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Religious fiction. It might not be the first genre one thinks of when considering chart-topping literary achievements, but authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkings have found success with their Revelations-inspired Left Behind series. With upwards of ten million books sold, this series is fast becoming must-have reading throughout the country. LaHaye and Jenkins have churned out nine books in just over five years, with the reading public yearning for more. Their novels are tales of humans rallying together just prior to the end of the world, when all of the prophecies of Revelations are coming to pass on earth. They tell of man finding God in the greatest hour of need, and it all begins in the opening chapters of the series' first offering, Left Behind.

Rayford Steele is a successful airline pilot whose career is in a lot better shape than his personal life. His wife Irene is lost to him, so devoted is she to Christianity. So lonely is Rayford that he is contemplating an affair with the beautiful Hattie Durham, one of his usual flight attendants. The two have chatted often and even dined together, but nothing has come of it... yet. On one particular flight home, Rayford decides it just might be time to make a move. Before he can do anything, though, Hattie comes to him screaming that dozens of passengers have disappeared. In mid-air, the bodies have vanished, leaving their clothes in nice, little piles in their seats. But where did they go?

Buck Williams is one of the most successful writers in the history of Global Weekly, a prominent international newspaper based in New York. He is on board Rayford's plane when the mysterious disappearances begin, and he is just as confused as everyone else. He knows, however, that these events will surely make quite a story. Bruce Barnes, however, pastor at a Chicago area church, knows full well what has happened. After all, he is one of the few members of his parish not to disappear. He knows the truth - this is the Rapture, and God has taken his children up to heaven. He is one of the ones left behind.

Left Behind chronicles the early days of the Rapture's survivors. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins take this cataclysmic event and look at it from the perspective of a handful of central characters. They are all faced with the same real-world events, but they must all come to understand it in their own way. The authors borrow liberally from Scripture, especially Revelations, yet somehow manage to avoid being too "preachy." They reveal one possible interpretation of the Bible, as well as its likely impact on the inhabitants of earth. With Left Behind, their topic is fresh and exciting, and they may be single-handedly responsibly for awakening a genre.

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