Last Day Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Let's set the record straight. . .
Review: Anybody who tells you this book is trivial, boring, anti-religious or hateful is either blind, dishonest, or desperately hoping to discourage you from reading it. THE LAST DAY is top-drawer entertainment and a well-crafted suspense thriller that packs a tremendous wallop in its message. I have one irrefutable point to make to the "know it alls" who are trying to censor this book and/or claiming it isn't scripturally justifiable: NOBODY knows how a genuine Messiah would react to the current state of the world's organized religions. Every day you read about abuses of ecclesiastical power--cover ups of priestly pedophilia; hypocritical materialism; misappropriation of congregational funds; hidden agendas against women, races and sexual persuasions; and let's not forget CENSORSHIP. At last, we have a book that speculates on how God might righteously judge His churches the way His churches have been self-righteously judging their flocks all these years. It rings damn true. Fortunately for some of the world's organized religions, this is merely fiction. Or is it?

Rating:
Summary: Secrets Revealed???
Review: I preferred The First Immortal to this book. For some reason this author has it in for the Catholics and spends most of his time bashing them. The big secret he reveals is the Vatican Bank scandal, news to those who missed the headlines some years ago and didn't see the last Godfather film. The messiah hates Catholics in this novel so much that she sets the ecumenical cause back 1000 years. Let's hope the actual messiah will be more tolerant and appreciate the well-meaning faith of millions, as fragile and misguided as it is at times. And be less apt to break things!

Rating:
Summary: Are we all reading the same book?
Review: I think some of the reviewers here need to go back and read the novel more carefully. The Messiah of this story is one of the most fascinating, credible and compelling characters I've ever encountered in fiction. Unlikeable? Only if her straightforward honesty and unvarnished truths hit too uncomfortably close to the mark! Hateful? Her compassion for children, the aged, women, the ill, the starving, the unloved and the downtrodden is heartwrentching. Condemning of religion? This messiah shows an impartial respect for all faiths--just not some of their hypocritical leaders! Like Christ, against all odds, this Messiah stands up to the self-important "High Priests" who obstruct God's Will. Biblically ignorant? I've checked most of the scriptural references in the novel, and so far, they're 100% accurate--and brilliant in how they're used to skewer the self-righteous phonies in the book. This is a poignant tale, well told. Why do I get the feeling some people don't want this book to be read?

Rating:
Summary: Less than Expected
Review: Not much to this and what there is is much less than one might expect. A terrific premise wears thin after 400 pages and one is left asking "what is the point?" Maybe my expectations were too high, but this novel is just second-rate horror/thriller stuff that fails miserably as entertainment or mainstream fiction. Wait for the tv movie it seems to be a rough draft for. Maybe a skilled screenwriter can do something with it if the original author isn't involved.

Rating:
Summary: Millenial Junk Food
Review: The end of the millenium is bound to attract the attention of many writers and there is an opportunity for a great book. This is not that book. The story here is pretty thin and its background is poorly researched. The author seems to have little understanding of his subject and his interpretation of church history, the bible, and Israeli politics is laughable. Some of the errors could have been caught by a good editor, which this novel needed badly. The result is a ponderous, silly, and superficial book that leaves the reader craving something more substantial.

Rating:
Summary: The Church Finaly Gets Its Due
Review: I'm delighted this book has shown the elitist clergy for what it is. If anything, the book is too easy on the pope, who is actually shown as a man of faith. That is one mistake, but otherwise Kleier is not afraid to scream "frauds!" on every page. Jeza, the new messiah in the book is a fresh take on the old religion, crying out for women to throw off their chains and close the churches. The old faith is just that - old. The books Jeza offers a Newer New Testament with answers for today (including the end of sacraments and woman's right to choose. Right on! This is the most spiritual and deep book I've read since King's The Stand. An important book that every so-called religious person should read to see their phonyness laid bare. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Time Killer
Review: I read this on a 4 hour plane trip and it helped pass the time. As the book centers on a clone, it is interesting that the book itself is a bit of a clone: a little "Frankenstein", "Contact", and "Passover Plot", with Martin Luther thrown in. This novel tries hard to be more than it is, but never gets beyond being an average and derivative thriller. If a reader has time to kill, it will serve that purpose. Otherwise, there are far superior and thougtful thrillers to spend one's time on.

Rating:
Summary: Messiah for TODAY
Review: There has existed a literary void concerning just what the forthcoming millenial festivities may have to offer the spiritually derelect like myself. Well, here's the book for which I've searched. For the reader seeking to be well-versed in the latest of New Age philosophy and politically correct aphorisms, this devinely inspired author presents Jeza, the female Christ and feminist warrior. She offers daily affirmations to religiously oppressed and acts as guide to the most recent empowering spiritual trends. For those of us with short attention spans, Jeza does magic and orders special effects. What more could the spiritually starved want? If this is not the most important, profound, deep, and enlightening book of the millenium, I would like to know what is and if it's available at the same discount as this life-changing volume?

Rating:
Summary: Garden-Variety
Review: Fair to middling. Dean Koontz does this kind of thing a lot better. A few too many stereotypical villains and the plot gets outrageous. Awfully long and drags at times. Has an interesting central premise but the writer seems to lose focus. The ending is a bit too zany. OK for a horror/thriller easy read. Definitely not anything special, but then I read a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Simple-minded Spirituality
Review: As a rabbi of thirty years, I have encountered many more seriously misguided books concerning the concept of messianic prophesy. As a minor entertainment, this novel would warrant scant attention. However, the book seems to have been taken seriously by certain gullible and uneducated members of the reading public. I would offer three areas of criticism and concern which are worthy of consideration. First, the messiah as depicted is without foundation biblically. This book abounds in theological errors too numerous to address here. Second, the book is inaccurate as well as vicious in its attacks upon the Catholic Church in particular. The author's hate of this religion is clear and his contempt for people of faith is egregious. Last, the author attempts to portray the Jewish people as particularly gullible and ignorant of their own faith. The way he depicts Jews and the Israeli nation embracing the false messiah and her obviously perverted teachings is simply insulting. If there is an attempt in this novel to present a sober indictment of orthodox faith, it is a uniquely misinformed effort based on some very old bigotry. If there is attempt at satire, it is clumsy and ugly. Too often prejudice and hate raise their ugly faces within popular culture in the guise of sophisticated entertainment. What is most disturbing is that such nonsense should be accepted and viewed as spiritually uplifting or meaningful. Are readers that desperate for hope, their lives so empty of meaning, that a ridiculous and superficial suspense novel might be the source of a simple-minded spirituality? As cults proliferate, the gullible multiply, and those who take advantage of the ignorant (the author) profit by demeaning the faithful.