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Weeping madonnas, the mark of the Beast, Jesus on the face of a tortilla—reporter Michael Mason has seen it all, from the patently false to the genuinely inexplicable. His search for glimpses of God ahs uncovered dozens of fraudulent claims, including twenty-seven false messiahs. Still, something drives him on—maybe the bizarre recurring dreams, maybe his own past. He has to know.
The black Brazilian woman follows the messianic template: the hype, the healings, the adulation. Her control and dominance over the mammoth crowd at a São Paulo service surprises Mason. Is it the usual self-delusion? Hypnotism on a mass scale?
Mason follows the entourage to Miami, to services that fill the Orange Bowl. World attention intensifies; thousands flock to be cured, to revel in the magical voice. Healings of several seriously ill children soften even Mason's skepticism. Is she the One?
A disciple's odd death hints at something more sinister. Mason finds himself torn between reporting the story and becoming part of it himself, realizing "Zhézush" and the others may be using him to further their cause. Evidence of deception adds further unease, leading him to question whether his glimpse is instead that of the Other.
Drawn into a vortex of darkness and doubt, he returns to an unfamiliar country. His quest for the truth takes him from a mental institution to the shantytown favelas to a Brazilian prison. Pursued by the government, the military, and the shadowy ajudantes, he must examine his own secrets and beliefs, and escape with the answer, his sanity, and his life.
Overview
Weeping madonnas, the mark of the Beast, Jesus on the face of a tortilla—reporter Michael Mason has seen it all, from the patently false to the genuinely inexplicable. His search for glimpses of God ahs uncovered dozens of fraudulent claims, including twenty-seven false messiahs. Still, something drives him on—maybe the bizarre recurring dreams, maybe his own past. He has to know.
The black Brazilian woman follows the messianic template: the hype, the healings, the adulation. ...