cradle and all - james patterson

More to his usual style, this book revolves around Anne, a former nun turned P.I. with a Masters in Psychology, sent by the Pope himself to investigate the cases of two modern day virgin pregnancies, one in America, one in Ireland.
Both innocent teenagers, we see Kathleen, a privileged, rich young socialite in the making finding herself pregnant, and Colleen, an impoverished, skinny, scared young girl picked on by thugs, even younger than Kathleen. The church has evidence that in this modern day era, a virginal birth will take place. When 2 and not 1 teenager finds herself pregnant despite being medically certified to be ‘intact’, Anne, along with a few smart priests, are sent out to do the necessary, as they are told 1 birth could be that of the saviour, and 1 the son of evil. Their presence at the births is necessary to stamp out evil.
Having met both mothers to be, Anne, the priest Justin & Father Rosetti have great difficulty convincing themselves that one of the 2 sweet teenagers would bring a great evil in the world, and that would have to be destroyed. Eventually, at the time of birth, Father Rosetti sacrifices himself along with the new evil one born, the only way he sees possible to save the world. The newborn had the face of evil with a thousand eyes looking back at him showing them true hell. On the other side of the Atlantic, however the other birth leads to…. A normal baby being born. Both girls were apparently molested and gang rape attempted, but ending with the perpetrators smearing their semen all over the girls which is how they got pregnant despite being virgins. As such, neither one was a holy baby.
Along the undercurrents of the story are Anne’s & the priest Justin’s deep love for each other with they had quashed dozens of years ago. Now, however, at age 30, still a virgin, in Rome, after the 2 highly anticipated births which did not grant them any saviour, Anne finds herself pregnant. She is the chosen one! She and Justin lead a happily married life and do not allow the birth of her special baby, Noelle ( a girl! ) to be public news, seeing the horrible effects of publicity that the 2 teenage moms suffered. Alls well that ends well, but the chilling words at the end of the novel shows that evil lives on…. “he watched her… with thousands of vengeful, bestial eyes”; yes, the baby that the Father had sacrificed along with himself, had actually survived… and was near the teenager, Noelle…