The Last Christian, by David Gregory, is a thought provoking and well paced action story set in the middle distant future (around the end of this century) in the United States. It is set in a future where Christianity has all but died out in the United States and most of the rest of the world. Thrown into this setting is a murder mystery / action adventure sci-fi story that somehow manages to also be a little apocalyptic and apologetic at the same time. I recommend this story for anyone that is looking for a good read.
David Gregory is the author of two incredibly wonderful books about meeting Jesus (My Dinner with Jesus is one of them and I can't remember the title of the other at this moment). Both of these books were the kind that you can't put down. You pick them up and read them to the end - no stopping, no eating, no sleeping - just that compelling. I was really hoping for something similar from The Last Christian, but, alas, this is a horse of a different color.
While taking nothing away from the story that was written here, I found that this book had a little too much going for it. There was a murder mystery that the main characters were trying to solve. There was a science fiction element involving the replacing of our brains with mechanical brains. There was a conspiracy / action angle with dirty politics and corrupt businesses being involved with genocide and potential mad scientist escapades. And then there was all the apologetics and apocalyptic stuff that dealt with our heroine being the Last Christian in the United States. Each element of this story got its moment to shine, but they didn't gel very well together. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I was kind of hoping for a conclusion where all the story lines came to a head at the same time... and that never happened.
Criticisms aside, however, I found the book an enjoyable read. It was well paced and never dull. The characters were interesting and many times the descriptions of the future felt spot on (and sometimes not - Jetpacks? Really?). I especially loved the background history of how Christianity died out in the United States which sounded frighteningly real.
I recommend The Last Christian and hope you'll go out and buy it. It was a good read.
2 comments:
How does being the "last" Christian play into it?
Cheers.
The idea, which isn't spelled out in much detail, is that God allowed Christianity to die in the United States. Our heroine has grown up as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and has never stepped foot in the United States. When she emerges from an isolated village, she receives a message from her grandparents recorded nearly 16 years before where they tell her that in a dream, Christ revealed to them that she would revive Christianity in the United States. Therefore, she is the Last Christian. Of course, by the end of the book, she's not so much alone.
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