The Oath by Frank Peretti
I give this book a 4.
This book is not what I thought it would be, but I liked it. The Oath tells the story of a town with so many secrets that people are beginning to die because of them, but maybe this has been going on for a while. At the beginning of the story, it is a stranger from out of town who’s the victim of a horribly violent death that begins to bring light to the existence of the Oath. The Oath itself is a little difficult to grasp, but it seems that the people of this town have collectively decided to do whatever they want at any time and never speak of it, proudly defying the notion of consequence or sin. As everyone knows, no secret is kept forever and in Hyde River, the silence has manifested itself with terrifying results.
This book was a short and easy story to traverse. The imagery was in-depth, but not wordy. I felt as if the whole story was delivered in a matter-of-fact kind of way, as if the author was telling you the story at your house over coffee. I think what I liked best about the book was how real it seemed. I’m pretty sure I’ve been to that small town on more than one occasion. A place where people point the finger at one another, but never actually says anything.
From a fantasy perspective, the physical manifestation of sin is one of the scariest monsters I’ve come across in a while. I was intrigued by the hunting sequences and the whole predatory and prey struggle. There is absolutely nothing vulgar about this story, but it does touch on many sensitive subjects such as: infidelity, substance abuse, greed and pride, and more.
Me being me, I also liked the spiritual aspects of the story. This is definitely an adult read, but while younger children may not be able to understand the imagery or handle the dark elements, and some teens may not be able to grasp the maturity of some themes, I think this is good story for anyone.
This review has been posted to GoodReads.
If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.
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