A Terrible Mercy is the world's first real-time novel, meaning that it will be updated and re-published every three months to reflect current events.To conquer the demons without, one must first recognize those within." Tertullian - 148 A.D. It is Christmas Eve in Rome, and the Pope is dying. Among millions of faithful who have come to share in his final Mass, is an American doctor on a mission; to bring the world to an end. A mismatched quartet of ordinary people are unwillingly stitched together by events over which they have no control, and propelled toward battle with an unseen horror that threatens to cast the world into an Kitumian darkness in which only Ebola thrives. As the world crumbles about them, one thing becomes certain: trust no one - especially those you trust most of all. Best-selling author David Crossman's A Terrible Mercy, is the world's first real-time novel; a thriller to be updated every three months in order to reflect the most recent developments relative to the story: Ebola, ISIS (the Islamic State), the sectarian battle for the soul of Lebanon, the war in northern Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram in Nigeria - and the efforts of hapless governments the world over to contain the twin viruses of disease and Islamic fundamentalism - whose mutual aim is to overturn the world order, wipe out at least half the population, enslave the remainder, and turn the clock of civilization back eight hundred years.