"Joshua Gad-Erianko is Israel's only hope as its enemies stand ready to attack."

"As the grateful members of the Knesset regard the man they have now named Israel's king, a few faces among them show grave concern - they have glimpsed Gad-Erianko's true nature. They know that he possesses a rare, unnatural power. And they know that they are afraid.

"King Joshua himself fears no one, for no one has ever dared interfere with his plan for world domination. No one, that is, except the followers of Aryeh.

Rejecting the wide-spread belief that Joshua can cure the world of all its ills, these courageous men and women defy the king by refusing to join the ranks of his elite society, the Triple S, and continuing to practice their outlawed religion."

"How can these faithful few survive the anger of the one they call Therion, the beast?"

Thus reads the back cover of the book I had picked up at my local thrift shop, the Sally Ann, where I am wont to shop for second-hand reading material. The book title, "Man of Peace, a Novel of the Anti-Christ", was itself intriguing.

When packing for vacation I usually take along a few books. This time I took only this single book, trusting it would be sufficiently entertaining. I always had back-up reading material, since my husband usually takes along a selection of three or four of his own books; not my taste, but as alternates, acceptable.

As it was, I stuck to reading the one I had chosen to take along. The wonder of it is why I bothered. The book's thesis was constructed on a thin scaffolding of structure to begin with; there should be some credibility behind every plot, and this one presented as thin gruel indeed. The language tended to be awkward, the sketches of the protagonists amateurish, and the events portrayed defied both logic and practical application.

In fact, the novel, with its presumptions, assumptions and trajectory and demonstrably decidedly inferior writing skills offended my literary sensibilities entirely. How on Earth do such incredibly miserable manuscripts get accepted to begin with to see the light of publication day? Who buys them.

Trusting idiots like myself.