Mission

by Patrick Tilley

What would you do if, through an unexpected twist of fate and time, you came face to face with Jesus of Nazareth? In the flesh. A living, breathing, three-dimensional figure with a disconcertingly casual manner. Leo Resnick, a smart young Manhattan lawyer, and his girlfriend, Dr Miriam Maxwell, are confronted with this very reality. Leo's record of his encounter with The Man is fast-paced and thoughtful at the same time.

Here Tilley showcases his ability to explore vast themes whilst creating a page-turning level of excitement. If you've ever looked up at the stars and wondered what it all means, this is the book you've been waiting for.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Religion, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Spirituality

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Lea Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Tilley



I loved this book and I will read it again and again. The main plot in this novel is that when Christ died on the cross and was resurrected, he ends up in New York, during the 1980's.

I don't want to give a lot of detail in the interest of not coloring a reader's viewpoint.

I will say this book made me think, and made me view the man, Jesus, differently. There were spiritual things that were cleared up because of the writer's research when he wrote the book, historical facts I did not know.

If you are devoutly Christian, this book might offend you, however no matter what walk in life we are on, reading a book that gives a different outlook, that blindfolds our preconceived prejudices, so to speak, is a good thing, I believe.

This book has its share of humor, and I found it very touching and heartwarming also. It is considered Science Fiction and that was an interesting concept as well.

Strangely, the best part of the book for me, was the ending, the last thing Jesus says to the main character Leo, is some of the most beautiful writing I have read. It was deeply touching to me.



Also since this is a Science Fiction book, there is the time paradox that has we Science Fiction readers scratching our heads and going, 'what'?

It is worth the read, by all means.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take everything you know about Jesus and world religions and flip in on their heads! This is a great introduction to the ideas presented historically in Gnosticism and other proto-Christian ideas via fiction. Take equal parts Bible, History, Sagan’s Contact, Battlestar Galactica and terminator and you end up with mission. Cool book if not confusing, yet satisfying ending….leaves you with just as many questions as answers.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a long, lonnnnggggggg time ago, and probably worth re-visiting, but at teh time I read it, recommended to me by the cool, hippie, numerologist couple, Patrick & Farina, and their 3 kids and awesome wolf-dog, who lived across the street from me in Carmel Valley, CA, it was gripping...one of many interpretations of Christ's return would be greeted in our modern-day world.

[MacWithBooksonMountains Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting premise and proposition. Meet Jesus and listen to what he has to say. Jesus / the author is very erudite and is a master of dry humor, that by itself makes it a pleasure reading.

[Harold · Rating 4 out of 5]

A body appears in a contemporary NYC morgue. It has wounds through the palms and feet, a gash in it's side and lacerations around the forehead. In short - the stigmata(Don't worry- this isn't rapture crap.) The coroner examines the body turns away for a moment and the body vanishes.

Nice hook right? It caught me up and I enjoyed this book immensely. I still have my copy and it's due for a revisit.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out OK. An interesting premise, but then over and over throughout the book, I feel the author takes you away from the plot line, and he imposes 10-20 minute long meanderings that do not add anything to the plot. Filling blanks that really are not necessary. I think if this audio book was abridged, I would have enjoyed it more.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story hashas an interesting concept, however it fails in execution. The authornspends far too much of the novel drumming his religious views into you that it gets annoying.

[Rosemary Hill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm hoping it's going to get better. Badly written. Pretentious and, to be honest, a little bit juvenile. Nothing particularly ground breaking.

[John Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read when a teenager, still a great read! worth a revisit.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. Great idea and well thought out.

[GrandpaBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of the year. A science fiction story encompassing time travel, aliens, early Christianity, historical figures, New York City, the CIA and more.

The premise: on Good Friday 1981, two mysterious strangers bring a Hispanic looking man who has been badly beaten, stabbed, and who apparently bears the marks of a crucifixion. Unfortunately the man dies and ends up in the hospital morgue where a doctor is shaken by the appearance of the man, calls upon her boyfriend lawyer to witness the body. While standing next to the body, the man's wounds suddenly begin bleeding and then he suddenly vanishes from the morgue table.

The amount of research that the author must have put in for this book in the pre internet era must have been enormous. I also have to believe that the author read Elaine Pagels The Gnostic Gospels published in 1979 in doing his research.

#mediadeathcult

[Wickysticks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusual, challenging and atmospheric. This is a book that will interest believers and non-believers alike. Reminds me a little of 'Behold the man' by Michael Moorcock. I would love to translate this into film script. I think it would resonate with all of us who have turned away from religion but yet seek some larger meaning to our existence. I challenge anyone to read this book and not to re-evaluate their take on the spiritual to some extent. Enjoy the evocative portrayal of 1980's Manhattan and the twisting plot that keeps you guessing to the end.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise is easily the best thing about a book that slowly gets worse as it goes along. It starts out with a decent idea, but then keeps descending into larger and larger info-dumps of how the bible story “really” played out, and it’s just boring. The ending is supposed to be clever, but it’s so cliched. “The culprit is probably a contemporary American writer of science fiction” pfeh.

