Millennium Rising

Exploiting the paranoia surrounding the imminent new millennium, Jensen's first novel paints an apocalyptic vision of 21st-century avarice and affliction. In 2005 the world is facing famine. When numerous people in Santa Pelagia, Mexico, report visions of saints and gods, the Vatican sends Father Michele Deauchez to determine the authenticity of the sightings. Elsewhere, there is a quick succession of disasters: spores destroy human tissue and crops; a red tide slaughters fish worldwide; Pope Innocent XIV is assassinated; an Ebola-type viral plague breaks out. These events set Father Deauchez and his friend Simon Hill, a New York Times reporter, pursuing their predictable hypothesis--that a conspiracy lies behind all the mayhem. The rest of the novel follows the heroes along numerous hair-breadth escapes from their enemies. These are led by a Bill Gates clone named Andrew Cole, head of a telecommunications firm whose global network has been publicizing the prophetic menaces. Dr. Michael Smith, a mild-mannered epidemiologist, is called in to deal with the plague and resolves to find the antidote. He is the only convincing character here, however, and does little to offset the implausible military scenarios, absence of significant female characters and pat ending. Jensen's lively descriptions of disaster offer a harrowing, voyeuristic pleasure, but the novel is unlikely to appeal to a wide range of SF (or thriller) fans. Agent, Shawna McCarthy. Author tour. (Oct.) FYI: Jensen designed the interactive computer mystery game series Gabriel Knight.