The Left Behind Complete Set, Series 1-12

by Tim LaHaye

“I don’t know!” she shouted, crying.

Every female character so far (with the exception of Lucinda Washington and maybe the church assistant; both minuscule roles) has broken down into tears at some point in the story.

Buck turned back to the phones, glad he had no interest in competing with Carpathia or this pilot for Hattie Durham’s affection.

I hate that Hattie has been so defined by which men find her attractive. You could replace her with a sexy lamp and almost nothing in the story would change. It would probably improve the phone scenes with her, come to think of it.

The Kalahari Desert makes up much of Botswana where Secretary-General Ngumo is from. He returns there tomorrow a hero, having become the first leader to gain access to the Israeli fertilizer formula.”

If Chloe wants to laugh or run the other way, I’m going to force her to make a decision. She’ll have to know exactly what she’s doing. She’ll have to face what we’ve found in the Bible and deal with it.

Rayford needs to work on his conversion strategy.

“Bruce—” “Go, Rayford. And start witnessing yourself, with total confidence.” Bruce hung up on him.

I can't help picturing the end of Casablanca

Bailey rose, his face red. “Let me tell you something, Plank. I like you. You’ve been a superstar for me. I sold you to the rest of the brass when nobody else recognized you had what it takes. You sold me on this punk here, and he’s made us all look good. But I paid you six figures long before you deserved it because I knew someday it would pay off. And it did.

I should have saved my J. Jonah Jameson joke for this guy

you were working on a general cover story about the guy and that we were going to be positive. He said his guy had intended to take a slightly different approach—you know, zig when everybody else is zagging.

I thought he was calling for a reference on you, Cameron. I was thinking, if I lose both these turkeys the same week, I’m taking early retirement.

This guy's dialogue is such fun

Plank hesitated and looked as if he were considering whether he should tell what he knew.

Author uses "he looked like" and then skips past an actual description, straight to the exact thought Plank is thinking. We could infer what he was thinking from the hesitation. Another show-AND-tell moment to add to the list.

I want to get him onto the one that interests me most, the one about what was behind the disappearances.

Oh yeah, that thing that happened that Buck's plot ignored

Militarily, he wants a commitment to disarmament from member nations, the destruction of ninety percent of their weapons, and the donation of the other ten percent to the U.N.” “For peacekeeping purposes,” Bailey said. “Naive, but logical sounding. You’re right, he probably won’t get that.

Do I even need to point out the nonsensical geopolitics anymore? They're talking about global disarmament with the same likelihood as a football team winning the superbowl. Where's FiveThirtyEight when you need them?

“Probably the most controversial and least likely. The logistics alone are incredible, the cost, the . . . everything.” “What?” “He wants to move the U.N.” “Move it?” Steve nodded. “Where?” “It sounds stupid.” “Everything sounds stupid these days,” Bailey said. “He wants to move it to Babylon.”

What even-? How-? *sigh* Fine. This is fine. It's fine. They're fine. It's fine. It's FINE. This is fine.

“I hear they’ve been renovating that city for years. Millions of dollars invested in making it, what, New Babylon?”

Okay, so this is a huge piece of info to just drop on the audience without any background. I have no idea whether this is a fictional city named Babylon, or the ruins of the historical Babylon. If it's the former, why and where does this city exist. If it's the latter, good luck convincing the UN to move shop to Iraq, of all places. Even in '95, not my first choice as a young Antichrist looking to make my Mark on the world. Another question that's been buzzing in my head for a while: does Carpathia know that he's the Antichrist? Or does he genuinely believe in his crazy demands that only exist to fulfill prophecy? And if he knows, then why does he go along with it?

Steve chuckled. “He’s on The Tonight Show tonight.” “He’ll be more popular than ever!”

The role of Nicolae Carpathia will be played tonight by… Regina George.

The move to New Babylon. The establishment of one religion for the world, probably headquartered in Italy.” “He’s not going to get far with the Jews on that one.” “They’re an exception. He’s going to help them rebuild their temple during the years of the peace treaty. He believes they deserve special treatment.”

I feel like Tim LaHaye is just showing me his work on his math homework. "See, when x is Israel, and y is New Babylon, we can divide the whole thing by the Antichrist. Then, plug in the square root of Russian Pearl Harbor as theta, and the equation balances to give us one apocalypse. And that's why I became a numerologist."

“The man is brilliant. Not only have I never seen someone with such revolutionary ideas, but I’ve also never seen anyone who moves so quickly.”

What I’m finding, though, is that the people who have a theory believe in it totally.”

This is such a dumb line. I understand what he's saying, but still. For a guy who works with words for a living, Buck has a remarkable lack of command over them.

He wanted to believe a person could come along once in a generation who could capture the imagination of the world. Could Carpathia be another Lincoln, a Roosevelt, or the embodiment of Camelot that Kennedy had appeared to some?

“What do you want to interview me about?” “Your take on the disappearances. I’m doing a cover story on the theories behind what happened, and it would be good to get your perspective as a professional and as someone who was right in the middle of the turmoil when it happened.” What an opportunity! Rayford thought.

Buck was stunned. He loved Chloe’s name, her eyes, her smile. She looked directly at him and gave a firm handshake, something he liked in a woman. So many women felt it was feminine to offer a limp hand. What a beautiful girl! he thought.

Buck, she's like 19, tops! Down, boy! Down!

