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Babylon Rising #4

The Edge of Darkness

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Tim LaHaye’s most exciting series ever, Babylon Rising, continues with this explosive new installment, including more revelations than ever before. In The Edge of Darkness , LaHaye reveals the meaning behind some of the most carefully guarded Biblical prophecies to expose a conspiracy with terrifying consequences for our modern world.

This time Michael Murphy sets off in search of the Lost Temple of Dagon and the dark secrets of the strange god once worshipped by the ancient Philistines. His quest will lead to a final confrontation with an old enemy and uncover one of the Bible’s most feared warnings–a prophecy of false miracles, false messiahs, and ultimate evil that will be fulfilled in our time...and that not even Murphy can stop once it’s begun.

Once again Tim LaHaye combines his unmatched insight into Biblical prophecy with his unique skills as a master storyteller to deliver a suspense thriller of nonstop action with a thought-provoking message for our troubled times.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 2006

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About the author

Tim LaHaye

780 books2,285 followers
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.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
Profile Image for Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library).
4,899 reviews87 followers
November 22, 2021
As much as I like fictional series of any kind--sitcoms, book series, movie trilogies, etc.--at least 97% of the time, there seems to come a point where each one "jumps the shark"; that is, it takes a wrong turn from which it never recovers. It's happened in countless ways over the years, but it almost never fails to take place. The Edge of Darkness is the shark jumping moment, as well as the supposed final installment, of Tim LaHaye's Biblically-inspired action/adventure drama Babylon Rising. Of course, there's more of what books one through three delivered: dramatized Bible scenes, action sequences involving our hero Dr. Murphy and/or the ever-detestable Talon, and even a little romance and humor thrown in just for fun. However, it doesn't seem to work quite as well, because the action scenes are few and far between, and the ending leaves room for another volume in the series, though I have never been able to find out if there will ever be one. If you've read and enjoyed the first three Babylon Rising books, you might find The Edge of Darkness mildly enjoyable just because of the familiar characters and the long-awaited secrets that are finally revealed; however, if you didn't care for the previous novels, nothing in this will change your mind.

EDIT: I actually enjoyed this one better the third time around!

EDIT 2: I agree with my original review; the series did a Fonzie with this installment. It actually may have been a good thing this ended up being the last entry; though this leaves room for a sequel, after this mess, it would have been all downhill anyway
Profile Image for Stan Crowe.
Author 9 books13 followers
January 6, 2021
** spoiler alert ** I told my wife never to read this one: she likes happy endings, and the ending of this is anything but. In, fact, it's quite possibly the most depressing ending I've ever read.

Lahaye/Phillips almost seemed intent on making things as bad for the characters as possible, but there really wasn't a terribly clear reason as to *why* things were so rotten for them. Sure, that sometimes happens in real life, but I think we have a different expectation from books. Often, we read to escape, and this just wasn't much of an escape. Aside from that, Lahaye/Phillips left numerous loose ends...only to not continue the series (at least, I've been given to understand this was the end of the series). There's an unwritten rule that you just *don't* do that. But... eh. It's not illegal.

It may be that the loose ends and rough ride were added intentionally as signs of just how bad the world was becoming before "The End of the World" (which was addressed in LaHaye's earlier series, "Left Behind"). Either way, it was wholly dissatisfying to read.

Characterisation was the at the same level as always. Yes, I'd warmed to the characters throughout the series, and they really weren't all that bad. Some were even likeable. But I never was able to deeply relate to any of them, despite being Christian myself.

The main plot waffled. Like the previous three books, there was the biblical artifact of note that was to be found. But even more than in previous books, the hunt for this artifact almost seemed like a "side quest," inserted almost "just because." The book just carried on through several subplots without much real focus on what had been the central plot point in previous episodes. In fact, the artifacts of note never *were* recovered (the characters arrived just too late), and no attempt to recover them were ever made, despite that it was supposedly vital that those artifacts not fall into "the wrong hands" (in fact, in the end, Murphy ends up with none of the artifacts he had so diligently hunted).

Thankfully, this book does resolve several of the ongoing subplots, though that all-too-often occurs through people "getting theirs." The ruthless businessman: killed by the "super assassin". The "super assassin": killed in a very anti-climactic fashion that was disappointing.

The love interest that had been simmering since book two finally comes to a head, only to be abruptly cut off (with a later chance of revival completely stifled by circumstances that could have easily been overcome, but which no one ever attempted to overcome).

