D.S. Lliteras Jerusalem’s Rain

Jerusalem's Rain

D.S. Lliteras

Hampton Roads, Sept 2003, $19.95, 223 pp.

ISBN 1571743405

When Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross at Golgotha, the skies turned stormy and driving rain poured down on Palestine. Peter is drowning in self-contempt for denying his Rabbi three times before the rooster crowed. Philip, who like Peter did not witness the crucifixion, gets into a fight and is seriously injured. With the help of Andrew and Thaddeus, who were also afraid to show up at Golgotha because of the Roman soldiers, Peter is taken to Aaron's home where the families await the return of their men and will care for Peter..

The men are lost and afraid, starting to doubt Christ's teachings, while the women are firm believers who will risk death to spread their Rabbi's word. Peter's wife is leaving him and taking their son with her. Peter gets drunk at a cock fight awakening in a back alley where Christ appears to him and talks to him. He learns from Aaron and John that Thaddeus, Mary Magdalene, and Peter's mother also saw him rise. Peter now believes and intends to spread the word.

This fictionalized account of Peter's torment during the three days following Christ's crucifixion is believable. The disciple's angst as well as self-doubt now that the one they followed is gone is understandable as well. Amazingly the women remain steadfast and don't believe that his death will stop the message from being spread around the world. Their love for Christ is rooted in his treatment of them as equal to men. D.S. Lliteras has written a compelling and memorable tale that turn the aftermath of the first end days fascinating reading.

Harriet Klausner