Wilderness Rising
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
From A. L. Shields—pseudonym for New York Times bestselling author Stephen L. Carter—comes the thrilling sequel to The Church Builder.
It began as a search for the truth about her best friend’s death. Now Bethany Barclay is caught in the ultimate struggle to keep faith alive.
The Wilderness, an ancient cabal bent on destroying Christianity, has murdered Bethany’s best friend, framed her for acts of terrorism, and captured the brilliant teen hacker she vowed to protect. To ransom the girl, Bethany must traverse England and Europe to find the Pilate Stone—a mysterious first-century artifact that might not even exist.
She’s not the only one who wants the stone. The Garden, a powerful group of intellectuals sworn to save the Church and help Bethany, is willing to betray her to achieve their higher goals. And a mysterious third faction lurks in the shadows, waiting for her to stumble.
Alone and on the run in this international landscape of double and triple agents, Bethany’s quest becomes an ever more complex and dangerous contest against players who don’t play fair.
In this riveting sequel to The Church Builder, many of A. L. Shield’s cunning characters are ruthlessly devoted to preserving a world where faith is possible. Others aim to brutally, and finally, undermine belief.
Including Bethany’s.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the sequel to The Church Builder, also by Shields (a pseudonym for Yale law professor and bestselling author Stephen L. Carter), Bethany Barclay travels the world trying to understand why she was framed for terrorism. Her best friend, Annabelle Seaver, has been murdered, and a young colleague kidnapped. Bethany can help herself and free her colleague if she finds the Pilate Stone, a limestone artifact sought by Annabelle and believed to have an inscription about Jesus Christ written by Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. Also seeking the stone is the Wilderness, a cabal of influential intellectuals bent on destroying all forms of religious faith, and the Garden, another mysterious group intent on thwarting the Wilderness. Shields's complicated narrative drags at times, such as when the plot seems to call for a breathless pace; the changes in tense that signal shifts in point of view are jarring. But the writing is sound, studded with small gems ("the dark falls suddenly, as though the sun... just decides to give up and get some rest"). Readers who enjoy Dan Brown style intellectual thrillers may enjoy the plot twists and stream of characters hurtling across the pages.
