I'm a nobody in the writer's game...but I completely agree. Christians don't always make the right choices, evil wins in the short term, especially in these days...and life is far "messier" than many Christian novels make out. Even when a lot of them (stories) portray unsaved characters who get saved, the transformation is like a light switch. In many cases, in real life, it's not like that. There is true darkness in the world, and many Christians have spent their entire lives battling that darkness. "In this life, there will be many troubles..."
Plus...speaking strictly from a reader's point view...there are really no dastardly, BAD villians out there in Christian fiction, I think, because of the same thing: there is an innate desire to write Christ/Christians as ultimately victorious, and make the bad guys flop in the end, for fear of making evil look too good. Carpathia was a good example in the LB series...he was just a moron by the end of the series. I have to imagine the anti-christ will be a little more threatening than that. The Visitation, by Peretti, was better...but even then, the false prophet gets beaten 'cause he just loses it when the demons predictably bail on him. I understand and even agree with the underlying spiritual theme that demons lie and betray, corrupting people's lives....but the turnaround just seems too quick; too staged in order for it to be "acceptable" to certain standards.
Here's what missing from Christian fiction: unpredictability; suspension of disbelief for the sake of a good yarn; and that "chill" when you realize that evil has somehow managed to win, despite everyone's best intentions. The end of the Stand, by Stephen King, is perfect: the good guys win, at the horrible expense of several of the heroes lives....and we end with the realization that the "walkin' dude", Randall Flag, the epitome of evil, King's secular version of the anti-christ, has simply moved onto another country, to start all over.
Kevin Lucia
www.kevinlucia.net