RECKONING, THE by Thomas Monteleone - FIRST EDITION BOOK

It is the dawn of a New Millennium--a new age for mankind and, most especially, a new dawn for the Catholic Church.At the international convocation that welcomes the new millennium, the Pope collapses and dies in the arms of Peter Carenza, a charismatic young priest who has drawn major media attention with his "miracle tour" of the United States. With the dying Pontiff's blessing of Carenza still ringing in their ears, the Archbishops unanimously elect Peter as the new Pope. Peter's announced plans to make "a new Church for a new Millennium" draw the faithful by the millions.Peter Carenza is no mere Roman Catholic miracle-worker, raising the dead, healing the sick, and summoning lightning. Cloned from DNA obtained from the Shroud of Turin, his mother a virgin nun, Peter is the product of a secret Vatican conspiracy to bring about the Second Coming. But Carenza is someone far more dangerous and far more evil, not the Son of God at all, but the Son of Another. The few short years of his ministry have been full of death and madness, all concealed with charm and the power of money and faith.Only three people know the truth about the newest--and last--Pope: the woman Carenza once loved, who has seen his true nature an Archbishop who begins to distrust Carenza despite his personal magnetism and Peter's mother, a cloistered nun who truly hears the word of God. As Peter seeks to destroy the seven seals that hold back Armageddon, this new holy trinity searches for a way to kill the man who should have been mankind's Savior, but instead is its ultimate Damnation.