Hallelujah City

LaMarr (October Revolution) has created a hectic, full-bodied account of a troubled young lady enmeshed in a bizarre religious cult. After three years, Mary Chambers, 21, leaves the cult's complex, Hallelujah City located near Trappers Point, Minn. She arrives in Aurora, Colo., to save her father, Scott, on the eve of the New Millennium and the world's end, according the Mary's charismatic religious guru, Daniel Hawker, who views himself as Jesus Christ's brother. (Before his cult days, Daniel was a talented studio musician and a disgraced Disneyland magician.) To complicate matters, Mary carries Daniel's ""New Chosen One"" child. Meantime, would-be author Adrian C. Hummel investigates Daniel and believes Mary to be his ticket inside, where he'll find the material he needs to pen a block-buster expose. But Adrian's not the only one with an eye on Hallelujah City; various government agencies (DEA, ATF, FBI) troll the fringes, ready to pounce. After Doomsday fizzles, Mary returns to Hallelujah City, accompanied by her enraged, skeptical father. LaMarr borrows from other high-profile cult disasters, and though some of the material may be too familiar to readers, the plot is stocked with enough tension to hook readers until the chaotic, fiery climax.