Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed (Left Behind #5) [Hardcover]

Tim LaHaye (Author), Jerry B. Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Series: Left Behind | Publication Date: February 1, 1999

Best-selling authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins deliver a great page-turning combination of fiction and prophecy in the fifth book in the Left Behind series, Apollyon. The Tribulation Force travels to Israel for the Meeting of Witnesses as further judgments are released upon the world. Satan falls from heaven and opens the bottomless pit, releasing Apollyon and his plague of locusts that torture the unsaved. Apollyon is a thriller that will be tough to put down.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, is another suspenseful chronicle of those left behind after the rapture of the saved. As the book opens, Hattie Durham, the former airline attendant and mistress of the antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, is wracked with confusion about what to do with her illegitimate child, whose birth date is coming due. Rayford Steele, the airline pilot who flies Carpathia's plane, is ambivalent about the mounting evidence that his late wife, Amanda, may have been a false believer. Buck, the ace newspaper reporter, and Chloe, his wife, are debating whether to have a child when the future of the world is so uncertain. And all of the world's thousands of believers are gathering in Jerusalem for a stadium rally, which will lead to a showdown with Nicolae Carpathia. Believers are increasingly relying on the Internet for underground communication, and most of them are becoming more and more tempted by violence as a way of battling the forces of evil overtaking the world. But demon locusts are shortly dispatched as a divine plague to attack those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads; this buys the believers a little bit of time to solve their respective personal crises, all of which end in ways that will keep you riveted until the last page.

From the Back Cover

Killer locusts attack humans, livestock, crops. Fatal mystery toxin turns water to blood. One-World Faith leaders tighten security.

“Tell me, Captain Steele. Do you still believe that a man who has been known to raise the dead could actually be the Antichrist?”

With those chilling words, Global Community leader Nicolae Carpathia prepares to unleash a new depth of evil on the world. As thousands of believers gather for a conference in the Holy Land, is Carpathia’s pledge of protection evidence of his much-touted tolerance—or a lie? Pilot Rayford Steele must maintain a charade of loyalty while desperately seeking the truth about his late wife. Was Amanda truly a traitor to the Tribulation Force or the victim of a smear campaign? Meanwhile Buck Williams, now an international fugitive, risks his life to carry out the Trib Force’s top-secret missions in a world rocked by demonic catastrophes.

Apollyon is #5 in the phenomenal New York Times best-selling Left Behind series that rocked the publishing world and made millions think seriously about the future and their places in it.

With special features relating to current events and end-times prophecy. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; 1 edition (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842329161
• ISBN-13: 978-0842329163
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (532 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm tiring of the structure and plot, but sticking with it., January 25, 2000

By 

Randy Nettinger (Bridgeport, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed (Left Behind #5) (Hardcover)

A number of people have written reviews here recommending another Endtimes suspense thriller called THE LAST DAY, by Kleier. I didn't read it until I'd finished all the LEFT BEHIND series to date, but when I did, I understood what is missing in the LEFT BEHIND books. I've never read a book that made me feel closer to the real presence of God than LAST DAY. It exceeds the LEFT BEHIND novels on all levels: plot, characters, story line, suspense, and downright fear of God. No, it's not a witnessing tool. Far from it. LEFT BEHIND is better for that purpose. But if you want a novel to make you think, and make you better understand how Man has warped religion away from God's initial design and more toward Man's purposes, LAST DAY will stand the hair up on the back of your neck. I recommend it unconditionally over LEFT BEHIND. In just one book, it covers vastly more spiritual ground than the entire LEFT BEHIND series combined, and that's a fact.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good series, but not great, March 11, 2002

By 

Jefferson Taylor (Wyoming) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed (Left Behind No. 5) (Paperback)

I've just finished book nine from the series, Desecration and find myself agreeing with many other reviewers. This is a good series, but not great. The characters never really come alive and the plot definitly seems to begin slowing down in order to strech it out to cover more books. Still, these novels are simple, easy reads and go into some pretty good depth when it comes to the particulars of Revelations. I could see this series as being very good for teen-agers, although as an adult, they aren't as challenging as they could be. If you're looking for greatness, I agree with many others that We All Fall Down by Caldwell and The Christ Clone Trilogy by BeauSeigneur are still the best of the genre- intellegent, well written, and very powerful.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Oh no, not another one...., November 20, 2000

By 

NYJ (Atlantic Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed (Left Behind No. 5) (Paperback)

Wasn't this series supposed to be completed by now? When this series first started, it was fast-paced, intriguing, had a great story line and was an excellent read. It was also supposed to only be a trilogy. Well, by the second book it was obvious that it wasn't going to be a trilogy and by the fourth book I don't think anyone knew exactly how many books there really would be in this series.

So now we find ourselves at the fifth book, and frankly not much has changed in the past three books. The first third of the book is spent reviewing what happened in the last book of the series, and then the remaining two-thirds is spent dragging along trying to extend the plot so this series can last for what seems like eternity.

I liken this series to a great athlete that does not retire until his career falls totally apart. This book had the potential to be "Hall of Fame" material, but with the dragging on of the series the books have lost their edge and I'm afraid all that people will remember are the last set of books in this series. They are no longer fast paced like the first two were, the plot is continually reiterated (probably so people can remember what the whole series is about) and the character development has halted entirely.

One wonders whether the authors have any idea how these books are going to end as well! Which might not be so bad if it wasn't supposed to be a trilogy!