No Heaven / Lex Allen

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Science-Fiction/Supernatural/Thriller

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Availability   

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Author:

“Lex Allen was born in San Marcos and raised in the cities of Corpus Christi and Austin, Texas. After a twenty-one year military career, he took off the uniform but went back to work for the U.S. Department of Defense as a civilian. He's lived and worked for most of the past forty years in Germany.

He has spent a great deal of his free time as a semi-professional musician. With his band, Honky Tonk Heroes, he has written, published, and recorded fourteen country rock songs and performed on stages, large and small, all over Europe.”

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“A man calling himself Jesus interrupts Easter Mass at a famous German cathedral, saying he's come to stop a religiously incited nuclear war and to find three ancient documents that will shake the foundations of organized religion and bring enlightenment to all. He disappears from the cathedral, leaving behind several 'miracles' as proof of who he claims to be.

Disarming the world's nuclear arsenals requires the help of scientists from his world, but can they do it in time? Finding the documents requires three special people who first need to be convinced of who they once were, and then - taught to use their latent paranormal abilities.

Dr. Elizabeth Washburn is a Professor of Theology battling a recent loss of faith. Jack Schmidt promotes the total disbandment of organized religion through an online blog, while Kate Barrow is a disillusioned film student seeking inspiration. Unlikely disciples, but all three have past incarnations connected to Jesus, and the Christian Savior needs them to find the missing documents.

The stakes are high and Jesus' tasks become more difficult as another entity from a parallel world, equal to Jesus in supernatural skills, has his own agenda for world dominance. Along with the U.S. government and the Catholic Church, each of whom have their own reasons for stopping Jesus, this Being is determined to eliminate Jesus from the equation. This time - forever!”

Appraisal:

No Heaven, while revolving around the apparent “second coming of Christ,” is many things, but one thing it isn’t is “Christian Fiction.” Reasonably open-minded fans of that genre may enjoy this book, but those who explicitly avoid it will too.

This story works on two levels. On the surface, it’s a supernatural thriller with a religious component – think Dan Brown or his imitators with a dose of science-fiction and supernatural thrown into the mix. If this is the kind of story that appeals to you and you don’t have any desire to go deeper than this, it’s a good story.

However, scratch beneath the surface — think about the story and how it relates to the real world — and there is much more, with questions about the direction religion (and things done in the name of religion) and the politics around it are taking the world. It should get you thinking about what the ultimate outcome is likely to be, and hopefully will start you pondering about what can be done to change that direction.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars