In an utterly changed Philadelphia of the future, extreme religion has transformed the urban streets into God's chosen city and programmed its denizens as fervent disciples. That is, except for Ruth3:5, a twelve-year-old girl who dares to pose a simple question that may forever bar her from the seemingly promised land. Ruth3:5, Michael Fridgen's penetrating, action-packed dystopian thriller, charts the journey of free-thinkers in a post-apocalyptic world, where purity of thought can exact the highest possible cost. Casting a cold eye on the perilous fallout of religious extremism, this page-turning philosophical work of fiction envisions a future where a doctrine that promises to save may very well be the agent of mental imprisonment. Ruth3:5 is a devout young citizen of Philadelphia, who eagerly awaits the next allotment of scripture from her iPraise and the coming of ChristBirth, when she can wear her new green dress to praise the birth of Jesus. However, circumstances soon conspire to banish Ruth from the only home she knows. What her elders have made perfectly clear, however, is that those who dissent will feel the full force of GovernChurch and may end up in the grim and Godless Magdelene House. During Biblecation class, Ruth questions the sacred text, therefore thrusting her fate into the hands of the fierce Captain Jeremiah48:10. His aim is to apprehend Ezra2:41, a mysterious woman working against the GovernChurch. Along with Ruth's young friend Two Samuel1:26, Ezra is consumed with saving them all from dogmatic oppression and the bizarre rituals that await Ruth and Sam when they reach sexual maturity. She soon entangles them in a perilous cat-and-mouse game, from which only those with the most resolute of minds can emerge. A contemporary spin on Brave New World, it explores the eerie implications of religious fundamentalism, while engaging readers in a fast-paced tale of suspense and danger sure to make the heart race and the mind reel. --