The First Amendment has always been interpreted as mandating the separation of Church and State, yet with the increasing influence of religious fundamentalists on the Republican Party and the escalating global conflict between Islam, Judaism and Christianity, religious considerations are playing a critical role in shaping America's political landscape. The Messenger brings this tension into sharp focus, fusing religion and politics in a thrilling and fascinating way.

John Peters makes for an unlikely prophet. A U.S. Senator with an agnostic mindset, Peters is not the sort you'd expect to be chosen as the medium for a religious miracle. But when Peters begins speaking in tongues during publicly broadcast speeches, inexplicably allowing certain people to hear his words in foreign languages, there's no denying that some higher force is at work.

As word of this miracle spreads, Peters's popularity soars, catapulting him from obscure junior Senator to front-runner for the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination. Despite his best efforts to focus on his political message and downplay the religious undertones of this phenomenon, Peters becomes the target of a secret religious society known as the Order that controls men in high places and uses them to further its unsavory agenda.

Comparisons to The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, while inevitable, are somewhat misplaced. Andy Shipley's view of religion is more nuanced than Dan Brown's, his characters more real, and his writing style more literary. While those requiring cliff-hanger chapters, over-the-top action and violence to power their thrillers may be off-put by the introspective and philosophical passages, The Messenger serves up plenty of sophisticated suspense, the kind that stimulates your brain as much as your pulse. Highly recommended. ( )

A fast-paced thriller fill with three- dimensional characters, a healthy dose of intrigue, hints of mythological archetypes, and some questions (e.g., does evil exist as a separate force or is it merely an adjective? does free will exist?) that linger with you after the book is done. ( )