Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind, Book 1) - Hardcover

Tim LaHaye; Jerry B. Jenkins

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0842329110 ISBN 13: 9780842329118

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1995

Synopsis

When the trumpet sounds, where will you be? Passengers in an airborne Boeing 747 find out in this riveting novel by renowned Christian speaker Tim LaHaye and master storyteller Jerry Jenkins. Without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun. This fictional account of life after the Rapture delivers an urgent call to today's readers to prepare their own hearts and minister to others.

About this title

Review:

Piloting his 747, Rayford Steele is musing about his wife Irene's irritating religiosity and contemplating the charms of his "drop-dead gorgeous" flight attendant, Hattie. First Irene was into Amway, then Tupperware, and now it's the Rapture of the Saints--the scary last story in the Bible in which Christians are swept to heaven and unbelievers are left behind to endure the Antichrist's Tribulation. Steele believes he'll put the plane on autopilot and go visit Hattie. But Hattie's in a panic: some of the passengers have disappeared! The Rapture has happened, abruptly driverless cars are crashing all over, and the slick, sinister Romanian Nicolae Carpathia plans to use the UN to establish one world government and religion. Resembling "a young Robert Redford" and silver-tongued in nine languages, Carpathia is named People's "Sexiest Man Alive." (This reviewer, a former People writer, finds this plot twist plausible.) Meanwhile, Steele teams up with Buck Williams, a buck-the-system newshound, to form the Tribulation Force, an underground of left-behind penitents battling the Antichrist.

Ex-presidential candidate Pat Robertson briefly outsold Michael Crichton with his apocalypse novel The End of the Age (now available on audiocassette), and the similar The Third Millennium sells well, but the Left Behind series is the absolute champion in the race to make the Book of Revelation into racy thriller reading. --Tim Appelo

From the Back Cover:

Millions missing, feared dead. Fiery collisions claim thousands as pilots, drivers vanish. Romanian leader Carpathia to speak at U.N.

Panic surges through a Heathrow-bound Boeing 747 as some passengers and crew vanish, along with millions worldwide. Captain Rayford Steele fights to quell hysteria while facing personal tragedy―his wife and son are among the missing. Rumors fly, and fanatics warn about the end of the world. Could they be right? Meanwhile, crack journalist Cameron “Buck” Williams, on the trail of a global financial conspiracy, finds a more ominous story unfolding as storm clouds of good and evil gather.

Left Behind launched the best-selling series that rocked the publishing world and made millions seriously consider the future. Is it just the beginning . . . or the beginning of the end?

With special features relating to current events and end-times prophecy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0842329110
• ISBN 13: 9780842329118
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320