Book Review: Shadowed: The Final Judgment

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

[5 stars]

Shadowed: The Final Judgment Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jerry B. Jenkins
Class/Genre: Mystery Fiction Religious Fiction Thriller Christianity
Tyndale, Oct 2005, $24.99, 299 pp.

World War III was a holy war with no winners as survivors eke out an existence on a decimated planet. Reactionaries felt that religion was the cause of all wars and for this reason religion was banned and people who prayed openly were declared traitors and arrested. The Nation Peace Organization was formed to find the underground zealots and arrest them and until recently Paul Stepola was one of their best agents.

While hospitalized a believer talked to him and Paul eventually became a believer which was when his sight returned. He became a double agent, a mole who helped the believers whenever he could. With the oppression getting worse, the believers pray to God that the first born male of non-believers will die and He answers theirs their prayers proving to the world that he does exist since the underground announced the event before it happened. Neither Paul nor his son dies so the NPO knows that he is a believer. He and his family go on the run from the man who needs to punish his beliefs, his father in law, Ranold Decenti, the founder of the NPO. He wants his son-in-law his daughter and grandchildren punished for breaking the law.

This futuristic thriller in which religion is banned and an organization is formed to find and execute the traitors to the one world government is Jerry Jenkins at his very best. The characters are well developed, there is plenty of action and the storyline is believable because with God, all things are possible. The protagonist is a hero who risks his life to save the believers and overthrow the ban on religion while the antagonist is a frighteningly believable opponent who is more interested in power and revenge than the ideology he once believed in.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner