The Left Behind Complete Set, Series 1-12

by Tim LaHaye

He knew from experience that many of them understood no Hebrew. They were understanding the witnesses in their own tongues, just as he was.

Do deaf people see the witnesses signing? What are the limitations of universal translation a la God?

Soon only Buck stood where he had stood for the last several minutes.

Surely you could have cut this sentence in half

There was room on the seat next to Hattie, but Rayford chose to sit across from her. She had honored his request not to dress up, but even casually attired, she looked lovely. He decided not to say so.

Televisions throughout the Bistro carried the continuing news of war around the world. Hattie signaled for the maître d’, who came running. “I doubt the potentate would appreciate this news depressing patrons who came in here for a little relaxation.” “I’m afraid it’s on every station, ma’am.” “There’s not even a music station of some kind?” “I’ll check.” Within moments, all the television sets in the Global Bistro showed music videos. Several applauded this, but Rayford sensed Hattie barely noticed.

Hattie, you just became my hero

In the past, when they were playing around the edges of an affair of the mind, Rayford had to remind Hattie to order and then encourage her to eat.

First Amanda, now Hattie with this strange eating quirk.

Hattie was wearing her ostentatious engagement ring; however, the diamond was turned in toward her palm so only the band was visible. Hattie was clearly not a happy woman, and Rayford wondered if this all stemmed from her getting the cold shoulder from Nicolae at the airport.

What is this? Character development for Hattie? Dare I get my hopes up?

Though the Global Bistro had a French-sounding name, Hattie herself had helped conceive it, and the menu carried international cuisine, mostly American. She ordered an unusually large meal. Rayford had just a sandwich. Hattie small-talked until she had finished her food, including dessert. Rayford knew all the clichés, such as that she was now eating for two, but he believed she was eating out of nervousness and in an attempt to put off what she really wanted to talk about.

“That’s good, because as you know, I am again happily married.” “I envy you, Rayford.”

Don't envy Rayford! He's been very explicit about that one thing.

the waiter said. “I doubt anyone will be giving you the bum’s rush.” He smiled at Rayford, seeming to appreciate his own humor. Rayford forced a smile.

I think this was supposed to be a joke, but with LaHaye, it's hard to tell

When the waiter was gone, Hattie seemed to feel the freedom to continue.

Just say that she continued!

“That’s fair. But you have to admit there had been no commitment or even an expression of a commitment.” “There had been plenty of signals, Rayford.” “I have to acknowledge that. Still, it’s unfair to say I dumped you.” “Call it whatever you want so you can deal with it, but I felt dumped, OK?

I'm on Team Hattie here

“Forgive me, Hattie, but this is old news.”

I agree with Rayford, but this is the most character work we've seen from Hattie, so Rayford needs to shut up and let her talk.

When he began to show interest, I thought it was merely physical. And, I admit, I would have probably slept with him in a minute and not regretted it. We had an affair, and I fell in love, but as God is my witness—oh, Rayford, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t use those kind of references around you—I never expected him to be truly interested in me. I knew the whole thing was temporary, and I was determined to just enjoy it while it lasted.

He’s still charming and smooth and dynamic and powerful and the most incredible person I’ve ever met. But I mean exactly to him what I always feared I did. You know the man usually works at least eighteen hours a day and sometimes twenty? I mean nothing to him, and I know it.

Hattie has transcended and become the most self-aware character in this series. I am baffled, and 90% sure it was all accidental.

He didn’t give me a ring until after I was pregnant, and he still hasn’t asked me if I would marry him. I guess that’s supposed to be understood.” “By accepting his ring, did you not imply that you would marry him?” “Oh, Rayford, it wasn’t nearly that romantic. He merely asked me to close my eyes and stick out my hand. Then he put the ring on my finger. I didn’t know what to say. He just smiled.”

This is a great, succinct way to demonstrate Carpathia's view of Hattie as an object. I am beyond shocked that Hattie, of all characters, is getting the best-written moments in the book so far.