It had been a long time since Buck had felt awkward and shy around a girl. As he and Chloe strolled and talked, he didn’t know where to look and was self-conscious about where to put his hands.

Have we even gotten a physical description of Chloe? Her being some kind of goddess comes right out of nowhere. Also, Buck needs to chill out.

Buck was impressed at how smart and articulate and mature she seemed. This was a girl he could be interested in, but she had to be at least ten years younger than he was.

How did we end up with a creepy relationship that didn't involve Hattie?

When the conversation lulled, Chloe caught him gazing at her, and he looked away. When he looked back, she was looking at him. They smiled shyly. This is crazy, he thought. He was dying to know if she had a boyfriend, but he wasn’t about to ask.

Dude, it's been a page!

“Ever been married?” she asked. He was glad she had asked. He was happy to tell her no, that he had never really been serious enough with anyone to be engaged. “How about you?” he asked, feeling the discussion was now fair game. “How many times have you been married?”

I am cringing so hard right now

Buck felt bolder. “What was he, blind?” She didn’t respond.

How can I be so successful at some things and such a klutz at others? he wondered.

Stop hitting on women ten years younger than you, ya skeeze!

“I’ll let you break your silence temporarily,” he said. “I need to know that you at least forgive me.”

Hattie’s lips quivered. She pressed them together and looked down, a tear rolling down her cheek. It was all Rayford could do to keep from embracing her. There would be nothing sensual about it, but he couldn’t afford to give a wrong signal.

She tried to say something but couldn’t regain her composure.

he noticed a dab of chocolate at the corner of her mouth. He said, “May I?” extending his hand. She raised her chin and he transferred the chocolate to his thumb. Now what should he do? Wipe it on a napkin? Impulsively he put his thumb to his lips. “Gross!” she said. “How embarrassing! What if I have the creeping crud or something?” “Then now we’ve both got it,” he said, and they laughed.

Gross

She frowned and punched him.

So many conversations in this book eventually lead to playful punches

How old are you, kid?” “Twenty and a half, going on twenty-one.” “Oh, my goodness,” he said, still in character, “I’m consortin’ with a minor!”

Lamp-shading won't win you any points from me, LaHaye

“Did you really interview Nicolae Carpathia?” He nodded. “We’re almost buddies.” “No kidding?” “Well, not really. But we hit it off.” “Tell me about him.” And so Buck did.

Buck, you dirty boy. Hopefully not all the details…

Hattie returned slightly refreshed but still puffy-eyed and sat again as if ready for more punishment.

Oh God no

“Smart girl,” she said. “We must understand each other.” “Well, you’re not that far apart in age.” “Wrong thing to say, Rayford.

Hattie beats me to the commentary

“Not unless I fathered you when I was fifteen,” Rayford said.

Rayford and Buck are neck and neck for the race to the creepiest couples conversation. But in this race, no matter who wins, everyone loses.

When Buck and Chloe reconnected with Hattie and Chloe’s father, it was clear Hattie had been crying.

Chloe was radiant, looking five years older in a classy evening dress. It was clear she and Hattie had spent the late afternoon in a beauty salon.

Just because she looks older doesn't make this relationship less creepy

Rayford thought his daughter looked stunning that evening, and he wondered what the magazine writer thought of her. Clearly this Williams guy was too old for her.

See, this guy gets it

The waiter peeked at the bill and slipped it into his pocket. “I’m sure you will not be disturbed,” he said. And the water glasses were always full.

I chuckled at the last sentence

Everyone in the business knew he was one of the best in the world at interviewing. That and his ability to quickly sift through the stuff and make a readable, engaging article of it had made him who he was.

Buck doth protest too much

Rayford was privately frustrated, almost to the point of anger.

Buck sat without interrupting as this most lucid and earnest professional calmly propounded a theory that only three weeks before Buck would have found absurd. It sounded like things he had heard in church and from friends, but this guy had chapter and verse from the Bible to back it up. And this business of the two preachers in Jerusalem representing two witnesses predicted in the book of Revelation? Buck was aghast.

“Apparently thousands are making some sort of a pilgrimage to the Wailing Wall. They’re lined up for miles, trying to get in and hear the preaching. Many are converting and going out themselves to preach. The authorities seem powerless to keep them out, despite the opposition of the Orthodox Jews. Anyone who comes against the preachers is struck dumb or paralyzed, and many of the old orthodox guard are joining forces with the preachers.”

Sure would be cool to see that firsthand… Wouldn't want to miss any of the Chloe/Buck will they/won't they, though.

“But even more amazing, it was all predicted in the Bible.” Buck was desperate to maintain his composure. He wasn’t sure what he was hearing, but Steele was impressive.

Maybe it was wrong. Maybe it was mumbo jumbo. But it was the only theory that tied the incidents so closely to any sort of explanation. What else would give Buck this constant case of the chills?

If Buck's credentials as a journalist weren't in question already, they sure would be now

Buck focused on Captain Steele, his pulse racing, looking neither right nor left. He could not move.

Easy there, Buckaroo

Readers would add their own in the Letters column, or they would make a decision based on the credibility of the sources. This airline pilot, unless Buck made him look like a lunatic, would come off profound and convincing.

Sure…

For the first time in his memory Buck Williams was speechless. Rayford was certain he was not getting through.

Made me laugh. But there are so many perspective switches in this scene that I'm getting whiplash. It's like that dinner scene from Dune, but without the political machinations or characters I liked.

Suddenly Buck remembered who he was dealing with. This was an intelligent, educated man.