"Pay for my Sin" by Iryna Combs - a daringly literal approach to the Apocalypse

Synopsis:
Maria is a Christian woman with one purpose – save her corrupt family from eternal death. As the apocalypse rages around her, she makes an unlikely friendship with one lost soul and the two women flee into the southern wilderness. Forced to take shelter in a long-forgotten church, they fight to survive as all hell breaks loose outside.

My thoughts:

Following her bestselling debut sci-fi novel Black Wings, Iryna K. Combs comes back with a bold, graphic and eloquent Biblical fantasy. You do not need to be a born-again Christian to enjoy the novel for its literary value, but it does help if you understand some of the religious references. The author takes a pretty literal, straightforward approach to the Apocalypse - as the cover and the title suggest. I applaud her for taking the risk and the literal approach that has been out of favor with authors and cinematic directors. There is a movie from the 1990s called The Rapture, where the end of the world happens exactly as presented by fundamentalist Christians, with the skies opening and trumpet sounding and people being physically pulled into the clouds. It leaves the viewer with a sense of shock. Pay for My Sin is that kind of novel.

The protagonist, Maria, is refreshingly naive, with a bit of Mary Magdalen complex going on. She is not mystical or scholarly woman by any means. She is the matriarch of a family that she perceives to be "corrupt" and in need of salvation. Her faith in the Gospel is straightforward and complete. So when the world starts ending in the way she had imagined it would - she is left with a strange sense of peace and comfort. How far will she go to ensure that her unsaved family has a place in Heaven?