Herein ends my quest to read all the Patrick Tilley novels. They have not aged well, and left me with a distinct impression that the author was a somewhat racist and sexist product of his times.

[Roger Ley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quite a dense read. It's a clever idea, using the New Testament as the skeleton of the story and then fleshing it out with a new and interesting reinterpretation of the facts. It certainly moves the perception of the happenings two thousand years ago from the Iron Age to a modern, scientific view.
I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anybody who likes sci-fi and and has a somewhat jaundiced view of organised religion. A good read.

[Kristen Chamberlain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it and have read it several times. Very interesting premise and just something a little out of the ordinary. It may be hard to find as I believe it may be out of print but worth searching for.

[D Coneybeare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super read, gripping, one of a kind. The recent failure of the streaming series Messiah reminded me of how few authors have had the courage to bring Mr J. into a 100% fictional work. Tilley not only had the will, he nailed it!

[Harry Mackinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can tell a lot of research went into this, feel like I need to read every major religious book possible to understand it all completely. Thought it was going to be religious propaganda, surprisingly not. Time travel W

[Karnig · Rating 2 out of 5]

“You took the base mythology of my silly and dangerous cult and turned it into tedious and awful pop-fiction!” - an apoplectic L. Ron Hubbard, shaking his fist from somewhere in Hell, probably

[Gizachew Abegaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Download in pdf format to rrad the nook

[Duncan Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice idea poorly executed. Gave up after 150 pages.

[Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I swear I had this and read it back in the 80s. Can't recall anything about it though so I'll give it a middle-of-the-road 3 stars which is probably generous.

[Lori Matheson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to follow - this is a 2.5 rating and there were some elements that I enjoyed.

Okay here it goes..... may contain spoilers

I can only recommend this to someone who is very familiar and somewhat interested in the Bible but is no way attached to organized religion, or at least would not take offense to the idea of Jesus being an alien, who likes to drink a lot of wine, and gets caught with a bag of drugs by NY police officers (to be fair, the drugs were planted). As a bonus it probably would be best if you were at least 20 in 1980. I skipped about 4 chapters when he was diving into biblical/historical stories and moral lessons that I just didn't have the interest in or enough of a frame of reference to find interesting. I never did go to Sunday school.

As bizarre as it was to have Michael and Gabriel being ambulance drivers taking Jesus to the morgue in NYC in 1981 (on Good Friday of course), I found it just as bizarre how everyone smoked in public, guns were okay on planes, etc. But in fairness I think the characters seemed pretty current to today, so seeing the early 80s peaking through made it bizarre. It was laugh out loud funny for me in a couple of places (although I don't think it was supposed to be as funny as I found it).

I did find the story interesting though although really bizarre and I also do have a very high tolerance (and almost a preference) for bizarre story lines, but this one was just a bit to much for me. I think the 2.5 rating is really an average of really bad (at least for me) with some nuggets of cleverness that were quite good. So rather than mediocre it was a blend of really bad and somewhat good. I should add that the writing style was quite good, and the entire story was unique, it just wasn't a great fit for me.

[David Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-reading a book that was a favourite over thirty years ago. And, to be honest, it was pretty disappointing. Who would have thought that a book set in 80s Manhattan would have dated so badly. All that smoking. And Leo's horrible attitude to women.

The sci-fi stuff didn't resonate with me as much as it did in the 80s either. But I still enjoyed the reinvention of religion. And the ending is still great.

I spotted one absolute howler though. When they're talking about the conception of Jesus, Leo says "That's the Immaculate Conception, right?" and The Man replies "That's right". Actually, the Immaculate Conception is how the Catholic Church describes the conception of Mary, not Jesus.

Giving it three stars, largely for nostalgia's sake.

[Obsidian Eagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This title by Tilley holds a special place in my heart because I read it at a young age. Long before Dan Brown came around with his sensationalist Da Vinci Code, Patrick Tilley had tilled the soil (pun intended).

With good reason it was critically acclaimed in its time as: "A Metaphysical tour-de-force!"

One of the few works of postmodern fiction in which Gnosticism rears its enigmatic head. There's a lot here for spiritualists and lovers of long-forgotten philosophies. I can't even begin to describe the gravitas with which Tilley imbues his utterly awesome writing. Yet he's able to bring us back down to Earth with an irreverent sense of humor and the most mundane references too.

Highly recommended for serious spiritual seekers who aren't easily offended!

[Amanda Adlem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in the 80s....was bizarrely reminded of it while watching eXistenZ again....the real becoming real and vice-versa....if you like sci-fi worked seamlessly into metaphysics of a Manichaean variety then this will rock your world....need to find another copy to re-read as is also told rather well I recall...

[Tracey]

This is a great novel for provoking thought on Christianity, especially enjoyed by those who feel anti church for whatever reason. Nothing to serious just a fun light read.probably a bit dated as I read it 20 odd years ago.

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, somewhat preachy, interesting concept. Well written although not all the characters get developed.I enjoyed it but the rants were occasionally teduious. Certainly provacative, scholarly and well researched. I have mixed feelings about it.

[Glynn Lavender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read, not for the religious faithful

[J McEvoy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jesus comes back and his first words are "Nice car".