Long, Jeff. Year Zero.New York: Pocket Star, 2003. 498pp.

An ultimtely unsatisfying cross between King's The Stand and The Da Vinci Code. It starts with some antiquarian thiefs accidentally releasing an ancient plague from a stolen 1st century they believe to have some of Jesus's remains. As the plague rages throught the world, a few of the final survivors try and find the cure in an isolated desert location in the US. They do this by using various other relics and bone finds to clone first century humans to try and find one that has antibodies or other immune system features that can combat the apocalyptic plague. Well, one of the clones seems to think he's Jesus himself...An interesting idea, one well hyped on the back of the book but really a red herring. The Jesus storyline, one with lots of potential for excitment and blasphemy, is really shoved to the side as an afterthougt as the pure plague storyline dominates. A few good characters seeking life, love and redemption almost save the novel, but not quite.