An ancient sin. A long forgotten oath. A town with a deadly secret.
Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Something evil.
Under the cover of darkness, a predator strikes without warning—taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion.
The community of Hyde River watches in terror as residents suddenly vanish. Yet the more locals are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, sworn to secrecy by their forefathers' hidden sins.
Only when Hyde River's secrets are exposed is the true extent of the danger fully revealed. What the town discovers is something far more deadly than anything they'd imagined. Something that doesn't just stalk its victims, but has the power to turn hearts black with decay as it slowly fills their souls with darkness.
Under
cover of darkness, something evil is at work in Hyde River, an old
mining town
deep in the mountains. Its latest victim, nature photographer Cliff
Benson, was
brutally killed while camping -- and his wife Evelyn has been driven
nearly mad
by what she saw, but she can't remember what it was. The sheriff thinks a
rogue
bear killed Cliff. But townspeople whisper -- and Cliff's death is just
the
latest in a long string of bizarre "accidents." Cliff's brother Steve
is determined to find out the truth about what's concealed in the old
caverns
near Hyde River, a mystery that the local folk legends only hint at.
Â
A wildlife biologist named Steve Benson has come to
the
remote mountain town of Hyde River to investigate the gruesome death of
his
brother. Benson tracks down and kills a grizzly, but then more people
are
killed and the bears are exonerated. Benson begins to listen with
seriousness
to the ravings of an old hermit who says that there's a dragon who lives
in
Saddlehorse Mountain and who lives on sin. It seems that in the 1880s,
when
Hyde River was a booming mining town, a fire-and-brimstone preacher was
hanged,
and the perpetrators then signed an oath embracing Reason as their god.
In more
than 100 years, their sins have grown into a monster. Steve tracks the
chimerical dragon, which toys with him and lets him go. Steve is the
embodiment
of reason but feels the weight of sin when he begins an affair with a
married
woman, a local deputy named Tracy. A red mark appears over his heart,
and
gradually it begins to ooze black slime. Judgment Day arrives, and the
dragon
comes to claim its own. Steve, at last a believer, stands alone to do
battle,
rather like Bilbo Baggins of The Hobbit, except that Peretti
writes with
a grim fervor rather than playfulness. Largely because of the success of
This
Present Darkness (1987), Peretti's name inspires awe in the
religious
publishing world; The Oath is so heavily anticipated that its
prepublication
sales placed it fifth on the Evangelical Christian best-seller list. John
Mort
Annotation
The author of the two-million-copy bestseller This Present Darkness again draws the lines for a battle of cosmic proportions between the forces of good and evil in The Oath--now available in trade paper. A chilling murder sends wildlife biologist Steve Benson on an investigation to discover how his brother has fallen prey to an unexplainable predator.
Description:
An ancient sin. A long forgotten oath. A town with a deadly secret.
Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Something evil.
Under the cover of darkness, a predator strikes without warning—taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion.
The community of Hyde River watches in terror as residents suddenly vanish. Yet the more locals are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, sworn to secrecy by their forefathers' hidden sins.
Only when Hyde River's secrets are exposed is the true extent of the danger fully revealed. What the town discovers is something far more deadly than anything they'd imagined. Something that doesn't just stalk its victims, but has the power to turn hearts black with decay as it slowly fills their souls with darkness.
Under cover of darkness, something evil is at work in Hyde River, an old mining town deep in the mountains. Its latest victim, nature photographer Cliff Benson, was brutally killed while camping -- and his wife Evelyn has been driven nearly mad by what she saw, but she can't remember what it was. The sheriff thinks a rogue bear killed Cliff. But townspeople whisper -- and Cliff's death is just the latest in a long string of bizarre "accidents." Cliff's brother Steve is determined to find out the truth about what's concealed in the old caverns near Hyde River, a mystery that the local folk legends only hint at.
Â
A wildlife biologist named Steve Benson has come to the remote mountain town of Hyde River to investigate the gruesome death of his brother. Benson tracks down and kills a grizzly, but then more people are killed and the bears are exonerated. Benson begins to listen with seriousness to the ravings of an old hermit who says that there's a dragon who lives in Saddlehorse Mountain and who lives on sin. It seems that in the 1880s, when Hyde River was a booming mining town, a fire-and-brimstone preacher was hanged, and the perpetrators then signed an oath embracing Reason as their god. In more than 100 years, their sins have grown into a monster. Steve tracks the chimerical dragon, which toys with him and lets him go. Steve is the embodiment of reason but feels the weight of sin when he begins an affair with a married woman, a local deputy named Tracy. A red mark appears over his heart, and gradually it begins to ooze black slime. Judgment Day arrives, and the dragon comes to claim its own. Steve, at last a believer, stands alone to do battle, rather like Bilbo Baggins of The Hobbit, except that Peretti writes with a grim fervor rather than playfulness. Largely because of the success of This Present Darkness (1987), Peretti's name inspires awe in the religious publishing world; The Oath is so heavily anticipated that its prepublication sales placed it fifth on the Evangelical Christian best-seller list. John Mort
Annotation
The author of the two-million-copy bestseller This Present Darkness again draws the lines for a battle of cosmic proportions between the forces of good and evil in The Oath--now available in trade paper. A chilling murder sends wildlife biologist Steve Benson on an investigation to discover how his brother has fallen prey to an unexplainable predator.