The Edge of Darkness (Babylon Rising Series #4) Book

** 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.