigotry" on 429 alongside its subtle bigoted dig at homosexuals on 103: "[Rayford Jr] wasn't effeminate, but Rayford had worried that he might be a mama's boy...")

It's just a thudding collapse devoid of imagination, this novel. The characters are cardboard cut-outs. There are flashes of bizarre homoerotic subtext, from the naming of characters (Buck, Rayford Steele, Dirk, Steve Plank) to double entendric prose (e.g. "to stoop to something as tawdry as paying for sex. Had Irene known how hard he was..." on 144, "and the milk making him long for his boy. This was going to be hard, so hard" on 101, "Dirk and Buck had become closer than ever, and it wasn't unusual for Buck to visit London on short notice. If Dirk had a serious lead, Buck packed and went. His trips had often turned into excursions into countries and climates that surprised him, thus he had packed the emergency gear" on 86-87). In the end, the story is little more than a stencil clumsily cut to fit a rigid (and therefore uninspired) reading of Revelation.

I'll be taking breaks between books for the duration of the series, lest I develop a need for antidepressants, or a vomit bag (thanks to gooeyness of the burgeoning relationship between Buck and Chloe). (I'm reading them in research.) There must be better fiction than this coming out of the Christian publishing houses?

*page numbers in this review are from the hardcover edition... (less)

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Feb 20, 2008 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kate by: Reading Interests of Young Adults required

Shelves: 2008, age-adult, thriller

My major problem with this novel has nothing to do with the preachiness of it. It actually was somewhat convincing in that way. I find that stories involving the Book of Revelations or the Apocalypse are very interesting (for example, "The Omen" movies, The Stand by Stephen King). I like the idea of a clear cut battle between good and evil.

No, my major problem with this book is that it begins with exactly the same scenario as Stephen King's novella turned TV miniseries, "The Langoliers." You're...more My major problem with this novel has nothing to do with the preachiness of it. It actually was somewhat convincing in that way. I find that stories involving the Book of Revelations or the Apocalypse are very interesting (for example, "The Omen" movies, The Stand by Stephen King). I like the idea of a clear cut battle between good and evil.

No, my major problem with this book is that it begins with exactly the same scenario as Stephen King's novella turned TV miniseries, "The Langoliers." You're on a plane, you wake up to realize that people all around you have disappeared, leaving behind their clothes and jewelery and even things that were inside of them such as pacemakers. What happened to them? In King's story, the plane had traveled through some kind of time warp and the surviving passengers, who had all been asleep, were transported back a few minutes in time. Considering that this novella was published years before Left Behind, and the miniseries aired around the same time this book was published, it really makes me wonder if the authors of this book heard this idea, then said, "But what if it was the Rapture?"

I had to read this book for a class in Young Adult Literature. The timing was somewhat poor, because recently I've been dealing with some full-blown religious people who didn't understand my idea for an anti-Valentine's Day teen program at the library called "Voodoo Valentines." I hadn't been planning on teaching the kids anything about voodoo, it was just a way to say that we were going to decorate goth-looking dolls, and calling them "voodoo" would make them appeal a bit more to boys. Yes, people actually thought I was going to teach kids how to make voodoo dolls so they could get revenge on ex-boyfriends or something. Anyway, I thought the book was okay despite a kind of preachy subject. It almost made me want to read the Bible. Almost. I've read parts of it before, especially the Book of Revelations (after watching "The Omen"). But this book really wasn't for me. The writing was just okay, it was more the plot that kept me going. The characters were pretty flat. (less)

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Nov 14, 2007 Brian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Jun 18, 2007 Mont'ster rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, got-it

First thing (this is very important) This book is a novel. LaHaye has very premillenial viewpoints in all of his writing and he doesn't apologize for that. Read this book for what it is - entertainment, not an eschatology textbook. LaHaye has written many books explaining his views on the end times - if you want the "why" on this subject, almost anything by Tim LaHaye will do; here he is just having fun.
This is a fast paced novel so if you read this book expecting a lesson in eschatology, you w...more

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Nov 02, 2010 zzzz rated it 2 of 5 stars

I happen to be an atheist and all, but I kind of liked this book. All the Jesus-y, preachy crap made me want to lecture the authors, but it was really amusing otherwise. The characters are all flat and lifeless, and the only one of them I liked was Nicolae Carpathia, because someone had to be the Antichrist, and it turned out to be him; so I felt genuine pity for him and hoped that when Jesus comes down to set up his millennium-long empire(why not forever?), he forgives Carpathia. But that would...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Julie rated it 1 of 5 stars

some of the worst books, ever, god bless them!

i derive a sort of masochistic pleasure in reading them. i actually didn't read them, i listened to them. i couldn't actually spend that time simply reading....i was reading and doing yardwork, or knitting, or something productive.

these books suck! oh god, do they suck.
they had potential for excellent apocalyptic death, disaster and destruction...but they were too heavy on the finding-jesus part, and too light on the destruction part. stephen king s...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Lavonne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow. This book and this series really takes biblical prophecy and puts it in a very real life form. It has made me really see life differently. It is a cliffhanger and I had to continue to see what happens to my favorite characters.

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The Left Behind series: Yay or Nay?	26	80	May 09, 2013 09:31am
its funny how they call this christian fiction...	1070	857	Apr 13, 2013 05:37pm
E-book Free of Left Behind	23	79	Apr 13, 2013 05:18am
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A Broad Discussion on the Series. . .	6	58	Jul 14, 2012 09:36am
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About Tim LaHaye

Timothy F. LaHaye is an American conservative evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker. He is best-known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins. He has written over fifty books, both fiction and non-fiction.

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