What do you think?
Rate this book
Messiah
As U.S. hegemony fails in the wake of an unprecedented economic crisis, wars erupt across the globe. Meanwhile, a small band of engineers and scientists work in secret on a mission to redirect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
409 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2022
36 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kroese
70 books632 followersRobert Kroese's sense of irony was honed growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan - home of the Amway Corporation and the Gerald R. Ford Museum, and the first city in the United States to fluoridate its water supply. In second grade, he wrote his first novel, the saga of Captain Bill and his spaceship Thee Eagle. This turned out to be the high point of his academic career. After barely graduating from Calvin College in 1992 with a philosophy degree, he was fired from a variety of jobs before moving to California, where he stumbled into software development. As this job required neither punctuality nor a sense of direction, he excelled at it. In 2009, he called upon his extensive knowledge of useless information and love of explosions to write his first novel, Mercury Falls. Since then, he has written 18 more books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 3, 2022
DUDE. This is a hard econ lesson disguised as a hard sci-fi wearing a political thriller as a Halloween costume. Just awesome. Content warning for language and such.
February 20, 2022
I'm not sure how I expected this book to continue the story set out in the first volume but it wasn't this. The last 40% of Book 1 concerned a childhood friend of the hero's in a surprising (and gripping) sequence that I think I processed as being opportunistic. That is, RK is thinking "Oh, this is too great to not devote time to" but then she would fade more into the background in the next volume.
Not the case at all. In fact, in some ways she has become the main character. This makes sense, really, her journey is perhaps the most interesting one. This also makes the focus on her increasingly deranged ex- interesting as well, as he is obviously going to try to put her back in her place in the next book.
The hyperinflation gets worse here and the apocalypse is hastened by an increasingly incompetent U.S. Government. Kroese predicts the...uh...well, it was future when he wrote about it but the FBI did just announce their crypto unit, and I think we all know where that's going to end up. Alas, I don't think any of us can debate at this point that, were a major constructive activity needed to save mankind from certain doom, there is literally no place on earth one could expect to be free from the effects of short-sighted lunatics looking to stop it from happening.
High adventure shenanigans, looking forward to book 3!
Not the case at all. In fact, in some ways she has become the main character. This makes sense, really, her journey is perhaps the most interesting one. This also makes the focus on her increasingly deranged ex- interesting as well, as he is obviously going to try to put her back in her place in the next book.
The hyperinflation gets worse here and the apocalypse is hastened by an increasingly incompetent U.S. Government. Kroese predicts the...uh...well, it was future when he wrote about it but the FBI did just announce their crypto unit, and I think we all know where that's going to end up. Alas, I don't think any of us can debate at this point that, were a major constructive activity needed to save mankind from certain doom, there is literally no place on earth one could expect to be free from the effects of short-sighted lunatics looking to stop it from happening.
High adventure shenanigans, looking forward to book 3!
April 2, 2022
A worthy sequel to Titan! (high praise)
In this fast-paced second book in the Mammon trilogy, Kroese skillfully picks up all the threads from the first in the series, and propels the reader headlong through well orchestrated developments around the globe. Eerie and frightening parallels between the geopolitical situations we’re living through today, combined with very real characters (love ‘em or hate ‘em), and a solid foundation of hard science, all combine to make this a compelling and believable read. Already pre-ordered book three - can’t wait till it’s released!
In this fast-paced second book in the Mammon trilogy, Kroese skillfully picks up all the threads from the first in the series, and propels the reader headlong through well orchestrated developments around the globe. Eerie and frightening parallels between the geopolitical situations we’re living through today, combined with very real characters (love ‘em or hate ‘em), and a solid foundation of hard science, all combine to make this a compelling and believable read. Already pre-ordered book three - can’t wait till it’s released!
July 29, 2023
The overall story so intrigued me that I decided to overlook the incessant pontificating about cryptocurrency and politics (which I agreed with but found tedious nonetheless) in the first book to see where this one went. "Messiah" is a slog. A friend who I trust insists that the payoff in the third book is worth it, so I'll give it a go. I suspect, however, that I'll find that the key elements in this book could have been covered by making the first and third books just a little bit longer. This one feels like the author was getting paid by the word and just trying to fulfill a quota.
November 3, 2024
Raises the stakes even higher...
... and asks, can our heroes (and a newly clarified anti-hero) rise to the occasion? If you liked the first book, this one picks up right where it left off and continues in the same style. We get to see Valerie, Rami, Davis, and others take the lead while Kade deals with his own problems. We also see grittier and more global geopolitical action as the apocalypse's breakdown of order necessitates violence.
... and asks, can our heroes (and a newly clarified anti-hero) rise to the occasion? If you liked the first book, this one picks up right where it left off and continues in the same style. We get to see Valerie, Rami, Davis, and others take the lead while Kade deals with his own problems. We also see grittier and more global geopolitical action as the apocalypse's breakdown of order necessitates violence.
February 22, 2022
An exciting follow up to the first book in this series and just like the last one I'm anxious to know what is going to happen next. Lots of plot twists and turns and more than enough explosions to go around in what I hope is a cautionary tale but what seems to be much closer to reality every day. I'd write more about how great this series is but I've got to pack a "GO" bag and stock up on crypto.
July 1, 2023
This is a review of this whole series. Mr. Kroese has done remarkable things here. Even while Michael Crichton was still writing I was looking for other writers of his guild, and in R.K. I have found. R.K. writes with the grip of Crichton, but with a broader scope and often more depth. Thank you, R.K. and everyone helping you, for clearly much hard work and great education within!!!
January 10, 2026
From audiobook: like Star Wars’ Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, etc etc, this 2nd book of the Mammon Trilogy was superb. Although being dystopian and fiction, several issues and stories are well investigated and reflect current geopolitical and economic struggles that we are currently witnessing in our world. This book is worth reading/listening!
June 16, 2022
This was so interesting! It was a lot more political than I would usually go for, but it caught my attention and held it. I also felt a little existential because it was too close to real life lol. I wish I read the first one, but I'm really interested to see what happens in the next one.
March 12, 2022
Buckle up for another wild ride. Great read; too much (excluding asteroids) is waaaay too much like reality.
April 19, 2022
Scary book, because I can see most of this happening before the 2040's. Really makes you want to prepare for when the current system starts falling apart.
December 6, 2022
real life horror
May 2, 2024
Audiobook. Plenty of twists and turns in this sequel. Well worth the listen if you liked the first book. Almost makes me want to set up a bitcoin mining operation. Almost.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews