The Second Coming is a singleton fantasy novel. Sometime in the near future, a Great Depression has the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding over the world. The Middle East has been devastated by the One-Day War and Israeli refugees are crowding into California. Four major parties vie for power in the United States; Florence Metzger, the current President, is from the Centrist party. Eight messiahs have been proclaimed since 2005, including two Islamic Madhis, one Buddhist Maitreya, and five Christians.

Ngunda Eliga Aran is one of these Christian messiahs, although he has not yet acknowledged his status. Born in Malawi of an African mother, his father was a New Zealander with Maori, Irish and English ancestry. A graduate of the University of Toronto in computer science, Aran became a research assistant at Advanced Artificial Intelligence Systems while going to grad school part-time. He became a vice president at AAIS at age twenty-five, but resigned at age thirty to pursue the spiritual side of his life. He eventually became a psychotherapist, then a new-age columnist, and founded Millennium to promote tolerance and compassion throughout the world.

In this novel, Lee Shoreff and her husband Ben are hired by Millennium and, with their two daughters, move out west to live at the organization compound. Lee has had a bad experience with a religious cult and is very suspicious of the organization's goals and lifestyle, but the depression has ruined her consulting business and Ben has lost his job, so they need the money. She becomes a close associate of Dove -- the name used for Aran by his inner circle -- and participates in many of the everyday functions as she redesigns the organization. Gradually she loses her apprehensions and starts to identify with the Millennium purposes.

Millennium has many enemies who feel a burning anger when they hear Dove speak. Luther Koskela is a mercenary soldier who has been hired by his uncles to assassinate Aran. Thomas Corkery is an ex-IRA thug who has been hired by the Catholic Soldiers of America to dispose of Aran. Other individuals and groups are also out to eliminate Aran and his teachings.

This novel is a story of the millennium and the second coming, but with a twist. This coming will not be the second, but more like the eighth, and the event will occur later than expected. Many of the signs will also be unexpected, but still unmistakable. Once again, the messiah will not conform to popular beliefs, but will nevertheless bring a definite and clear message to the world.

The novel incorporates many existing threads into this messianic tale, including Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's personality typing from the four Michael books. Many of the elements are new-age beliefs derived from Buddhist and other Oriental thinking. Thus, it will conflict with popular millennial thought. Overall, it depicts a very believable portrayal of the coming of an avatar to divert the world from a hateful and nonproductive path into one of increased cooperation and love.

Highly recommended for Dalmas fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of the intervention of higher powers into the ordinary world.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Let me preface this by saying I know John Dalmas personally and he's a great guy. There is a lot of regional veracity here, especially in describing Spokane, where we both live. The only thing I noted that was off was that SeaFirst Stadium is now Avista Stadium; this book was written before Bank of America purchased SeaFirst Bank.

The main shortcoming to me was the large number of characters. I had a hard time connecting with some of them, especially Aran. If you don't identify with the doomed prophet, it's hard to get into this book. The character I liked best was Lee, a professional woman struggling with child custody and other family issues. Lee tries to protect her children as they are drawn more into the cult-like atmosphere of Millennial beliefs, and that resonated with me.

I was also surprised at the ending. The consequences of a global disaster are barely hinted at. In speaking with John, it had not been my impression this book was to start a series, but if it is number one of a series, the omissions make more sense. The full ramifications will obviously be explored in later volumes.

I do not recommend this book to anyone with strong Christian beliefs, as the New Age and Asian religious references will not appeal to you at all.

Deby Fredericks, author of The Magister's Mask