More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Yeah, doll,” he said. “No, sorry, that’s just an expression we old flyboys use. . . . Well, sure, I’d like to be a doll too. . . . Oh, no ma’am. I can’t see any way. Well, now, I hate to have you think less of me, but the truth is if I could be manipulated by the poutin’ of a spoiled pretty little girl, I wouldn’t be lookin’ back on two divorces now, would I? . . . You can beg and cry for someone else, honey, ’cause I sure ain’t gonna be responsible for you overseas not forty-eight hours after you miscarried. . . . Now I’m awful sorry for you, and, like everybody else in your life, I got sort
...more
Ken, no! You were my last hope for a decent man in this series!
Emily liked this
“I know my body better. It’s time I started building back up. He said himself I may be out of the woods with the poison, whatever it was. But that’s only because my baby took the brunt of it. Nicolae has to pay for that.”
Somebody needs to retell this story from Hattie’s point of view, played as a Terminator 2 Sarah Connor type
“They can’t believe Tsion has played right into their hands. They’re planning what will appear to be a terrorist bombing that should kill anyone within two hundred feet of the Wall.” “Tsion thought Carpathia wouldn’t try anything at a site so sacred to the Jews.” “It would never be traced to him. They’re already trying to pin it on Mathews. Funny thing is, Mathews wants the credit for it. He says the witnesses and Tsion are the greatest enemies to religion he has ever seen. He’s livid. You’re going to be gone, right?” “By 1:00 a.m.” “Perfect.
Ummm, what about all the new Christians in the stadium you are just leaving to get bombed?
“I’m tempted to slip her a Mickey, medical-school style,” Floyd said.
FLOYD!!!
“Problem is, Ray, I look for reasons to touch her, to hold her, to comfort her. Now you’re telling me to pick her up and carry her, and you want me to rethink my feelings for her?” “Get a grip, Doc. You’re no teenager anymore. I hoped your obsession with her wasn’t purely physical, but I should have known. You hardly know her, and what you know drives you batty by your own admission. Just behave yourself until we can get back and help you keep your senses.”
Somebody keep this man away from Hattie. Put him on the revenge list for Hattie to take down once she’s gone full Linda Hamilton.
Emily liked this
“And, Doc, remember that our absolute, number one, top priority with her is her soul.” “Yeah.” “I didn’t hear any enthusiasm there, Floyd.” “No, I got it.” “If you care a whit about her beyond your adolescent need to have her in your arms, you’ll want above all else to make her part of the family.”
Buck shook his head. “Talk about a soul harvest.
“So, we’re some kind of… Suicide Squad.”
Jacov’s wife, Hannelore, proved to be a German-born Jew, sandy haired and small with shy, azure eyes. She joined Jacov, Stefan, Buck, Chloe, Tsion, and Chaim in the driveway, and the guard staff opened the doors of the Mercedes for them. Chloe embraced her tightly, and though she was a stranger, reached up to brush Hannelore’s hair from off her forehead. Buck hugged her too, whispering, “Welcome to the family.”
Rayford handled the bulk of the flying across the Atlantic, scheduling his arrival to allow the least amount of time on the ground. Mac had informed him that Carpathia and his entourage were still at the King David, but that the Condor 216 was hangared at Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. Rayford figured security was tighter at Ben Gurion, but Carpathia was being ferried about on a GC chopper primarily out of Jerusalem Airport. “You still takin’ chopper duty with me waiting at the airstrip with these turbines hot?” Ken said. “As long as nobody knows I’m AWOL yet. If the word is out about me and I get
...more
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Two solid pages of flight planning
Emily liked this
Buck was continually amazed at the resourcefulness of his wife. Despite her youth, Chloe knew people. She knew when to act, when to speak, when not to.
“Jacov,” Chaim said, “you do still have that key, do you not?” “I do!” he shouted from the rear next to Buck. “And right now it’s digging into my leg through my pocket!” Chaim leaned back toward Chloe as if with a secret. “I am certain that is the only key I have for that lock.
This is such a naked mcguffin that the narrative has decided to thrust upon us. Especially when we’ve already had a whole scene of Buck climbing to the roof without the key. We just need something, anything, to keep track of during the final night of the meeting to fuel the illusion of tension.
Buck was impressed with the authoritative tone Tsion suddenly effected. He must have felt like the shepherd he was and that the tens of thousands inside and outside the stadium were his flock. The previous two days he had deferred to the master of ceremonies and the local committee and merely appeared on stage and preached when it was his turn. Now he seemed to take charge, at least of certain details.
