Huff's Rapture — John Hall

SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL, HUFF'S RAPTURE A mid-21st century American vice president, Ed Huff, finds himself wandering dazed through the Appalachian mountains, being pursued by federal agents and bloodhounds. His doctor is dead and a revolver has been planted in his jacket with one round fired. He has only the dimmest memories of the shooting or of the cataclysmic events that have brought him to this place, including those of the great, global war he prosecuted as the acting President of the United States from aboard a hypersonic command plane. Huff evades his pursuers with the help of a group of miners. They hide him in a tipple and listen skeptically to his warnings that fallout will soon poison the air and water. He meets up with a group of evangelical worshippers by a stream, who feed him and listen attentively to his tale of an international nuclear catastrophe, believing he is a prophet pronouncing the End Days and The Rapture. Finally, in a nearby town, a friend shelters him for the night and helps convince him he is suffering from delusions. Eventually, a brilliant legal investigation, relentless work by a military professor in a sports car, a daring leak from a White House adviser and the tactics of an innovative trial judge in West Virginia solve the mystery. Few will guess the outcome. The intrigue and suspense that pulses through “Huff's Rapture” do not let up until the very last page.