Hattie seemed tired. She continued. “To tell you the truth, all that stuff is a lot like what flying was to me. You quickly get tired of the routine. I was drunk with the power and the glitter and the glamour of it for a while, sure. But it’s not who I am. I know no one here. People treat me with deference and respect only because of who I live with. But they don’t really know him either. Neither do I. I’d rather he be mad at me than ignore me. I asked him the other day if I could go back to the States for a while and visit my friends and family. He was irritated. He said I didn’t even have to ask. He said, ‘Just let me know and go ahead and arrange it. I’ve got more to do than worry about your little schedule.’ I’m just a piece of furniture to him, Rayford.”

“So when you saw him at the airstrip . . . ?” “I was testing him. I won’t deny it. I wasn’t as eager to see him as I let on, but I was giving him one more chance. Wasn’t it obvious I spoiled his big appearance?”

“You mean you’re out?” “No. He still wants me around. Still wants me to bear his child. He just thinks the job has passed me by. I told him, ‘Nicolae, that job passed me by the day before I took it. I’ve never been cut out to be a secretary. I was OK with the public relations and the people contacts, but making me your personal assistant was a mistake.’”

“I always thought you looked the part.”

No you didn't! You and Chloe and Buck just made snide comments about how she didn't get the job based on her brains.

Buck woke with a start. He had been dreaming. It was dark. He turned on a small lamp and squinted at his watch. He still had several hours before his appointment with Moishe and Eli at midnight. But what had that dream been all about? Buck had dreamed that he was Joseph, Mary’s husband. He had heard an angel of the Lord saying, “Arise, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word.”

This is gonna get stupid, isn't it...

Buck was confused. He had never been communicated to in a dream, by God or anyone else.

Who else is on the table???

“Let me tell you something, Hattie. You need to know that Buck and Chloe and I all care very deeply about you.”

*rolls eyes*

Rayford winced and rubbed his forehead. Why did he expect Hattie to live like a believer when she was not? It wasn’t fair to assume she agreed with him on these issues.

“Chloe and Buck and I still consider you our friend. And I believe Amanda could become your friend if she got to know you.” Hattie snorted. “I have a feeling that the more Amanda got to know me, the less she’d like me.” “That just proves you don’t know her,” Rayford said. “She’s the type who doesn’t even have to like you to love you, if you know what I mean.”

We, the readers, don't even know Amanda yet

My dad once told me that, when I was a rebellious teenager. He said, ‘Hattie, it’s a good thing I love you so much, because I don’t like you at all.’

Hattie said. “Don’t forget, my mother’s the one that gave me this crazy name that belongs to someone two generations older than me.”

Again with Tim throwing shade at the names *he* gave these characters

“Hattie, several airports are still taking incoming flights.

I find it really interesting the degree to which infrastructure breaks down during WWIII, from the perspective of a pre-9/11 book. Like, NYC, Washington DC, and Chicago have been decimated, but there are still commercial airlines operating. Can't call this a nitpick, because of when it was written; just interesting.

Anyway, the potentate—” “Oh, please, Rayford, don’t call him that.” “Does that sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me?” “It always has. For such a brilliant, powerful man, that stupid title makes him sound like a buffoon.”

Hey, we agree!

From what I understand, there’s room in the big house of a woman from our church. You could stay with us.”

“You go ahead and check with your wife, Rayford. If I have to sit by myself, I’ll understand. Who knows? Maybe we can sit across the aisle from each other.” Rayford smiled tolerantly. He hoped for at least that.

"Rayford smiled tolerantly" is one of the worst things I've read in a book.

Buck followed a strong urge to take his bag when he left the King David that night. In it was his small dictation machine, his sub-notebook computer (which would soon be replaced by the mother of all computers), his camera, that great phone, his toiletries, and two changes of clothing.

This list had better be important later

The newly rebuilt temple was illuminated magnificently and looked like something in a three-dimensional picture show. It seemed to hover on the horizon.

This a 90s thing?

They weren’t going to rouse the two, the way they might do to animals at the zoo for sport. These were more than animals. These were dangerous beings who had been known to toast people who trifled with them.