He turned to Buck. “Chloe will be all right without you?” “More than all right, sir. The question is how will I get along without her.”
Hattie’s spent a lot of time on the phone with a kid named Ernie, a friend of Ken’s.” “I met him.” “She apparently happened onto him when she was trying to reach you out there.” “Yeah, so?” “Well, she’d like to see him.” “Does she know he’s got to be ten years younger than she is?” “So about the same age difference as Buck and your daughter?” Rayford paused.
“Don’t let her even hint at where we’re located.” “Gotcha. I might reward her for good behavior and run her out to Palwaukee in a day or two.
When Tsion bowed his head again, Buck put an arm around his shoulder and was shocked to find the man trembling.
Tsion looked to Buck, who lifted a fist of encouragement in his face.
“Jesus, man!”
“Even before I open his Word, I feel led to invite seekers to come forward and receive Christ.” Immediately, from all over the stadium and even outside, lines of people, many weeping, began streaming forward, causing the saints to burst into applause again. “You know the truth,” Tsion said. “God has gotten your attention. You need no other argument, you need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for thee.” The seekers kept coming. Tsion asked believers to pray with anyone who wanted them to, and for an hour it seemed that anyone within the sound of Tsion’s voice—other
...more
It’s just hitting me now that this whole conference has the trappings of a megachurch rally. The whole first half of this book revolves around the success and theatre of one of the protagonists as a televangelist.
They will say ours is not the message of ecumenism and tolerance that they promote, and I say they are right. There is right and wrong, there are absolute truths, and some things cannot and should not and shall not ever be tolerated.
Hoo boy, you know you’re on the conservative side of conservative when even “tolerance” (mostly used as a dogwhistle these days for polite oppression) is a word you don’t want to be associated with.
Tsion cleared his throat and drew in a huge breath, yet his voice was suddenly weak.
He turned as if in a dream and found himself staring into Eli’s endless eyes. Buck had never been so close to the prophets and had to resist the urge to touch them. Eli’s eyes bore into his.
My Buck/Elijah slash fiction starts this exact same way
Ken massaged his eye sockets with his thumbs.
“I know we never signed anything or made any pledges when we joined,” Ken said, “but I been doin’ a lot of thinkin’. I was never one for socialism or communism or even communal living. But it seems to me we’re going to be pretty much a commune from now on.”
Between Buck and me we wouldn’t have more than a million dollars. That used to sound like a lot, but it won’t last long, and it won’t finance any offensive against Carpathia.” “You’d better get that converted to gold—and fast.”
I got absolutely obsessed with saving when I turned forty. Don’t even know why. Well, I mean, I do now. Tsion believes God works in our lives even before we acknowledge him. For almost twenty years I’ve been living alone and running charters. I’ve been a miser. Never owned a new car, made clothes last for years. Wore a cheap watch. Still do. I don’t mind telling you, I’ve made millions and saved almost 80 percent of it.”
Can practically hear the authors shouting, “And so should YOU!!!”
Emily liked this
“Ken! Back up! Sea harvesting?” “I read about Carpathia doling out royalties to his ten guys—the ten kings, Tsion calls ’em—for the rights to harvest their waterways for food and oil, and I got thinking they were onto something. He could easily shut down somebody’s farm, bomb it, raid it, burn it, confiscate equipment, all that. But how can he patrol all the oceans? We get believers who have fishing experience and equipment—I’m talking about commercial guys here—and we provide ’em a market of millions of saints. We somehow coordinate this, help process the shipping and billing, take a
...more
In book 1, Ken was a rando with an airplane who thought UFOs might be real. Now, 4 books later, he’s planned out the infrastructure of a blackmarket economy to fund a commune. What will he be doing by the end of the series?
Emily liked this
The guard raised his weapon at Buck. “Move along!” he barked, then lowered his voice again. “Your party is already in the van. Snipers are waiting for a clear shot of Ben-Judah backstage. I doubt you could get him out.”
As Buck reached the stage, he stole a glance back to see the guard on his walkie-talkie, then cocking his weapon. Buck dashed backstage and headed straight for Tsion, who stood precariously with only Daniel now. Daniel saw Buck and moved away, as if his job was over. Buck was about to scream at him to stay close, when gunfire erupted.
Tsion wept as he watched the crowds sprint from the area. “This is what I feared,” he said. “Bringing these people into the enemy camp, leading them to the slaughter.”
