The Europa Conspiracy

Babylon Rising #3

by Tim LaHaye, Bob Phillips

Tim LaHaye has called Babylon Rising his most exciting series ever, and The Europa Conspiracy is the most thrilling and suspenseful installment yet. Reaching back to some of the most dramatic and prophetically significant stories of the Bible, and forward to the creation of ultimate evil in the modern world, the awe-inspiring revelations never let up. It begins when Michael Murphy heads to the ancient city of Babylon in pursuit of one of the most famous and mystifying of Biblical prophecies: The Handwriting on the Wall. But the closer he gets to deciphering the true meaning of Daniel’s ancient message for our troubled times, the closer Murphy comes to a shattering confrontation with the forces of darkness that will cause the earth itself to tremble.

In The Europa Conspiracy , Tim LaHaye once again shows how his thrill-a-minute storytelling and deep understanding of the Bible have combined to make him one of today’s most popular and influential fiction authors.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Suspense, Religion

354 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Timothy "Tim" F. LaHaye was an American evangelical Christian minister, author, and speaker, best known for the Left Behind series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-wrote with Jerry B. Jenkins.

He has written over 50 books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part Indiana Jones, part Mission: Impossible, and with a few elements of Left Behind, Karen Kingsbury's novels, and old-school Biblical epics mixed in, The Europa Conspiracy is an action-packed, Biblically inspired thrill ride. As with the previous books, the heroes are admirable, the villains are perfectly despicable (especially Talon, the big boss), the plot is very engrossing, and one particular long scene right in the middle of the novel is so well-written, it's like watching an action flick on an IMAX screen. The problems are minor; the biggest one is that, although there's plenty of wham-bam thrills that'll spin your head "right 'round like a record," there are also a few slow moments, though the insane action sequences that surround it make it worth the while to read nonetheless. Also, some discussion about human reproduction, as well as a few mildly graphic sequences--though they all are a far cry from the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark--make this inappropriate for young children. For those who have read and enjoyed the first two Babylon Rising books, this third installment delivers the thrills that the previous novels had and then some.

EDIT: I pretty much feel the same way...so, again, why reinvent the wheel?

EDIT 2: Just like the last one, this wasn't as action-packed as I remembered...though it was still fun.

[José Antonio Gutiérrez Guevara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debo reconocer que me entretuvo más de lo que esperaba. Creí que había logrado predecir el final de la historia, y no fue así. Sin embargo, siento que al final las revoluciones se redujeron y tuvo un final plano. Pudo ser mejor. De todos modos, lo pasé bien. Nada que envidiar a Dan Brown.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading about Daniel and the Writings on the Wall but this was also a slow read.
Wish Murphy and Isis could've tied up their storyline. Did Murphy survive? We'll never know.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a bad read, but not my favourite of all the series. There's a glaring writing error between Chapters 59 and 61 where the aftershock of the earthquake destroys the tunnels and Bingman has gone back for the camera. Murphy thinks Bingman is dead and suddenly he pops up, camera in hand and says "Looking for this Murphy?" and is clearly alive and then in Chapter 61 Isis says, "This has been a terrible day Michael.....and thinking Will was dead..." and then in Chapter 62 first paragraph, "Bingham's miraculous escape from the tunnel..." and then almost to the end of the chapter, "In the restaurant, Murphy and Abrams were catching up"....Murphy said. "I still haven't gotten over the loss of Bingman, he was a really nice man. His death brought to mind...". Did anyone else notice this, or am I going totally bonkers?

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall entertaining, but there was a huge error. The character of Will Bingman (mistakenly printed as Bingham multiple times) narrowly survives one of the adventures. Several times it mentions how they’re glad he survived, gets to go home to his family, etc. Then a few pages later Murphy states, “I still haven’t gotten over the loss of Bingman. His death brought to mind…” Oof, that’s a pretty big mistake.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another amazing book by Dr Tim Lahaye. The action continues as Dr Murphey is lured by Methusela to discover the writing on the wall that occured during King Balshazzars reign. Of course, before he can discover this, he has several encounters with Talon and several terrorists that have the main goal of killing Dr Murphey, Dr McDonald, and destroying the United States.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this adventure! Couldn't wait to start the next book!

[Desiree Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book wish I were a tv show!!

[Heidi Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed thrills and chills!!

[Mandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the whole series.

[Kammie Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm loving this book. Biblical prophecy, intrigue, suspense and light romance. Have fun and remember to read the series in order.

[janet gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

It kept me interested in the series, but nothing he writes will ever be as good as the Left Behind series

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series is an exciting read. One book follows the other if you read them in order according to their volume numbers. The whole series starts with Murphy attempting to prove to people that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is true. One thing we must realize, that God doesn't have to prove Himself or that His Word is true. We receive Christ as Our Lord and Savior by faith. God wants us to accept the Word of God as true, because He says it is. II Timothy 3:16. We need to accept creation as true because the Bible is true. God does not have to prove Himself to anyone. We need to accept God, the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, even if we cannot prove it. I ask everyone, do you have faith in God and accept what He says, or do you have faith in man and trust only in sinful man to lead you to your decision. I am looking forward to reading volume four.

[Frank Kool · Rating 1 out of 5]

A list of literary sins committed by Tim LaHaye (abridged version):

* Assuming poor recollection of the audience.
Isis is red-haired and stunningly beautiful. We know this because it is repeated every time she is mentioned.

* Autistic main character.
When he hears that terrorists have planted a bomb on the whatever bridge of Washington DC, he first expresses dismay and then immediately fires off a list of trivia about the amount of lanes on this bridge, the daily average of passing cars, and the position this bridge takes in the international ranking of both suspended and unclassified bridges. Just so we know.