A second love interest is introduced almost "at will," and did nothing more than create a love triangle that goes nowhere. Aside from that Murphy dismisses the first woman, the whole side plot with the second woman just...goes away. Suddenly. No mention is ever made of her again after a certain point. She offers to help Murphy's trusted assistant, and then... that's it.

The whole "everyone hates evangelicals" thing continues, and there's more preachiness in this book than previous ones (or maybe it just seemed that way to me?). I don't mind people sharing their beliefs, but anyone opposed to Christianity is invariably set up either as a straw man, a person of great evil, or both.

Incidentally, there's an exorcism in one of the subplots. That was probably the most hair-raising moments in the book.

All in all, the book itself was a serious let down. In my opinion, it was a poor way to cap off a somewhat-better-than-mediocre series. The books were informative and reasonably well written, but the overall experience just didn't do it for me.
Profile Image for Ben.
37 reviews1 follower
September 2, 2020
goodness. going from the goldfinch to this book is like leaving the rich delicacies of a gourmet restaurant to accept a paper plate of excrement from your racist uncle at a backyard barbecue in a trailer park. bad, bad, bad bad bad.

the characters draw from the thinnest archetypes and broad stereotypes, the writing is rudimentarily matter-of-fact that always seems to go a word or two too long, 98% of the plot fails the premise and limps to the weakest conclusion i think i might have ever read. clunky, simplistic dialogue, awkward shoehorning of both surface-level research and christian proselytization/mr lahayes evangelical soapboxes, and scatterbrained chapters that jump around without really amounting to anything.

im not putting spoiler tags on this review bc i don’t think it’s worth caring about but i’m gonna spoil it, so be warned.

first, the characters: our dreamy hero, michael murphy, the college professor and intrepid biblical archaeologist (sound familiar?), in all of his supposed derring-do and wits, comes across as kind of a clod. his character basically consists of four things: his evangelical faith, cracking wise that really isn’t to enemies he probably just killed, a biblical archaeology class that seems to have very little to do with the subject, and being torn between two women that can’t help but be in love with him. believe you me, he’s the most complex character in this thing. oh yeah, he has an Irish temper which is only mentioned about twenty times.

there’s Talon, the ruthless assassin who
a) has a synthetic finger that he slices people with
b) also kills people with birds. because his name is Talon, get it?
c) after nearly four whole books of being this unstoppable force of terror/murdering everyone in his path, accidentally and abruptly kills himself in the stupidest possible way

most of the rest are not worth writing about (there’s what i assume to be the author-insert minister character who really only preaches about false prophets and golfs) but i will say this: the women in this book do not fare well.

as far as i could tell, are pretty much entirely in service as foils for the men. the two previously mentioned women are constantly described by how beautiful they are and special mention is given several times to the one at how all the men around her stare when she’s present. ugh
i guess there’s also shari, the plucky assistant whose personality traits consist of lab coat and pigtails. she only really comes into prominence when her life is in danger bc of murphy and her would-be bf is murdered in an attempt to protect her, that’s all she gets to do.

the authors do that really annoying thing that i’ve seen in a lot of christian media where they create a snooty, strawman atheist with a terrible personality and arguments just so the protagonist can feel superior when they get put in their place. i get why it’s done but it’s insanely aggravating and distracts from the little plot that’s in this thing.

speaking of plot, holy hell. there’s definitely potential in the premise of specifically biblical archaeology but it’s entirely squandered. the perspective jumps around probably bc there isn’t enough depth to sustain the narrative through the book. the main artifacts that murphy is after get entirely ignored for long stretches only to be given up completely for a totally different artifact in the final chapters that doesn’t even get retrieved! we spend so many useless pages on lahayes vendetta against false teachers and prophets that literally goes nowhere as well as draggy biblical flashbacks that only serve to stall a story with very little momentum. several plot threads are just dropped right at the end, probably at hopes of a sequel that will never appear. i also wonder if multiple sections involving the Seven’s evil plan for world domination were copy-pasted from first drafts of old Left Behind books.

i did mention the word racist earlier so aside from the stereotyping i feel like i have to bring up the fact that multiple times a character is getting attacked by a group of people of one ethnicity and so then it quickly becomes “the Arab” or “the second Asian.” The first time Mr Murphy is in danger in this book, he gets attacked by two men dressed like ninjas, except apparently their faces are uncovered enough for Murphy to note their ethnicity and that one resembles a young Bruce Lee. lazy AND offensive

if i have to say something nice i will reiterate the wasted potential of the premise here. the chapters are blessedly short so it moves relatively quickly. and that’s about all there is to say about that.

