The Day and the Hour: Thursday (Paperback or Softback)

By the time Thursday rolls around, the world’s institutions have responded to the imminent catastrophe. Thanks to Felix, a character stranger than this author could invent, we get a detailed report of an outrageous reaction by authorities in China. And by another fortuitous connection, Claudia learns about discussions among rabbis in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the media have rushed to educate their audience on other forms of eschatology while pushing the theory that UFOs are responsible for the Rapture warning.

Incidentally, there is significance in nearly all of the names. Not Felix, however. I don’t know where that one came from, but his alter ego (in the story) is very significant.

Thursday begins a series of lively lectures on Genesis by a former witch and lover of history whose name, appropriately, is Clio. Is this ironic? There is no victim. Such ironies keep occurring. I can’t help it.

There are dozens of characters, many of them appearing in multiple volumes. As a kind gesture to the reader struggling to remember them, first names within a family begin with the same letter, including the name of the dog if there is one.

A prominent character introduced back at the beginning in book one is Adam Murphy, pastor of Grace Bible Church. He is one of several clergy folk, all of them living on Parson Street. His older brother, Aaron Murphy is the Catholic priest. There are many good things to say about Pastor Adam, but he receives no respite from Murphy's law which he believes was discovered by the original Adam.

A government official whose assignment is to promote cooperation with the dreaded Reorganization arrives in town on Thursday. Tall, gray-eyed, incredibly beautiful Evelyn Newton meets with Earl Clark's resistance committee. It turns out she is on their side. Earl breaks a date with Leila to spend the evening with Evelyn, and he learns at dinner that she has come to town seeking to be baptized by Adam Murphy, an old friend. (Adam and Evelyn knew each other in high school, which of course was in Appleton Wisconsin when her family name was Ribble, but there is much more to that.)