2001's top-selling book offers a sequel to the Bible

I've never read a book quite like this before, nor had quite the reading experience such as this. 

If, like me, you're not familiar with this best-selling book of 2001, you'll probably at least have heard of the series Left Behind, if only because you, again like me, became vaguely aware that the heroically-cool-in-the-80s Kirk Cameron grew up to star in a series of movies based on that book series about those "left behind" after true believers were ushered off into heaven. 

This is the ninth book (!) in the series of sixteen books (!) but, since some later books were written as prequels, this is actually the twelfth book chronologically. Keen readers will note that when I realized that two Pulitzer Prize winning books by John Updike were actually the third and fourth part of a quadrilogy, I felt that I owed it to the series to read all four.  I did not feel that same pull with Desecration, so I jumped right into the middle of the story, and I imagine this is what it must have felt like for someone to watch Avengers: Infinity War without having seen anything from the MCU ahead of time.

The first five pages feature quick introductions to twenty-one characters so you could have some hope of following the story. This whole series must have been one of the greatest "what if?" pitches with the idea that the Rapture (that's the transported to heaven part) is really happening. It's a great pitch because it's an intriguing twist on a 2000-year-old book, and it's a great pitch for readers who would love to hear a tale of the Rapture happening in contemporary times with people named Buck and Mac fighting for the rest of humanity from the Antichrist.

As a book, it does its essential work of moving a story along just fine, and maybe I would have to read the entire saga to fully appreciate the breadth of artistry it takes to craft such a long tale, but it ultimately feels like it's playing to a pre-determined audience and already knows it's guaranteed their attention - and I'm just not in that audience.