Job is the 1st book by Heinlein that I have ever read!!! Yes, I know that for a SF/F fan this is tantamount to sacrilege but it is true. I suppose, in a way, I have been a little wary of attempting a work by such a core member of the SF world as I am mainly a fantasy fan and thought that I would find the writing style a little too intense. In the case of Job I was wrong. OK, so the story is (debatably) more of a fantasy tale than straight SF (I am sure that many people will disagree with this) but I did enjoy it. It is essentially a story of alternate realities and different religions with various degrees of tolerance for others.

The main character, Alec is a profoundly religious man who struggles to reconcile his religious beliefs with the various situations he finds himself in. Although married (in one reality) he travels through the others accompanied by his girlfriend from the 1st alternate reality and yet seems to have no real problems with his apparent disregard for the 7th Commandment. Towards the end of the story the pace seems to ramp up at an amazing rate. One minute our main character is praying, the next he is having a chat with St Peter and rubbing shoulders with angels, saints and cherubs.

On the whole I have to say I did enjoy reading this story but I do think it would have helped if I had known the bible story of Job before I started.