Millennium Rising - Hardcover

Jensen, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345430344 ISBN 13: 9780345430342

Publisher: Del Rey, 1999

Synopsis

Sacred texts around the world warn of the terrifying signs and wonders that will foretell the end of the world. For thousands of years, the prophets have always proved false. Until now . . .

Shortly after the change of the Millennium, in a tiny Mexican village, people of different faiths are flocking to Santa Pelagia from all over the planet to witness a miraculous visitation. Among them are twenty-four who experience something more personal: a messenger clothed in the raiments of his or her own beliefs--the Virgin Mary, an angel of Islam, the Hindu goddess Kali. And each is given the same terrifying message: the Day of Judgment is at hand.

The Vatican sends Father Michele Deauchez to investigate. And Deauchez, caught up in the incredible experience, watches his palms run red with blood from the wounds of the stigmata. Yet, as a man of reason, a man deeply scarred by his own experience of the supernatural, he cannot--will not--believe.

Simon Hill is an investigator of a different stripe. A top reporter for the New York Times, Hill has a nose for news--and Santa Pelagia smells like Pulitzer material. Especially when the portents foretold in the Book of Revelations--and now by the witnesses of Santa Pelagia, the so-called Twenty-Four--begin to come true.

As Deauchez and Hill search ever deeper for the truth--penetrating the holiest councils of the Vatican, the boardrooms of powerful multinational corporations, and the highest reaches of the U.S. government and military--they begin to wonder: Is this phenomenon a case of mass hysteria . . . a devious, far-reaching plot . . . or has God truly spoken?

This gripping novel vaults Jane Jensen into the front rank of suspense writers. A brilliant blend of ancient prophecy and vivid, complex characters, Millennium Rising is a terrifying, chillingly plausible thriller that will cling to you like a cold sweat and forever haunt your dreams.

About this title

Review:

Not long after the turn of the millennium, pilgrims of all faiths are drawn to a small Mexican town, where a vision appears to select believers of every religion (the Virgin Mary to a Catholic, the goddess Kali to a Hindu) and warns that Judgment Day is near. Drought and a new disease as virulent as Ebola are wracking the earth. Are the prophecies of the Book of Revelations being fulfilled? Cataclysms multiply as American reporter Simon Hill and French priest Michele Deauchez attempt to answer the question, only to meet with deadly opposition from the Vatican, a mysterious global corporation, and the U.S. government. Is the worldwide devastation the result of paranormally amplified mass hysteria, a terrifying conspiracy--or the will of God?

Any novel about Armageddon and plague inevitably invites comparison with The Stand. Millennium Rising isn't as strong as Stephen King's novel, but it's a scary, ambitious, suspenseful thriller that will keep you guessing till the end. And after reading it, you may find King's apocalypse rather wimpy.

Millennium Rising is the first novel by Jane Jensen, the computer game designer who created the Gabriel Knight interactive mystery series. Her non-interactive fiction debut is recommended to fans of thrillers, near-future SF, modern fantasy, horror, The X-Files, medical fiction, and terrifying nonfiction like The Coming Plague. It is not recommended to readers who want at least one significant woman character; females are few, and rarely seen. --Cynthia Ward

From the Publisher:

What a wonderful, compelling, scary read. I was fortunate enough to have the opportuity to read Millennium Rising in manuscript pages, and I couldn't put it down; not on the subway, in the bath, or in bed. Definately the most rivinting thriller I've read in . . . a millinnium.

Eleanor Lang/Senior Publicist/Ballantine Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Del Rey
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0345430344
• ISBN 13: 9780345430342
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448