"Left Behind" (1995) by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim Lahaye REVIEW

With the movie coming up on October 3rd starring Nicolas Cage, there was no better time to read this book!

At a precise moment, all over the world, millions of people vanish. Cars and planes are left un-manned, causing chaos in the streets as everyone tries to figure out what had happened. Airline captain Rayford Steele also seeks for the truth, and when he comes home to find his wife and son to be one of the many who vanished, he knows what happened: an event in the Bible called The Rapture. The more he learns about the rapture, the more he feels the need to spread the word to others, because if what the Bible prophesied is true, the Antichrist would soon come to power and begin a seven-year reign of tribulation. This is the story of those left behind.

I have seen the first two movies from years ago that starred Kirk Cameron and remember enjoying them. I attempted to read the children's series before, but it had gotten slow and boring not even halfway through the series. I had hopes for this version, and they were close to being met.

The story and concept itself is very intriguing, but its execution for the first half of the book is rather dull and, honestly, quite boring. When everyone vanishes, little detail is given of the destruction, making it seem almost as if nothing really happened at all except that our two heroes, Rayford Steele and Cameron "Buck" Williams, have lost people. However, the second half of the book makes up for the slow ride from the beginning, pulling you in as the stakes raise higher to a conclusion that leaves you wanting more.

It is unfortunate that Left Behind is far from a masterpiece, but it is still a great and powerful read if you bear with it. I have seen books with poor writing become amazing movies (The Prestige, How to Train Your Dragon, Flashforward (alright, that's a TV show, but you get my point)), and I hope this is the case with the upcoming cinematic reboot!

3.5/5 Stars

You can order your copy from Amazon right here!

Comments

"Need for Speed" (2014) REVIEW

I know I'm not the only one who thought this movie was going to be a flop. I mean, not only is it a high-speed street racing movie, but it's also a videogame movie. Still, I gave it a shot, but mostly for the D-Box experience. Even with the earnings from winning illegal street races, Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is still unable to keep his auto repair shop from his father open. For a chance to get $500,000, Tobey takes an offer from his street racing rival and successful car dealer Dino Brewster (Domonic Cooper) to finish building the Ford Mustang that Caroll Shelby was working on when he died. After building the car and selling it without Dino's consent, Dino challenges Tobey and Tobey's friend, Pete, to a street race for the money. Nearing the end of the race, desperate for revenge, Dino pushes Pete over a bridge and drives away, leaving Tobey to be blamed for vehicular manslaughter. Two years later, fresh out of prison, Tobey seeks out to knock Dino off his p...

What to Read After Insomiac's Spider-Man

So you've just defeated the Sinister Six, maybe done a side mission here and there, or perhaps 100% completed what most are considering the best Spider-Man game ever made (and they're right). What now? Where do you go from here to learn more about the wisecracking wall-crawler? Besides Tom Holland's performance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we've never really seen Spider-Man portrayed so solidly like we have here. This, my friends, is where the fun part comes in: Entering the vast world of Spider-Man presented in comics and novels. Allow me to be your guide, providing recommendations for any requests you may be wishing for. "I just want more..." Well, you're in luck because Marvel has 2 options for you! Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover is the official prequel novel to the game, taking place 6 months prior. It follows Spider-Man trying to find an imposter killing people, working with a newfound friend from the police force to take ...

Blue Beetle Rebirth Vol. 1: The More Things Change (Rebirth #1, #1-#6)

2/5 Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle has interested me and been on my reading list for a while. When I first discovered the character watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold , seeing Jaime as a relatable teen arguing with the sentient suit that gives him his powers, his New 52 line had already been cancelled. Then Geoff Johns wrote Rebirth and added a little scene with Jaime Reyes that I thought was both very interesting and promising. In short, Keith Giffen doesn't deliver in this volume until issue #6, where he kind of gives a small splice of what the series could be. Getting the obvious out of the way, the dialogue here is absolutely horrible. I tell myself it feels like a first draft, but then there are moments of repetition and sentences upon sentences of nothing going on. By then, it feels more like a very bloated outline with the characters speaking mostly hot air. The dialogue here isn't flat, it's completely empty. This, in turn, makes all the charac...

Kevin Lau

Search This Blog