Riven

In this painfully slow story, Jenkins (Left Behind) builds two protagonists' story lines-each from different generations and different walks of life, yet destined to cross paths through God's providence. When readers meet young Brady Wayne Darby, he is still struggling to make it through high school, barely weaseling his way out of troubles that often come his way. With the Rev. Thomas Carey, Jenkins introduces an elder pastor, down on his luck and trying to find a new flock-eventually landing himself a prison chaplaincy on death row. Though the story ends with a predictable redemption, along the way, readers are assaulted with a heavy dose of despair, with women who cause the men in their lives endless trials and a plot that takes its sweet time. Since the novel is a complete departure from Jenkins's high-octane Left Behind series, longtime fans may be surprised by his versatility even as they grow impatient with the story's lugubrious development.