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In the midst of a series of unexplained plagues and famines, two teenage girls are heavily pregnant, despite being virgins. According to the sacred prophecies of Fatima, one will bear the child of Christ and the other, the spawn of Satan. Both Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private detective, and the Vatican’s Father Rosetti are sent to investigate. But which girl carries which child?

So I just finished James Patterson’s “Cradle and All” and, well, I was unimpressed. Patterson originally published this story in 1980 as “Virgin” and then updated it and re-published it more recently under the new title.

In a nutshell, there are two teenage, virgin, girls who are almost 9 months pregnant: one rich and well off in Rhode Island and the other a poor country girl in Ireland. Meanwhile, all around the world there have been outbreaks of disease, terrible droughts, and other signs of a pending apocalypse (if you’ve ever seen “The Seventh Sign” you’ll get the picture). The book jumps back and forth between third- and first-person narratives (which apparently Patterson does a lot in his writing). The chapters in first-person are told by Anne, the former nun turned private investigator who is asked to investigate Kathleen, the pregnant girl in Newport. Meanwhile, Father Rosetti, from the Vatican, checks out Colleen in Ireland. Eventually Anne’s and Rosetti’s paths will cross as both investigators try to determine which girl is carrying the supposed savior and which will give birth to evil.

Have read other semi-religious thrillers like Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” or “The DaVinci Code,” or even more recently Patrick Tilley’s “Mission,” I just wasn’t that thrilled or intrigued by “Cradle and All.” It was easy enough to read, so I finished it (I hate not finishing a book once I start it), but it was nothing fantastic or riveting.

I’m going back to hardcore SF for my next few reads: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy.