The Earth's Last Days, The Battle Continues

Apocalypse Crucible
By Mel Odom
Published 2004
Follows Apocalypse Dawn

It is several days since the Rapture occured and the Syrian army invaded Turkey. In Sanliurfa, Turkey 1st Sgt. Goose Gander is a member of a force of Turkish soldiers, UN Peacekeepers, and American Rangers and Marines, fighting a delaying action, buying time with there lives well allied forces marshal for a counter-attack. The Syrian Army and PKK terrorists make life difficult enough for Goose, but he also has to deal with a commanding officer who grows increasingly paranoid, a reporter who hounds him, a CIA team with dubois motives, and a renegade spy named Icarus, all well worring about a son who was taken in the Rapture. Back home Megan Gander struggles to help the kids in her care face the dark times ahead, well in Alabama Navy Chaplain Delroy Harte is tormented by a demon, as he questions his faith. In the backround a man named Nicolae Carpathia continues his rise to power. Authore Mel Odom's second entry into this series is slightly better then the first, largely dropping the angry teen storyline and focusing more on Goose and Delroy. However Megan's story is still largely a distraction from the action. Again the battles are suitably apocalyptic, however anyone associated with the military well probably enjoy tearing apart the numerouis errors the author has made (ie. why do the Rangers seem to operate more like Delta Force). Altogether the book is on par with the first, though it does seem a little less preachy.

** out of ****