This book is a good adventure story that also makes you think. As with many of Heinlein's works the main characters in this story are forced to keep moving, and adapting or die where they stand. This book will also challenge your beliefs about what is good, what is evil, and what is just propaganda. Any evangelical Christians will probably not enjoy this book as Jehovah is a character and does not come out in a good light.
Basically the plot of this story is that the original testing of Job was a bet with the Devil, and Jehovah wants to prove to his peers that his followers are still the biggest fanboys around. The problem is the Devil still feels bad about last time so he refuses, and Jehovah finds someone who will take the bet.
The main male character Alex is an Evangelical christian who is taking a cruise to try and de-stress from a life that he doesn't realize he finds deeply dissatisfying. The female lead is Margrethe who works on the cruise ship and is a follower of the old Norse ways. Alex is just starting to form a relationship with her when the whole world literally changes around them. As both of them bounce around different world lines their affections for each other grow, and Alex's prejudices begin to soften and change. Every time that they start to improve their situation their progress is destroyed by yet another world shift. The one rule they have been able to observe about the shifts is that if they are in contact with each other they will remain with each other. The shifts seem to be inteligently directed, and really do happen to keep them from getting ahead, or taking a breather. The one exception to this is when they meet a nice man with a strange family in Texas. While in his home they are safe.
Jehovah, noticing that his chess piece is changing, decides to cheat and end the game early by calling for the rapture. In the process Alex is forcibly separated from Margrethe since pagans don't go to heaven, and in the end he will move heaven, hell, and a few dimensions in between to get her back. It turns out that the nice gentleman from Texas he befriended earlier was much more than he seemed, and is willing to offer substantial help in finding his lost love.
In the end this book shows us that good and evil aren't always the way they seem, and with the help of good friends, and more wit and determination than many people possess, it is possible to find your own personal paradise. Even if it doesn't look the way you thought it would or should.
Personally I think everyone should read this book, but you should be warned that just like Alex is changed throughout the story, this book could change the way you see the world. To me that is a feature of most Heinlein books.
This title can be found at www.amazon.com in print format.
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