Stefan stomped on the accelerator, and the Mercedes shot forward. The guard stepped in front of it with both arms raised but leaped aside as Stefan bore down on him. “Get us to Chaim’s as fast as you can,” Buck said. Stefan rose to the challenge.
Car chase! Car chase! Car chase! The only fun action scene in the series was a car chase, so I’m excited. Edit: there was no chase scene. :(
Emily liked this
Inside they watched the coverage and commentary on TV while one by one, so as not to be obvious, Tsion, Buck, and Chloe slipped away to pack. They surreptitiously synchronized watches.
Lol, why do they need their watches synced? They’re just going upstairs and getting on a helicopter.
Emily liked this
“I will, but Jacov, I need that key.” “Key?” “The one you’re having duplicated for Dr. Rosenzweig.” “He needs it sooner?” “I need it, and I need you to trust me enough not to ask why.” “You’re afraid of intrusion? The door was left locked. It is the strongest in the house.” “I know. I need it, Jacov. Please.” “I don’t even have it. I left it with Stefan. I am working tomorrow, but I am off again Monday. He said he would get it copied then.”
The key juggling continues. But will there be a whole chapter dedicated to retrieving it?
Emily liked this
Tsion reached to turn the TV back on. On the screen appeared the face of the very GC guard who had fired over Buck’s head, intentionally missing. Beneath his photograph were the years of his birth and death. “I got him killed,” Buck said, his throat constricted. “You likely saved my life,” Tsion said. “Praise God he is in heaven now. Buck, I know this is hard, and I never want to grow callous to the high price we are called to pay. No one would put much stock in our futures now. I don’t know how long the Lord will spare any of us to do his work. But I fear if we let Carpathia hurt or kill or
...more
This is how villain speeches start
“He was there tonight, Buck. And you should hear his reaction. I’m telling you, he’s close.” “What’s holding him back?” “His admiration and love for Carpathia.”
Rosenzweig waved her off sadly. “To think that Nicolae himself would say one thing and do another, looking me in the eyes, he did, and lying.
Buck waved furiously at Chaim to move away so the sound of the banging wouldn’t be heard over the phone.
Another line that’s very funny without context
“I’ve got your bag, hon,” Buck said. “Buck! Don’t baby me.” “It’s the baby I’m thinking of. Now go.”
Somebody’s bound to spot us, and then he’ll chase us to the airstrip.
Don’t tease me with a helicopter chase scene if it isn’t actually going to happen. It would be a little weird to have both chase scenes in the series be a race to an airport, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.
“Gulfstream Alpha Tango?” “Roger,” Rayford said, but he did not shut down. He hoped Ken would understand why he was waiting at the wrong end of the runway. This would be a takeoff without clearance and in the wrong direction. And here came the chopper. Ken wouldn’t have time to talk on the phone, and the radio was not an option. Rayford checked his gauges. He was ready.
Rayford stared out the cockpit windshield of the Gulfstream, imagining that any second Ken and all that was left of his own family would be surrounded by armed GC guards. They would never expose him, but dare he just sit and wait to leave when the airport reopened? His body boiled with frustration, wanting to do something, anything.
“Let’s go kids!” Ken shouted. “Right now!” He smacked the door open with a running back–like stiff-arm and grabbed Buck, tugging him past the front seat and out. Buck waited on the ground and caught Tsion as Ken handed him off. Tsion charged up the steps of the Gulfstream and stood ready to shut the door. Buck was grateful Ken took a little more time with Chloe.
Buck pumped his legs as fast as he could, and Ken loped right behind with those long limbs.
Buck was about to leap up the steps when Ken’s forehead opened. Buck felt the heat and smelled the metal as the killing bullet sliced his own ear on the way by, and his face was splashed by Ken’s gore. The big man’s eyes were wide and vacant as he dropped out of sight.
Oh my god, they killed Ken! YOU BASTARDS! He was the least awful man in these books.
Emily liked this
One thing was sure: He was not going to get into that plane now that it was in the air. The door would have to be shut mechanically. He could wait for that to sever his arm and fall to his death, or he could take his chances in the underbrush on the far side of the fence.
Buck gets caught in the door mechanism of an airplane and still manages to survive. At least take one of his limbs!
The horrified faces of his wife and his pastor were the last images he saw before he felt himself fall, cartwheeling, hitting the tops of tall bushes, and lodging himself, scraped and torn and bleeding, in the middle of a huge thicket.
