The Mark (by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins)

(Amazon UK link)

I did like the early books in Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' ever-increasing 'Left Behind' series about the tribulation. But each subsequent book seems to have covered less and less, with no character development whatsoever.

'The Mark' (which we borrowed rather than buying) covers the next few days in the lives of the Tribulation Force - the small band of Christians who were converted after the rapture. They are settling into a new 'safe house' after the resurrection of Nicolae, the anti-christ.

New rules in the global society state that everyone must receive a mark on his forehead, indicating allegiance to the government, or be executed. So the believers who are still working for Nicolae, keeping their faith secret, must plot an escape, in a way that ensures they will not be traced.

The plot is exciting, and I was interested to know what happened, but I still couldn't really bring myself to care about any of the characters, as they are all so remarkably flat. I felt more emotion at the execution of total strangers than in any of hte interactions of the main cast.

There's a lot of theology and 'preaching' in the book, with experts explaining how it all ties in with a literal interpretations of the Biblical book of Revelation. All rather long-winded and, in my opinion, not very interesting.