Peter and Paul Lalonde Tribulation

Tribulation

Peter and Paul Lalonde

Thomas Nelson, 2001, $10.99

ISBN: 0785267298

His older sister Eileen was the believer when they were growing up and tried to get her siblings Tom and Calving to accept the word of Christ. As an adult she renewed her belief while her husband Jason turns to a series of other spiritual teachings. That is until Jason shouts at Eileen that she is a "Hater" and tries to kill her. Stunned Eileen tells Tom, who drives over to protect his sister. However, Tom is in a car accident leaving him comatose.

When Tom awakens from his coma with his wife Suzie at his side, he finds the world has dramatically changed. Eileen and millions of other people vanished in what his sibling would have called the Rapture but those Left Behind do not share his memory of the "Haters" who disappeared; they simply did not exist. Meanwhile former global peacemaker Franco Macalousso enforces the use of virtual reality, in which he provides each earthling an option of swearing eternal allegiance to him as the Antichrist or suffers agony unimaginable until subsequent death will be welcomed. In spite of Eileen's teachings when Tom was a preadolescent he remains unsure of Christ, but rejects Macalousso though a third path is impossible.

This novelization of one of the Left Behind movies, which is based on the original LaHaye and Jenkins series, is as is the original a simplistic Good vs. Evil portrayal, but remains an exciting character driven tale providing deep insight into the Christian End of Days concept. The story line grips the reader from the moment that Tom realizes the world has dramatically changed while he was sleeping. As Tom learns you are either part of the solution or the problem, fans of the LaHaye and Jenkins tales will not want to be Left Behind with the Lalonde version.

Harriet Klausner