A few years ago (like 1980), Patterson dove into the area of religious action and suspense with this novel, which is really the story of the three women. The main narrative character is Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private investigator, who has been hired by the Catholic Church to look into the mysterious case of a virgin from Newport, Rhode Island who is very pregnant. Kathleen Beavier is a young teen from a very wealthy family. She was attacked months earlier, but has no memory of the exact details of the event, but medical examinations clearly show that she is still a virgin. The Church has serious concerns about the pregnancy because of something that was said by the Virgin Mary during her visit to Fatima in 1917 that has been a real-life, well-kept secret by the Vatican ever since. The secrete ties in with the fact that there will be two sets of virgin births with one of the babies is fated to be the Second Coming while the other is the Anti-Christ.

The reason the situation is so troubling is that there is a second girl in Ireland who is also pregnant while still being a virgin. Colleen does not have the positive reputation of Kathleen since she has definitely had some experiences with males, but she is by technicality a virgin.

While all of this is going on, the world seems fraught with disease and natural disasters bringing up concerns that the Apocalypse is upon everyone. And as the story progresses, serious questions about who is good and who is evil arise.

The novel is quick-paced and Anne, Kathleen, and Colleen are all interesting characters that leave the reader really caring about what will happen to each of them. Anne, along with a priest named Justin she has fallen in love with, dig deeper and deeper into the mysteries surrounding the two girls in order to find out the truth and try and prove which baby is fated to be evil so it can be destroyed while the other can be protected from the forces of evil.

Other than the fact that Newport no longer sports any truly wealthy families even though it is so well-known for the beautiful Guilded Age mansions that line the coast, Patterson stayed true to much of the geography and feel of the island community. I could almost see myself joining Anne as she visits local sights from the high school to the historic district.

The one frustration is that while the book has a really stunning and awesome conclusion, a big opening is left for a sequel, which does not appear to have been written. I would really have liked to read more about what happens to Anne, Justin, the two young girls and their families.