what did i learn? this book needed a better editor, badly. not only to axe so many unnecessary chapters and clip sentences to pare the clunk but also to remove lots of repetitions and at least one instance of typoing a main character’s name. i learned that either mr lahaye or bob whoever must really dislike wrestling as there are two dumb jokes about its authenticity within the first 100 pages. and i also learned that it’s fun to bash a bad book but im not sure it’s worth the time i spent reading it. so, yay?
Profile Image for Jay DeMoir.
Author 25 books77 followers
April 22, 2020
what started off really interesting turned out to be a snooze fest and let down for what would become the final book in the series.
Profile Image for Richard Page.
13 reviews
December 8, 2021
I have enjoyed reading the " Babylon Rising" series. It has been a great ride, so many twists and turns! I thought this would be the end of the series however, LaHaye has led us to the edge,and left us there with so many questions to be answered. I wonder if there was another book planned but for some reason was never written. The books (and series). ending right now is a little disappointing.
Profile Image for Susan Robinson.
315 reviews5 followers
June 3, 2018
Love this series. Fast-paced and full of information. The research alone must have been intensive. I like the parts where events in the Bible are inserted within the main story. I only wish the series had gone on and not stopped with the 4th book. It leaves us hanging in the area for several of the story lines. I don't know if Dr. LaHaye was becoming too ill to continue, but I do wish the story had gone on so we could see who the next assassin is, or would Murphy be able to reconnect with Isis. What about his attraction to Summer, whom I always felt was a little too perfect and maybe her appearance was too timely. Is she a mole for the Seven? What about Murphy's ongoing battle with Dean Fallworth? And is it really the end of Methuselah? Alas, we will never know.
Profile Image for Jasmine Lozano.
2 reviews2 followers
January 25, 2020
The series as a whole I’d give 5 stars. The book itself I have to give four stars. I wasn’t happy with how open it ended. Many stories weren’t resolved and i just felt it was a downer at the end. I would still recommend this series to someone but wasn’t thrilled that this was how it ended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Daniel Rudge.
278 reviews10 followers
October 1, 2018
After reading the Edge of Darkness I was left a bit perplexed on how to rate this book. On the one hand the plot and pacing were excellent. On the other, the poor writing and cardboard characters were frustrating. At the end of the day, when you read a book in one sitting because you are so engrossed in the story, how can you give it less than four stars. Michael Murphy, the lead character, is biblical archaeologist who vacillates between Clark Kent and Superman. Everyone else is pure evil or pure cardboard. But the historical references about the Ark of the Covenant and the non-stop action keep the pages turning. If you don't mind some amateurish writing then you will really enjoy this action thriller.

In The Edge of Darkness, LaHaye reveals the meaning behind some of the most carefully guarded Biblical prophecies to expose a conspiracy with terrifying consequences for our modern world. This time Michael Murphy sets off in search of the Lost Temple of Dagon and the dark secrets of the strange god once worshipped by the ancient Philistines. His quest will lead to a final confrontation with an old enemy and uncover one of the Bible’s most feared warnings–a prophecy of false miracles, false messiahs, and ultimate evil that will be fulfilled in our time...and that not even Murphy can stop once it’s begun.
43 reviews1 follower
February 23, 2024
I Can't Even

If you read the first three, don't feel compelled to read this one. There are no conclusions, no story development, and no new revelations. The term "finale" is only applied to this book because it was the last one written.

All four of the books in the Babylon Rising series read like a Kim Possible episode. Murphy is God's gift to mankind, impossible to defeat, and charming to women of all ages. Lahaye's female characters never pass the Bechdel Test, and spend most of their time pining over the ever-heroic and handsome Murphy. Murphy's nemesis, Talon, operates like Mojojojo (villain from Powerpuff Girls) and engages in comic and silly battles with Murphy.

Biblical prophecies are interesting, but loosely based on a cultural-historical understanding of Scripture. The political bent of the series is one of fear-mongering and cultural Christian far-right Conservatism.