* Autistic main character, part deux.
Murphy says that angels sometimes bring happiness to people. Sad girl mumbles that her angel must be on vacation. Murphy concludes that there is probably a story behind this.

* Bad continuity.
Murphy starts a lecture on archaeology and swiftly segues into preaching the Gospel to the audience. Four pages later, the bell rings before anyone can ask difficult questions. No one wonders why their class lasted only five minutes and did not deal with the subject matter at all.

* Bizarrely unsupporting support character.
An old guy names Methusalem leaves instructions for our hero. Needless to say, they are more cryptic than anything Dan Brown would dare to put on paper, and require Indiana Jones levels of exploring to uncover. Needless to say, Murphy gleefully accepts every one of these challenges.

* Christian persecution complex.
Murphy teaches archaeology, but dedicates 90% of his class to defending the Bible. When the dean expects him to teach actual history in his history class, Murphy acts like he's being thrown before the lions.

* Confusing morality.
Jesus is good because he teaches love and forgiveness. Murphy is awesome because he knows karate and shoots terrorists. Both statements are equally true, comrade Smith!

* Cringy youth-pastor metaphors.
"You know, faith is like catching a butterfly..." "Well, believing in God is like flying a kite..." Save it, LaHaye. Last time I read this crap was just before I set my aunt's FaceBook profile to 'ignore'.

* It's a movie script, silly!
People hang up the phone without saying goodbye. What happens off-screen has no impact on the story. One moment you're in the US, the next moment you're in Iraq. It's movie conventions, silly.

* Poorly executed clichés.
"They were dead before they hit the ground", we read, after a shoot-out with the evil Arab terrorists. We wonder about the phraseology, as the evil Arab terrorists were prone the whole time.

* Plot holes.
Is professor Bingman dead or alive? That depends entirely on whether you accept page 311 or page 327 as cannon. Scholars are sure to debate this contradiction for centuries to come, until the Bingman in Vivo denomination purges the heathen Bigman Deaders from the free world!

* Sponsored by the Tea Party.
Ever wondered what Reagan's favorite Bible verse was? Or what Theodore Roosevelt thought about multi-cultural societies? Yeah, me neither.

* Unintentionally funny naming decisions.
The go-to bad guys of the series (started in 2003) are Arab terrorists. The female protagonist is named Isis. I'm only sad that LaHaye didn't live to see how history caught up on him.

* Unresolved sexual tension. Isis and Murphy are going to bang, mark my words. Not in this novel, though. That would be unchristian.

* What-is-good-is-beautiful.
A Venn diagram of the esthetics and ethics in The Europa Conspiracy would be a perfect circle. All the good guys are gorgeous and suave, all the bad guys are either hideously deformed or Arab, all secondary characters are undefined. The dean is merely unattractive and awkward, because LaHaye is a merciful god to his literary domain.

* Inexplicably ignorant characters used for exposition.
LaHaye wants to explain to the reader what a 'dirty bomb' is, so he writes about a secret agent from the Mossad who asks about it and needs a three page lecture. Just to reiterate: an elite agent from one of the most notorious secret services on the planet does not know the difference between a nuclear weapon and a dirty bomb. How could a loving God let this happen?!

* Open ending.
No, wait... Please. Tell us more. I guess?

[Keren Lilley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the first two in this trilogy great page-turners that also sent me researching further into bible archeology, but reluctantly I finally gave up on this one mid-way through as it was so heavy going, with two-three page-long expoundings of theorised historical connections. Heavier in conspiracy theories than the previous two books, and less well penned. Such a shame as the trilogy was very compelling up till this volume and I wanted to conclude the love-story if nothing else!

[Betty Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Europa conspiracy

Like the lessons from the Bible like God was leading them letting them see but not being the writing out for the world to see. Love the twist of another character from another series being in this series, more you wonder what will happen to him in the next book.

[Syazwanie Winston Abdullah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy book 3. Too many sermons and preaching. And the plots were not smooth at all. How can a college professor suddenly be roped in to fight terrorists? Amidst while doing archaeology? And teaching? Too many clumsy stories being meshed together and messed up the actual story line. Like a story wrote in haste, everything was such a waste. Guess I am not reading book 4 for now.

[Ashley Hobgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read this book out of curiosity. I enjoyed reading this book because of the action and the drama. I loved that the story dealt with the prophecies from the book of Daniel. I thought the novel was well written. It is a must read.

[Monty Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good adventure taking us into fictional concepts of end of days new world order etc etc.

Spoiler alert this one ends with a cliffhanger and leaving having to read last book to know what happened ugh

[Gary Brisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting read. I like the Biblical, mythological, and factual references the book displays. As someone who loves history, I always learn something new reading these novels.

[Sandy Moffett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting

Book three is just as good, if not better than the first two. As the evil forces get closer to their goal, the good guys have to fight even harder to stop them.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoying this series, but that cliff-hanger??!! Was that really necessary?

[J.B. Siewers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemed a bit cardboard but there was some good history.

[Laís Gonçalves · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good book, but it seems to be exactly the same plot of the last one (the secret on ararat).

[Deb Whitaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read 3 so far…I guess I like them.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amei reler esse livro. Tinham muitas coisas que eu não lembrava e eu senti como se tivesse lendo pela primeira vez.

[Karen Foldoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, loving all the history included.

[Becky Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

All in all it was a good read. A little slow but once you v nature on it goes into more detail of things. The ending was not what I expected.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much happening, so little meaning...

[Veralynne Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it a lot