AN ANGEL'S CRY

The conclusion to a series of novels about Christian prophecies and the end of the world.

This final volume of the author’s Last Eulogy series takes place in the year 2054, which is the 50th anniversary of the death of Christian prophet Paolo DeLaurentis, whose visions of dire future events have guided the characters in previous installments. Paolo’s story began in the 1960s, when, as a young boy, he discovers that he has the prophetic powers that will lead him to world prominence. After Paolo dies, his son Giacomo, now Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, inherits his father’s journals…and his father’s prophetic gifts. He also inherits the deplorable state of the world: The weather is out of control, international relationships are deteriorating everywhere, unemployment is rampant, and social unease is boiling under the surface of the United States. In addition, a shadowy cabal is plotting to control the world and is steadily moving closer to its goals. Facing off against these evils and catastrophes (while grieving his wife and unborn sons, killed by a sniper), Giacomo must draw on the support of his friends and family and find new allies along the way while also facing a new enemy, in the person of Father Alphonso Adinolfi. Giacomo considers the priest responsible for what happened to his wife and grimly promises he’ll pay (“[T]he sheriff is coming to town, you bastard”).

At this point in his series, the author has finely honed his combination of Tom Clancy–style international thriller and Tim LaHaye–style Christian adventure story. The chapters are short and punchy; the dialogue is sharp and, somewhat surprisingly for Christian fiction, at times grippingly coarse (“‘How am I? Shitty. I apologize, forgive me.’ Pope Andrew waved a pamphlet he held in his hand. ‘I’ve heard worse’”). The settings switch cinematically all over the world. Above all, the characters are both well drawn and appealingly dramatic, including Paolo’s twin grandsons Paolo and Arnaud, the beleaguered Pope Andrew, and the fiendish EU President Eten Trivette. As in the previous books, the evil characters in this third installment are mustache-twirlingly evil, particularly Father Adinolfi, who’s fond of grandstanding lines like “We’re accountable and must ensure that the leaders of the nations align with the one global rule. It’s dictated by God himself.” But what the book lacks in nuance it more than makes up for with taut plotting and convincing SF concepts, such as gene-editing. DiVerniero once again engagingly captures institutional infighting and backstage dealing, whether in the Vatican or the Oval Office. The book suffers a common fate of later installments in tightly constructed, overarching narratives, in that it could not possibly be enjoyed by somebody who hasn’t read the first two—DiVerniero (rightly) sacrifices exposition for narrative speed. But for loyal readers of the series, this final volume ties up a great many plotlines and offers a rousing climax to the whole long story of Paolo’s prophecies.

An assured and exciting conclusion to a trilogy of Dan Brown–style Christian thrillers.