Impeachable Offense: The Conspiracy Grows . . .

Ms. Hart has created a group of people I relate to better than the mega-selling left behind series. I love the political aspect of the possible end times scenario. While Jenkins has gotten famous for his never ending series, I think Ms. heart and Mel Odom actually do a better job of developing a plot line that I care about while sticking to the theological idea. Excellent job.

In the first novel Ms. Hart took a different path then the Left Behind series. She helped us see into the minds of "churched people" who did not become Christians, and who remain on earth when all Christians and children disappear. Additionally, rather than relying on action-oriented plot, the author used dialogue to set up the somewhat complicated setting and plot. With Book 2, the story reaches a pleasant stride. We really feel like we're in the White House, and some of the other power places of the world. We sense the protaganist's struggle with being in the corridors of power, yet relegated to the outer circle. The tension between playing the game and keeping to a straight and honorable moral compass comes through clearly. There is action, suspense, and some James Bond-type heroics here, but the series is meant to examine the political angle of the End Times. By its nature, this focus requires much dialogue. Ms. Hart's prose are clear, crisp and generally concise. Bottom-line: Impeacheable Offense will make or brake this series for you. If you enjoy politics, enjoy intrigue, and do not mind a fairly steady diet of spiritual overtones, you'll enjoy this series. Those looking for more direct action or more subtle spirituality will want to stick with Left Behind, the military series, or perhaps some Ted Dekker books.

Ms. Hart has found her rhythm in this sequel to "End of State," the first book in this series. I had to downshift a bit to get through the first part of "End of State," but Ms. Hart picked up the pace with her sequel - "Impeachable Offense." I liked her first in the series. I loved this second book. I greatly admire Ms. Hart's ability to keep a story glued together. She did it well with the first one (holding together a slowly developing story is painfully difficult), but in this second book I believe Ms. Hart shines. Ms. Hart has found her pace and her niche (her niche at least for now). Her characters were developed deeply in the first book, but the pace was a bit on the slower-than-I'd-have-liked side. In this second book, Ms. Hart remains true to her desire to develop her characters deeply for the reader, but she gracefully and successfully manages to marry this approach with a more stepped-up pace for the book. I have thoroughly enjoyed the arrival of the prophetic fiction genre. It is now my favorite genre for casual reading so I'm probably prone to pouring praise over writers in this genre. My fondness for the genre is probably eroding some of my ability to offer an objective review, but I really enjoyed "Impeachable Offense." I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this series until I got to about the 100-page mark of the first book. From that point forward, Ms. Hart has been building a fan out of me. Having completed her second book, I am now anxiously awaiting the release of her third book in this series. As I noted in my review of the first book, whoever edited this book did their job well. I didn't find even one typo or grammatical goof-up, which is increasingly rare in today's books. A cleanly edited book is a refreshing sight. My hat is off to you, Ms. Hart. You've won me over with this sequel. You have taken some measurable risks with your books. You chose to color outside the lines a bit. And it worked. Congrats to you and the editor who believed in you enough to send you to press.

Harriet Klausner has done very well summarizing the second novel in this series. The characterization is very strong and Ms. Hart successfully has me hooked for book 3 to find out how Brad, Mariette, Marcus, and Randal survive another day with Nicolae gaining more power. The only thing about the two books in the series so far that I feel is a bit lacking are the effects of the Rapture on society, the economy, and the national psyche. I personally think the Rapture will so devastate America that we will quickly cease from being a major player on the world scene. That probably explains why Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East are the main players in biblical prophetic passages detailed for the 7-year Tribulation period. I think the novel leads one to believe that relatively few people disappeared in the Rapture. In addition, the events of novel imply that the economy, transportation systems, communication infrastructure, civil authority and government are still functioning fairly well and have not completely collapsed. For the sake of developing the novel series, Ms. Hart has to make these assumptions. Knowing Americans, there will be widespread panic, looting, hoarding and certainly not "business as usual." Nevertheless, the series is engaging and I will continue to read subsequent offerings.

In the days following the vanishing of millions of people including all of the world's children, the survivors seeks answers, solace and fellowship. White House Chief of staff Brad Benton needs this more than most because he just survived the second attempt on his life in a matter of days. Brad believes there is a link between the attempted hits and his investigation of the death of the former press secretary. When a third attempt fails, Brad with the help of Marriette (the associate director of FEMA), her son Randal, and Marcus (the head of the New Covenant Ministry) work together, using all the political resources at their disposal to figure out whom is behind these attempted killings. When she is not helping Brad, Marriette works on getting food, water, and medical supplies to areas that need them using the nation's waterways. She meets with the Mayor of New York, who is also a recent convert, and together with Marcus develop a plan to have an underground railroad in place when the antichrist begins his persecution of the tribulation saints. Following the success of END OF STATE, Nessa Hart has written an exciting thriller that will please fans of quality end of day's political thrillers. The characters are even more sharply defined in IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE so much that readers will feel they are being reunited with dear friends. There is plenty of non-stop action that takes the audience along as part of the adventure, a feat few authors accomplish. Harriet Klausner