The Second Coming cover art

The Second Coming

Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

The Second Coming

By: John Niven
Narrated by: Nick Landrum
Get this deal

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 28 December, 2026. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $15.82

Buy Now for $15.82

This Season's Biggest Deal | $0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.
Summary

God takes a look at the Earth around the time of the Renaissance and everything looks pretty good – so he takes a holiday. In Heaven-time this is just a week’s fishing trip, but on Earth several hundred years go by. When God returns, he finds all hell has broken loose: world wars, holocausts, famine, capitalism and ‘fucking Christians everywhere’. There’s only one thing for it. They’re sending the kid back.

JC, reborn, is a struggling musician in New York City, trying to teach the one true commandment: Be Nice! His best chance to win hearts and minds is to enter American Pop Star. But the number one show in America is the unholy creation of a record executive who’s more than a match for the Son of God ... Steven Stelfox.

Literature & Fiction Heartfelt Comedy

Critic Reviews

Believe me, this book is going to cause one almighty stink...Deeply, intelligently satirical. In lesser hands it could easily have become a crass rant. Yet Niven provides hilarious, perceptive entertainment...Only the truly ignorant will take offence. But then they usually do (Henry Sutton)
An entertaining novel...In the midst of it all, there is compassion, and insight into the way the impulse for truth can lead to dark acts indeed... Bloody funny
Consistently entertaining...Behind all the curses and the gags, orthodoxy reigns in Niven's MTV-style gospel as Jesus battles oppression, hypocrisy and the satanic forces of Simon Cowell - sorry, "Steven Stelfox". Consistently funny and smart...Trendy vicars might even consider distributing it after their Easter sermons (Boyd Tonkin)
John Niven tore the music industry apart with his coruscating debut novel and now he's back again, along with Kill Your Friends obscene anti-hero Steven Stelfox, to get stuck into religion and celebrity culture... the story rattles along at a breakneck speed, delivering wonderful abuse at all and sundry
A humorous, quirky take on what Jesus would do, think and be if he was on Earth today
All stars
Most relevant
A blackly funny ‘what if’ novel that is also a savage commentary on contemporary American society. Deftly tackling the big topics of religion, fame and violence, John Niven is such a clever and insightful writer and it’s brought perfectly to life by narrator Nick Landrum.

Just brilliant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.