Tribulation House

by Chris Well

Book Overview

ITa?S NOT THE END OF THE WORLDa?WHICH COULD BE A PROBLEM... Mark Hogan has it all. The job. The family. A position on the board atchurch. All hea's missing is a boat. Not just any boata'a 2008... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0736917411
• ISBN13: 9780736917414
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Another Home Run For Chris Well

I first became acquainted with Chris Well's novels when I picked up his debut release, Forgiving Solomon Long, in a store. It was a crime novel with a Christian message. I thought, this ought to be interesting. I love writers that think outside the box. Who would've ever dreamed you could combine Godfathers with Christ? I read that debut novel and have been hooked ever since. Sometime back I started hearing about his 2007 release Tribulation House. I knew this would be a novel I didn't want to miss. Do not let the title fool you. This is no LaHaye/Jenkins end-times tale. Far from it. This is a tale about the choices we make and their consequences. Mark Hogan has a problem. He has everything anyone could ever want. A great job. A great family. A position of some esteem at his local church. The only thing missing is a boat. Mark doesn't want just any boat. Oh, no. He wants the more-expensive-than-some-cars kind of boat. The kind most of us would need to make a living with to justify the purchase of this kind of boat. Add to that the fact that his pastor, Reverend Daniel Glory, has just made public his assertion that Jesus is returning on a certain date, at a certain time and Mark's anxiety over not having this boat ramps up in spades. As the time of Christ's return draws closer, the disciples of Reverend Glory begin to loose their focus. All over town people put a halt on their everyday lives believing the hour is upon them. Mark decides he must have a boat. So he does what any man would do in his shoes. He borrows the money to make the purchase. Why not? Jesus is returning. He won't have to pay it back. Right? Thing is, if Mark had known his Bible he'd have realized that even Jesus doesn't know the hour of his return. The day after Christ was to have returned, Mark finds himself owning a lot of cash. Did I forget to mention he borrowed the funds from the mob? Needless to say, they aren't interested in Mark's theology. Chris Well has given as all a cautionary tell. One that tells us to look for Christ's return. It could be at anytime. However, don't drop the ball on your life. One is born again to live for Christ, not shut down and wait for his return. He does this with great wit. Written in both First and Third Person I thought I'd be confused. However, Chris's mastery of his craft allows for a seamless transition. I got so wrapped up in this tale of quirky characters and messed up world views that I'd literally forget I was reading a novel. I rarely do that. When a author can pull that off, they are well worth paying attention to. We read fiction to be placed in another world, to escape our lives for a while. Chris Well has done that with Tribulation House. I can not recommend this book highly enough. Buy it! You'll love it! REVIEWER'S NOTE: This review corrects some typos found in one I wrote under an old profile titled "Chris Well Strikes Again".

Don't Miss This One

News flash! Jesus returns on October 17th, at 5:51am, so says Reverend Daniel Glory of The Last Church of God's Imminent Will. In an announcement to the planners of Tribulation House, a state of the art evangelistic outreach, the Reverend sets his church members on a path of no return speeding toward Jesus' return. Most notably, member Mark Hogan splits his focus in the last days between his Christian desire to reach out to others through Tribulation House and scheming to acquire a boat, the 2008 Bayliner 192. His justifies his worldly desire for the boat he's always wanted with the opportunity to minister to lost souls while cruising on the local lakes. Mark is certain that this is exactly what Jesus would do. That is, until Mark inadvertently kills Reverend Glory. Through out the book, inept mob enforcers, Ross Cleaver and Bill Lamb, engage in nefarious activities aimed at separating The Last Church of God's Imminent Will from their land so their mobster boss can profit, while detectives Charlie Pasch and Tom Griggs close in on them. The paths of all these characters come together in a hilarious search for Reverend Glory's killer. This is the first book by Chris Well that I have read and after reading I would definitely seek out his prior novels. His humor, satire at its best, fills the pages of Tribulation House. His characters are real, quirky, and often laugh out loud funny. I especially enjoyed the interaction between the gangsters, Ross Cleaver and Bill Lamb. They were so visual through Well's stellar dialogue, that I could easily visualize a hit movie with the pair in starring roles. The story moved along at a fast clip, with short chapters and quick dialogue. The plot was very involved and at times, I had to slow down and put a few pieces together, but it was worth the time to do so. Gilded in satire, Well takes a punch at religious misunderstandings and end times prophesies. He reveals Biblical truth in an entertaining and easy to read style. If you are fond of humor mixed with a fast paced story, you'll love Tribulation House.

Terrific Continuation!

