Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Bayport Public Library | FICTION PAT | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | FICTION PAT | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Two teenage girls claim that they are pregnant virgins. But only one is carrying the child of Christ . . . and the other will deliver the son of Satan.
In Boston, seventeen-year-old Kathleen is pregnant, but she swears she's a virgin. In Ireland, another teenage girl, Colleen, discovers she is in the same impossible condition. Cities all around the world are suddenly overwhelmed by epidemics, droughts, famines, floods, and worse.
As terrifying forces of light and darkness begin to gather, Kathleen and Colleen find themselves at the center of the final battle for the very soul of humanity. Each of the girls must convince a young detective that she is the true mother of God . . . and that the other is carrying the devil.
The stakes couldn't be higher in this page-turning thriller. You won't be able to put it down until the final reveal: which baby is the miracle . . . and which the monster?
Author Notes
James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, on March 22, 1947. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1969 and received a M. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1970. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was written while he was working in a mental institution and was rejected by 26 publishers before being published and winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery.
He is best known as the creator of Alex Cross, the police psychologist hero of such novels as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross has been portrayed on the silver screen by Morgan Freeman. He has had eleven on his books made into movies and ranks as number 3 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list. He also writes the Women's Murder Club series, the Michael Bennett series, the Maximum Ride series, Daniel X series, the Witch and Wizard series, BookShots series, Private series, NYPD Red series, and the Middle School series for children. He has won numerous awards including the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award.
James Patterson introduced the Bookshots Series in 2016 which is advertised as All Thriller No Filler. The first book in the series, Cross Kill, made the New York Times Bestseller list in June 2016. The third and fourth books, The Trial, and Little Black Dress, made the New York Times Bestseller list in July 2016. The next books in the series include, $10,000,000 Marriage Proposal, French Kiss, Hidden: A Mitchum Story (co-authored with James O. Born). and The House Husband (co-authored Duane Swierczynski).
Patterson's novel, co-authored with Maxine Paetro, Woman of God, became a New York Times bestseller in 2016.
Patterson co-authored with John Connoly and Tim Malloy the true crime expose Filthy Rich about billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Eppstein.
In January 2017, he co-authored with Ashwin Sanghi the bestseller Private Delhi. And in August 2017, he co-authored with Richard Dilallo, The Store.
The Black Book is a stand-alone thriller, co-authored by James Patterson and David Ellis.
In April 2018, he co-authored Texas Ranger with Andrew Bourelle.
In May 2018, he co-authored Private Princess with Rees Jones.
In August 2018 he co-authored Fifty Fifty with Candice Fox.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This updated YA adaptation of Patterson's 2000 thriller is built on a powerful premise: two pregnant teens, Kathleen of Newport, R.I., and Colleen of Maam Cross, Ireland, are medically confirmed to be virgins. This and further otherworldly occurrences (plagues, droughts) seem to conform to a prophecy given by the Blessed Mother Mary at her 1917 apparition in Fatima, Portugal, that two virgin births would occur, one the Son of God, the other the son of Satan. The Roman Catholic Church assigns Fathers Rosetti and O'Carroll to authenticate the medical claims, while a Boston cardinal hires private detective Anne Fitzgerald. Anne, the novel's protagonist, is a former nun who gave up the calling because of feelings she had for Father O'Carroll. Her chapters, first-person accounts, are narrated by Soler, an actress who, though her Boston accent is acceptable, sounds a bit too young and too sweet for a practicing PI, even one who'd formerly carried a rosary instead of a gun. Reader Ballerini handles the objective, third-person chapters, which follow the grueling progress of Father Rosetti, whose Italian accent thickens during his many moments of extreme stress in encounters with a deep-voiced Satanic figure. Age 15-up. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Warn the fans: this isn't a new Alex Cross psychokiller foray (Pop Goes the Weasel, 1999, etc.), but instead a rewritten and retitled version of Virgin, Patterson's apocalyptic 1980 horror novel. At the French shrine of Lourdes in 1917, three children delivered a prophecy from the Virgin Mary: At some point in the future, two girls will experience near-simultaneous immaculate conceptions; one will give birth to a new Savior; the other will bring the Antichrist into the world. Now, in an undated present, with strange new plagues and catastrophes filling the news every day, and the Pope dying of a horrible virus, private detective Anne Fitzgerald is abruptly hired by Boston's Cardinal Rooney to keep an eye on young Kathleen Beavier, a spoiled, trash-talking (but virginal) rich kid. Kathleen's attempt to get an abortion is stymied when she finds her doctor's bleeding corpse hanging from a hook in a South Boston clinic. Since then she's been hearing nasty voices and believes she's being watched by animals. An ex-cop with a Harvard psychology degree, Fitzgerald is also a former nun who left the order after falling in love with a priest. Though that love affair was never consummated, fate will reunite Fitzgerald with good-looking Father Justin O'Carroll. Meanwhile, in an Irish village, poor but pure Colleen Deirdre Galaher is getting dirty looks from the nuns at her Catholic boarding school. Sent from Rome to investigate, Father Nicholas Rosetti, the Vatican's international expert on miracles, finds himself aroused by the sight of the girl. Could this have anything to do with the inexplicable fainting spells he suffered in Rome only days ago? And what about that nasty voice that reviles him in his dreams? One can only hope that the ridiculous, cliff-hanging finale's promise of a sequel will never be fulfilled. Post'Exorcist horror clichs, updated with a handful of contemporary references. (First printing of 1,000,000; $1,000,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Booklist Review
Famine. Disease. Virgin pregnancies. High priests. Exorcisms. Has the best-selling Patterson gone medieval? No, he's back in contemporary Boston for another one of his nursery-rhyme thrillers ( Hide & Seek, Jack & Jill, etc.). This one spins an allegorical tale about good versus evil, but the juxtaposition of modern-day setting against ancient beliefs just doesn't work. Anne Fitzgerald, ex-nun turned detective, and Justin O'Carroll, priest turned detective, are hired by the Archbishop of Boston to help investigate apparent virgin pregnancies of two otherwise normal teenage girls. Could these be true miracles? No one seems to doubt it, which becomes a serious narrative problem. Not only is the public's lack of skepticism hard to buy, it also deprives the story of needed tension: the faith of the true believers versus the doubts of the rest of society. The tale gains a little momentum, though, when the floods, droughts, and waves of disease sweep the hemispheres, forcing even the most unbelieving reader to root for the faithful few. Patterson's legion of fans will queue up for this one, of course, but they may be disappointed. Let's hope Patterson dumps the nursery rhymes next time and brings back his Alex Cross series. --Mary Frances Wilkens
Library Journal Review
Two virgins are pregnant, and prophecy has it that one will give birth to the Messiah and the other to Satan's child. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
