57568

Title: Mark of Evil (The End Series #4)
Author: Tim LaHaye & Craig Parshall
Pages: 416
Year: 2014
Publisher: Zondervan
The first three novels in this series were extraordinary, beginning with Edge of Apocalypse, next Thunder of Heaven, followed by Brink of Chaos, concluding with Mark of Evil. Mark of Evil is a fictional story of what occurs on the earth after believers are taken to heaven, referring to the Rapture. Personally, I haven’t made a purposeful point to study end time events, so don’t read this book looking for answers. Read the Bible if you desire to understand more of what God has and hasn’t revealed about what is to occur before Jesus returns.
Mark of Evil lays out the fictional underground church in many nations that has joined the Global Alliance group. The United States is not one of the participants and is under the leadership of a man named Colliquin whose sole desire is to be The One people look to. Colliquin has hired many workers to reprogram those who have the tag under their skin and also has plans to overtake the internet worldwide. Readers will be able to tell whose side this fictional player works for and it isn’t good; in fact, it is downright evil.
Ethan March was chosen to head the group Joshua Jordan had founded and operated. He had left behind a series of video messages for his predecessor to lead him through the Tribulation time. The threat on Ethan’s life is never-ending and he is always trying to stay one step ahead of the Global Alliance. There are others who desire to advance the kingdom of God as well as those who wish to destroy it completely.
Toward the end of the novel, the pace of the action gains speed along with an increase in the level of tension. There are many characters that are operating underneath the radar of the evil one in order to avoid capture and torture. Some are caught and killed, others are given knowledge and supernatural guidance in escaping, but the audience will be caught up trying to figure out who will or will not escape.
There is an aspect of the hope that the gospel brings throughout the book, which is great. There is also a budding romance that began in the third novel of this series and continues here. Although I enjoyed reading the book, I think the first two were the best of all four, but don’t pass up reading a good suspense novel!
My rating is 4 stars.
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Mixed emotions on this one...love books about End Times and while this one was fairly well-written and had some good parts here and there, something was just missing. I think I can put it on a combination of slightly underdeveloped characters and a lack of necessary tension at the right moments that other End Times novels exhibit. I did enjoy how it was stressed during the Tribulation that the One World government would arise, and that they would stop at nothing to suppress Christianity for the "good of all people". Sound familiar? Time to wake up.... ( )