Signs and Wonders — Melvin Jules Bukiet

In late 1999, in the midst of a brutal hurricane on the Baltic coast, a concrete prison barge rips free of its moorings. Of thousands of Europe's most dangerous criminals, only the twelve depraved souls in cell block 306 survive. One of the twelve is their Savior. As word spreads of the Second Coming, some think the "Messiah" is a fraud, some think he is deluded, and many, with a deep need to believe, do so. The new messiah must meet the press, the lawyers, the cops, and the swindlers, all of them vying for a piece of the action en route to the only place a modern Second Coming would occur--a theme park ruled by a rodent--as the celestial clock ticks down to '00.

Rife on the surface with Bukiet's trademark black humor and rage toward a malevolent God, Signs and Wonders seethes with incisive and courageous commentary on history, religious faith, and mankind at the end of this century.