This four-day weekend I’m challenging my book selection skills by pre-rating three apocalyptic thrillers, reading them, and seeing if I was right in my initial assessment.
I choose my books on NetGalley and Edelweiss+ through what interests me at the time. Some I select months in advance of the publishing date and others right before. I try to mix in different types of books so I don’t have an entire week of cozy mysteries followed by a week of domestic thrillers. However, this week I have a trio of apocalyptic thrillers. Here’s the rundown.
Religion and Nazis are key plot points in Sign of the Cross by Glenn Cooper. It is published by independent Black Thorn Books. Out July 4th.
The king of alternate historic fiction, Harry Turtledove, takes on the End of Days in Alpha and Omega. Published by science fiction and fantasy publisher, Del Rey Books, this book promises dirty bombs, other signs of the apocalypse, and a startling discovery during a dig under the Temple Mount. Out July 2nd.
Finally, I have Storm Rising by Ronie Kendig released by Bethany House, a Christian publisher. A centuries old manuscript carries the key to stop the End Time scourges that are erupting worldwide as foretold in the Bible. Also, out July 2nd.
So based on an idea by fellow WordPresser, Shanah at the Bionic Bookworm Blog, I’m going to guess which book I will like best and worst with one in between. Then next week, after reading and reviewing all three books, I’ll report on my results. This should be fun! Here is my initial scoring:
- Alpha and Omega—it promises the twisty plot and surprising conclusion that I enjoy.
- Sign of the Cross—it sounds like The DaVinci Code in the end times, which is a good thing. I loved that book!
- Storm Rising—I read a review on NetGalley saying it was a military thriller, which is not my favorite, for sure. However, it has the highest rating on NetGalley of the three books (5 out of 5 stars average with 31 reviews) so my decision to put it last may be completely misguided.
Wish me luck and let the reading begin…