"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!

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