“Buck! It’s Chloe! It’s about midnight there, right?” “Right, Chloe, but right now I’m—” “Buck, were you sleeping?” “No, I’m up and I’m—” “Buck, just tell me you’re not at the King David.” “Well, I’m staying there, but—” “But you’re not there right now, right?” “No, I’m at—” “Honey, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I just have this feeling that you should not be in that hotel tonight. In fact, I just have a premonition that you shouldn’t be in Jerusalem overnight. I don’t know about tomorrow, and I don’t know about premonitions and all that, but the feeling is so strong—” “Chloe, I’m gonna need to call you back, OK?”

“Chloe, I won’t stay at the King David tonight, and I won’t stay in Jerusalem overnight, OK?” “That makes me feel better, Buck, but I’d still like to talk—” “I’ll call you back, hon, OK?”

He had been around the two witnesses enough to know that they were never too far from the miraculous. He just wished they didn’t have to be so cryptic.

You know, Buck, I don’t say this often, but I agree with you.

Not long later he was dickering with a boatman named Michael, who refused to give a last name.

I think I could take just about any interaction Buck has with another male character and I’d be able to find a sentence that makes Buck sound very gay

The weapon rattled as Michael lay it on the deck and reached to embrace Buck. He squeezed him with a huge bear hug and was laughing and weeping.

“Moishe and Eli.” “They are my mentors,” Michael said. “I am one who became a believer under their preaching and that of Tsion.” “And have you murdered others looking for Dr. Ben-Judah?” “I do not consider it murder. Their bodies will be buoyed up and burned by the salt when they reach the Dead Sea. Better their bodies than his.”

“An escape plan has been in place since the first time Dr. Ben-Judah spoke at Kollek Stadium. For many months we thought the guarding of his family was unnecessary. It was him the zealots wanted. At the first sign of a threat or an attack, we sent to Tsion’s office a car so small it appeared only the driver could fit in it. Tsion lay on the floor of the backseat, curled into a ball and covered with a blanket. He was raced to this very boat, and I took him upriver.”

Good thing we got the logistics on that escape plan

Buck nearly buckled.

“Is there an airport anywhere near that can handle a Learjet?” “There is a strip west of Jericho near Al Birah.” “That’s back downriver, right?” “Yes, which is an easier trip, of course. But you know that is the airport that serves Jerusalem. Most flights in and out of Israel start or end at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, but there is also a lot of air traffic near Jerusalem.” “The rabbi has to be one of the most recognizable people in Israel,” Buck said. “How in the world will I get him through customs?” Michael smiled in the darkness. “How else? Supernaturally.”

And we got the post-escape-plan escape plan logistics figured out too

He dreaded seeing Dr. Ben-Judah. He wanted to be reunited with his friend and brother in Christ, but what does one say to one who has lost his family? No platitudes, no words would make it better. The man had paid one of the steepest prices anyone could pay, and nothing short of heaven could make it better.

Buck was struck that there were no real beds and no pillows in the hideout. So this is what the witnesses meant when they quoted that verse about having nowhere to lay his head, Buck thought.

Wow, what a stretch

gaunt and desperate-looking young men,

Buck squinted, looking for Tsion. He could hear him, but he could not see him. Finally, a dim, electric lantern was illuminated. There, sitting in the corner, his back to the wall, was one of the first and surely the most famous of what would become the 144,000 witnesses prophesied of in the Bible.

Tsion gets revealed like a wife catching her husband sneaking back into the house

How young Tsion appeared! Buck knew him to be a youthful middle age anyway, but sitting there rocking and crying he appeared young as a child.

Pardon?

Buck had worried, Buck had wondered: Would Tsion Ben-Judah be so devastated at his inequitable loss that his faith would be shaken? Would he be so fragile that it would be impossible for him to go on? He would grieve, make no mistake. He would mourn. But not as the heathen, who have no hope.

Tsion nodded, now covering his mouth with his hand. The man’s chest heaved and he could hold back the sobs no longer. He leaned over onto Buck and collapsed in tears. “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” he moaned over and over. “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

Buck had never heard people praying together aloud in a foreign language. Hearing the fervency of these witness-evangelists made him fall prostrate. He felt the cold mud on the backs of his hands as he buried his face in his palms. He didn’t know about Tsion but felt as if he were being borne along on clouds of peace. Suddenly Tsion’s voice could be heard above the rest. Michael bent down and whispered in Buck’s ear, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”