What would happen if someone was preparing for the rapture, but it didn't come as predicted? How would they react when it didn't happen? What would they do about the poor decisions made just prior to the anticipated date? Tribulation House takes a humorous look at the life of Mark Hogan who believes the rapture will occur on a set day, but it doesn't happen. Well takes us inside Hogan's mind, through his decision making process, and what led him to his confession to the murder of the Reverend Daniel Glory. Well does an excellent job of writing the first person confession, while at the same time working seemingly unrelated third person subplots into Hogan's life. The way all the different story lines come together is truly remarkable and incredibly enjoyable to read. While Tribulation House is just as hilarious as Well's previous two books, it has a serious point that takes a very deep look into the self centeredness of the human heart and nudges us to reevaluate our spiritual focus and goals. With the continuation of the lives of Detectives Griggs and Pasch, we get the opportunities to see both of them working through their very human struggles. I'd been looking forward to Tribulation House for several months, and was not disappointed. Now I will eagerly await the next book in the series.

Humor, Satire, and some solid spiritual lessons

If I had to rate this merely as crime fiction, I might deduct a star, because there is no real "thriller" aspect or real mystery as I normally expect in the genre. Really, Tribulation House has nothing for the reader to actually solve. However, this story is more than the label "crime fiction" can encompass. Chris Well has, again, kept me up reading: snickering at the doltish characters with more vices than virtues, nodding at the bits of truth, shaking my head at the blind spots of humanity, and just enjoying the wackiness that Chris does so well. In this third novel with carry-over characters--my favorite being Charlie, the comic book, sci-fi loving cop and would-be writer--you can guffaw at Mark Hogan, the super-endtimer, hyperbolic Christian character whose first person narration/confession alternates with the third person perspectives of the rest of the book. In his own words, Mark tells us how he went from your regular--if not at all profound or selfless or ideal--church leader with the wife and kids, to the Rapture and luxury boat obsessed looney who ends up wrecking his credit and reputation when, as he confesses, he kills the Rev Daniel Glory, who led him to believe the Lord would come to sweep up his faithful on October 17 at 5:51 am. Accidentally, mind you. But for some people, it's only when they lose nearly everything that they can gain something. Chris shows this in comical, perhaps tragicomical, form. Add in the requisite dumb thugs, the mob boss with schemes up his sleeve, the cops on the chase, the Christian guy running for city council and realizing it's not that easy, a crook's ex-wife working at one of those cryogenics places, all sorts of quirky bits, and you have a trademark Chris Well tale sure to keep you up late reading as well. But as much as you may laugh, there's the simple truths about serving faithfully and attending to the work the Lord gives us to do, rather than looking for easy escapes from duty and integrity in all things. Wisdom and humilty--they go a long way. Without it, you fall a long way, and more than one character learns the hard way that a lack of integrity or wisdom or humility or, simply, self-control can be destructive. The no-nonsense prose, quite spare in spots as is his stylistic mark, and the short chapters, hyperbole, pop culture references, keen-eyed but sympathetic spotlight on Christians trying to do right and not always making wise decisions, keener eye and less sympathetic klieg lights on the idiocies of modern Christianity, and a fine sense of the ridiculous, and it all works to make TRIBULATION HOUSE a cool read, indeed. And that's why Mr. Well is an automatic buy for me. Or, considering this vendor, an automatic pre-order for me. I've not been disappointed by any of his books. TRIBULATION HOUSE is not the end of the series. (And all the novels can stand alone, though reading them in order adds to the pleasure, I think.) The ending of TH makes it clear that unresolved issues will

Another Winner by Chris Well

The Reverend Daniel Glory apparently has a direct pipeline to God, so when the right good reverend announces the Rapture will occur on October 17, how could he be wrong? Mark Hogan, a staunch member of the Last Church of God's Imminent Will, believes so strongly he spends his savings, goes deeply into debt to buy the boat and truck of his dreams, and then he borrows a ton of money from the mob. After all, when Jesus comes back in a few days, Mark will be gone, walking on streets of gold and all that. How can anyone collect from him then. And in the meantime, he can be whipping around the lake in his new boat with the wind in his hair, and living the good life. When October 17 comes and goes with no sign of Jesus or clouds of glory, Mark is in a world of hurt, and it's all the Reverend Daniel Glory's fault. Meanwhile, Ted Massey, mob boss, has councilman Lester Goode in his pocket, but when Lester dies from an unexpected heart attack, a special election is planned to replace him. With the office open to anyone who wants to run, Massey needs help. He brings in the muscle boys to discourage unwanted candidates. Detectives Tom Griggs and Charlie Pasch are busy trying to sort out the resulting mess. Chris Well has a wry wit that keeps the reader coming back for more. His characters are just enough off-center to seem real, and he keeps getting better with each book.