Assassins

Assassins is a novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, published in 1999 as the sixth book in their Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels. The Left Behind series takes the biblical prophecies found in the Book of Revelation and charts their unfolding in the modern world, beginning with the Rapture, where true believers are removed from the mortal world. The series continues through what is known as the Tribulation, a seven-year period filled with increasingly dire disasters that will end with the return of Jesus Christ and the final defeat of the Antichrist. The books in the series base their events in part on the events detailed in Revelation and follow a predictable timeline; Assassins occurs during months 38 through 42 of the Tribulation.

At the beginning of the story, series protagonist Rayford Steele is consumed with rage over the state of his life and the losses he has suffered; Christians are openly persecuted and hunted by security forces. Steele is the leader of the Tribulation Force, and he contemplates a plan to disguise himself and travel to Jerusalem and assassinate the Antichrist, Global Community Supreme Potentate Nicolae Carpathia. David Hassid, working for Carpathia but secretly a mole for the Tribulation Force, diverts a shipment of computers that Carpathia is waiting for. An International Cooperative is launched so that faithful Christians trapped on Earth will be able to engage in commerce when the Mark of the Beast is imposed, preventing people from buying or selling anything without it.

Hattie Durham, a non-believer who suffered a stillborn child, also seethes with rage and wishes to assassinate Carpathia. She leaves the safe house. A nurse named Leah Rose tries to help a member of the Tribulation Force named Buck Williams, and another member named Floyd who is dying of poison. She becomes a fugitive, taking refuge in the safe house where Rayford, his daughter, a biblical scholar named Tsion and some other members of the Force are living. Leah tells Rayford that she has a large fortune hidden in her house, and they go to get it, but encounter Global Community forces and an army of demonic horsemen that only the faithful can perceive. The horsemen go on a rampage that represents the Sixth Trumpet Judgment prophesied in the Bible and kill approximately half the global population, mainly non-believers. Leah and Rayford are able to smuggle the money back to the safe house.



An attempt to assassinate Carpathia by blowing up his private plane, the Condor, fails; Carpathia is not actually on the plane, and the demonic horsemen arrive to kill the assassins. Carpathia’s chief of security, Leon Fortunato, is saved as well.

Carpathia announces a Global Gala event that coincides with a predicted event wherein two witnesses are silenced. Rayford tortures a man named Bo Hanson in order to discover where Hattie has gone, and pursues her to France, where he is almost killed in a gunfight and discovers Hattie has been captured and taken to a facility in Belgium. Leah goes to Belgium to try to rescue Hattie.

Rayford decides to attend the Gala in order to assassinate Carpathia, a role he believes God has chosen him for. At the Gala, Buck sees the prophesied witnesses killed and watches as their rotting corpses are made whole again as they ascend into heaven. A massive earthquake strikes Israel after this, fulfilling another prophecy in Revelation and leaving thousands dead.



Rayford sees his chance to kill Carpathia but finds himself mysteriously paralyzed at the crucial moment and cannot follow through. At that instant, however, he is jostled, and his gun goes off, and then Rayford sees Carpathia lying on the stage, bleeding from what appears to be a fatal gunshot to the head. Although filled with doubt, Rayford decides he must be responsible.

Carpathia is mourned and lies in state. Tsion is disturbed, because his knowledge of the Bible made him believe it would not be a gunshot that took out Carpathia, and he warns that Carpathia, as the Antichrist, will certainly be resurrected and rise from the dead. He and Rayford’s daughter, Chloe, begin a vigil to watch for this event.

Carpathia’s chief of security, Leon Fortunato, reviews security footage of the shooting and identifies the assassin. David Hassid, also in the room, is surprised by the identity of the shooter but this information is not revealed to the reader.



LaHaye and Jenkins use the modern storytelling techniques of the thriller and action genres to map biblical references to a story that entertains the reader regardless of their religious persuasion or personal faith. Although every major event in the story can be predicted if you are familiar with the Book of Revelation, the authors introduce subtle twists and mis-directions to keep the reader guessing and the story surprising while employing modern fiction techniques, such as multiple points-of-view and cliffhangers. Although the series and this novel specifically are aimed at Christians with a familiarity with evangelical Protestant eschatology, they are also designed to be accessible to a general audience simply as thrillers.