Amazon Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Warner Books ISBN-10:  0446522856 Type: Fiction Pages: 484 Copyright: Sept 1998 ISBN-13: 9780446522854 The planet is rocked by a staggering spiritual event--followed by reports of the appearance of a woman with extraordinary abilities. Sensing the story of a lifetime, television correspondent Jon Feldman embarks on a dangerous quest to find out who or what she is. As the woman begins to connect to the millions who flock to her, the world erupts in dangerous ideological conflict, and Feldman must learn the truth--before it all goes tragically wrong.

Kirkus Reviews
An impressively imagined debut offers a devilishly cunning speculation on how a sinful world might greet news of a messiah's appearance come the millennium. Jerusalem-based WNN-TV correspondent John Feldman gets appreciably more than he ever bargained for on New Year's Eve, 1999. Expecting to provide only cursory coverage of local observances, the journalist and his cameraman, Breck Hunter, wind up investigating the mysterious destruction of a hush-hush Israel Defense Force (IDF) lab in the Negev Desert. The sole survivor of this cataclysm is an ethereal young woman called Jeza, whom millennarian groups throughout the world soon hail as their long- awaited redeemer. Spouting gnomic parables, citing a gospel known as Apotheosis (from the so-called ``Newest' Testament), and performing the occasional miracle, the arriviste divinity travels the holy lands of the Middle East, urging ever larger congregations of Christians, Jews, and Muslims to forsake the distractive trappings of formal liturgies. With logistical assistance from Feldman's ratings-obsessed network, the deity is soon able to present her provocative message (fiercely resisted by established religions) to a wider world from forums in Salt Lake City, the Vatican, and Washington. Meanwhile, word leaks out that the IDF facility was engaged in genetic engineering projects, which could make Jeza a robot with artificial intelligence of a very high order rather than anyone's savior. During the Lenten season, hopes for peace on earth evanesce as Armageddon-scale violence racks key venues, and the Antichrist or True Prophetess is martyred at the close of a Good Friday sermon before the Wailing Wall. While cooler heads in Rome ponder, IDF renegades, die-hard ecclesiastics, and others with apocalyptic axes to grind vie to ensure--or abort- -Jeza's resurrection on Easter morning. Deliciously wicked entertainment that combines biotech with theological arcana to mount an effective (and often offensive) assault upon churches militant, affluent, and complacent. (TV rights to Columbia/Tri-Star) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Booklist
This book is so full of hot topics, readers might burn their fingers turning pages. It's the turn of the millennium, things are getting very hyper, and plenty of folk are flocking to the Holy Land just in case the world is going to end. Jon Feldman, a star reporter for WNN, a cable news outlet, is on the job, but he is not prepared for the story that begins on Christmas Day, when a powerful and beautiful young woman steps out of the Negev Desert and proclaims herself the new messiah. Her gospel includes an admonishment to abolish all organized religions--a position that causes the considerable power of the Catholic Church to be turned against her, beginning a series of events that just may lead to Armageddon. Kleier, a first-time author, doesn't miss a beat in this story, capturing all the craziness of the last decade of the twentieth century, firing it with the latest scientific advancements (like cloning), and wrapping it all with the gauze of mysticism. Complex plotting seems smooth as silk here, and the idea of using a CNN-style reporter as the messiah's confidant is a perfect touch for today's media-crazy world. The question of whether the enigmatic Jeza is the daughter of God or the anti-Christ engages everyone from the pope to the president, and it will keep readers enthralled until the very end. Expect to hear a lot about a new subgenre called the "millennial thriller" in the next couple of years, but don't expect to find one any better than this. Ilene Cooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.