If I haven't convinced you yet that your time is better spent on a different series of books, go ahead and try these out. Frankly, I only read these because I started the first two in high school almost fifteen years ago. There's better writing out there folks, writing that still incorporates Christian values and biblical prophecy.
Profile Image for Christopher Gilstrap.
101 reviews1 follower
December 9, 2021
This was a series I read in middle school, back when I was jazzed about "Christian fiction." Written by the co-author of the Left Behind books, the story followed a Christian archaeologist going on quests to find Biblical artifacts like an Evangelical Indiana Jones (off the top of my head, I remember him finding the bronze serpent, the golden head of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, Noah's Ark, the Writing on the Wall, Aaron's staff, the golden jar of manna, and a recipe for the Philosopher's Stone??). As the series progresses, the protagonist uncovers a global conspiracy to bring about the New World Order and the Antichrist, so it kinda turns into a redux of the Left Behind series, or at least, it seemed to be heading in that direction. The series was never finished. Tim LaHaye quit after book 4. I do not remember the other books enough to give them a rating, but I do recall that book 4 was very bad.
Profile Image for Abdullah Samir.
225 reviews
Read
May 6, 2021
the plot did not meet my expectations . most of the first part is dedicated to draw your attention to the biblical historical treasures . and once you are attracted to there magical powers the author throws them away .
I believe in a writer that uses his novel to defend his point of view and show his knowledge of his subject but this should be placed with extra care of the dosage and how to show it . The author in this novel simply used long(really long ) lectures !!!!!
I do not believe I have read something deep in religious faith . No for doubt and uncertainty in this novel .
Profile Image for Kammie Kaufman.
21 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2017
The end of time is coming!

So far this is the end of the " Babylon Rising" series. It has been a great ride, so many twists and turns! I thought this would be the end of the series however, LaHaye has led us to the edge,and left us there with so many questions to be answered. Look for another spell binding sequel!! I will!!!
Profile Image for Ed Bernier.
5 reviews
November 15, 2020
Great story, especially relevant given what’s going on in the world

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series thus far. I like the characters, the plot development and the overall story line. Given the state of the world it certainly feels like we’re living in the end times or getting closer to that period of tribulation.
1 review
January 17, 2025
My recommendation is, if you are going to read the series up to this book, just stop after chapter 66. Chapters 67 and 68 are nothing but setup for future installments that never came (and since the author has died, never will). They are entirely unsatisfying and a perfect example of why books shouldn't end that way.
Profile Image for Adrian.
67 reviews3 followers
October 26, 2017
Excellent piece of work. Very enjoyable and hard to put down. Really makes you sit on the edge of your seat. As much as I loved it, I'm sure I would've loved it more had I access to the first 3 books too. Recommended!
Profile Image for Aaron Stewart.
53 reviews
December 24, 2021
I would have loved to give this last installment in the series a 5 . . . but the very last part of the book left the reader hanging. There was no conclusion to the possibility of romance or the intrigue of a new villain. It just dropped the reader off. Still a good read, though.
Profile Image for Ashley Hobgood.
1,021 reviews
January 10, 2024
I had read this book because I'm a fan of Tim LaHaye. I enjoyed reading this book because of the drama and action. I loved that the story because it dealt with finding the lost temple of the Philistines. I thought the novel was well written. It is a must read.
Profile Image for Jim.
218 reviews7 followers
September 24, 2017
A disappointing end to an enjoyable series. Some plot threads are resolved, and some are not. It did not feel like this was an intentional ending.
Profile Image for George Vazanellis.
3 reviews
October 18, 2017
Pretty good

I enjoyed the series however the ending was a little lackluster. The first and second books where the best in the series
Profile Image for Sandy Moffett.
46 reviews3 followers
July 20, 2018
What’s Next

The door is wide open for more in this series, and I can’t wait. With the “assassin” dead, who will the replacement be?
Profile Image for Maria Evers.
79 reviews3 followers
March 17, 2021
I enjoyed the series but I didn’t like how the series ended. It felt like there should have been at least one more book in the series to conclude some story lines.
4 reviews
December 6, 2021
Great book. Do not expect a happy ending it has a great ending and you will never expect it but dang no.
Profile Image for Jacob Aitken.
1,687 reviews421 followers
February 23, 2023
The bad guys were a bit campy and their dialogue was cliched. The story itself was good, though the pacing demanded one more volume in the series.
284 reviews1 follower
August 13, 2023
Gostei de reler, tinham muitas coisas que eu não lembrava. Acho que os meus personagens favoritos são o Matusalém e o Levi(os dois mais caóticos kkkkk)
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