Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, 468 pages

"In one cataclysmic moment, millions around the globe disappear. Vehicles, suddenly unmanned, careen out of control. People are terror stricken as loved ones vanish before their eyes. In the midst of the global chaos, airline captain Rayford Steele must search for his family, for answers, for truth. As devastating as the disappearances have been, the darkest days may lie ahead." -Back Cover

My mom recommended this book, the first in a 12-book series. This book is a fictional account of what happens at the end of the world according to things found in the book of Revelations. I belong to a different religion than Mr. LaHaye and have my own beliefs of what will happen at the end of the world but I enjoyed this story. I have always been a sucker for tales of good versus evil. I'm drawn to the bravery, courage, and underdoggedness (is that a word?!) of those who fight against evil.

In Left Behind the disappearance of millions of people around the globe is the Rapture, when Christ takes His people up to heaven before the end of the world. The major characters in this book who are left behind, Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe, journalist Cameron ("Buck") Williams and minister Bruce Barnes have all had loved ones disappear. Each winds up going on his/her own spiritual journey/conversion to understand what's happened and why they were left behind. Bruce Barnes, himself not truly converted until after the Rapture, warns them of what will come, that an Antichrist will rise up who will be a great deceiver and that a 7-year period of destruction and war is coming. This book ends with these characters discovering who the Antichrist is and banding together as the "Tribulation Force" to fight him, hence the title of book 2 - "Tribulation Force." The last few pages are pretty intense.

Of course I will wind up reading this whole series because once you start to care about characters in a book you have to find out what happens to them! Now the question is, do I try to fit in one of the other books sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read while I'm waiting for book 2 to come in the mail or do I wait?! Ah, the reading dilemmas...