For most of the book, I felt that it was well-written horror but of a religious bent that isn’t for me. However, the ending doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the book.At the beginning, the book feels like a horror story written by a Baptist person truly committed to their faith. The main antithesis to Archer’s cult is the Baptist church in town. At the core of the conflict are a married couple. The wife falls firmly under Archer’s spell while the husband stays true to the Baptist church. Their two small boys are caught in the middle. The most interesting parts of the story are when the third person narrator focuses in on these two boys, showing their crises of faith and the siren call of the cult, as well as the confusion engendered when their mother and father fight over religion. I could definitely see this reading as a richly crafted, frightening horror for someone who is Baptist, or at least Protestant, themselves. For the non-Christian or non-religious reader, however, the frequent mentions of Jesus, capitalizing pronouns referring to God, and attempts at creating horror at the mere idea of not following Jesus fail to aid in establishing the horror. They become something to skim past rather than part of the atmosphere of the book.For most of the book, the basic plot of Archer versus the family and the sheriff and the crime scene detective flows nicely with just the right touch of horror. Toward the end of the book, just who Archer is and what precisely is going on becomes muddled. A lot of what happens with Archer and his church just doesn’t make a lick of sense. In spite of the religious leanings of the book, I was still engaged and wanting to solve the mystery of Archer. Instead, who he is and what the rules of the world are become increasingly muddled. The ending generally should clear things up, not leave things more confusing than they were before. That kind of confusing ending would be disappointing to anyone who read the book.I also was disappointed by one particular aspect of the ending. A person who was abusive gets forgiven because forgiveness is what the Baptist church teaches. It bothers me when books brush off abuse as something just getting Jesus in your heart can fix. It’s misleading and dangerous to encourage people to think that way. Granted, this is a horror book, so it’s doubtful many children will be reading it, but that still doesn’t make it a good message.The characters are interesting and widely varied. The children, particularly, are well-written. The scenes are well-envisioned and communicated. I never had any issues imagining any of the scenes vividly.Overall, this is a well-written horror book that flounders a bit at the end. It is richly steeped in the Baptist faith. As such, I recommend it most highly to Protestant horror fans who don’t mind a bit of a confusing ending that doesn’t answer all the questions.Check out my full review.
4 1/2 stars...Run For The Hills!I picked this up after following a forum link by the author and I am glad I did. The writing was excellent, and though the pace was a little slower than my personal taste leans toward, it allowed for a deeper exploration into the background and development of the characters. The opening scene sucks you in and I found myself burning a lot of the midnight oil just to see where this story was going.Ronnie was a solid character and there were parts of his story (when he kept trying to sort out his faith and how the world worked) that reminded me of Huck Finn. You definitely end up rooting for the kid...he's tough, naive, and good.My only complaint is that I found myself rooting for an ending that didn't happen. It is not that the ending was inadequate, I was just geared to watch something else unfold. Its just a matter of taste on my part and not reflective of the author's talent. I do not want to give away the ending by explaining any more.Highly recommended...and I am looking forward to checking out Nicholson's other material.
What do You think about The Red Church (2010)?
A very creepy horror novel that explores ideas of faith, redemption, good vs. evil and how hard it is to tell the difference, and other such thoughts. This is my first Nicholson book and I'm quite impressed not only by his mastery of language but by his character development, plot development, and clean copy editing. Fans of horror and those fascinated by the eternal struggle to understand the human condition should enjoy this novel. Please keep an eye open for my review of the sequel, "Drummer Boy."
—Katy
This book started off creepy enough for me, but then it became pretty religious. I am not a heathen, but I do like to keep my religion and reading for entertainment seperate...I haven't figured out yet if this author is a Christian horror writer or if the religious references are just part of the story, so that is really distracting me...so therefore, the book has lost me. Now, I am just reading it to determine the "religion" question.ETA(05/31/2011): I found out this is def. not a Christian horror writer and that the references made were part of the story..so I will def. be reading more by this author and just ordered his book, Speed Dating with the Dead, off Amazon...Fingers crossed that The Red Church was just a fluke!
—Naomi
For twenty years the red church has been nothing but fodder for ghost stories and a place to store hay. No one in the small North Carolina mountain town likes to talk about its grisly past. When people start dying mysterious and horrific deaths , the Sherriff suspects that it has something to do with the return of Reverend McFall . McFall’s followers are willing to do whatever is needed, not matter how horrifying, to assure the return of the Second Son.I don’t read a lot of books in the horror genre, and now I know why. This book was scary. Nicholson finds the perfect voice for the cast of characters in this small mountain town. Since there isn’t one main protagonist, you are able to view the story from many different perspectives. That technique is part of what makes this book so chilling. I was drawn into the story by earning about the church’s terrible past through the eyes of long time residents, and then frightened by the creature that lurks in the bell tower as told by the viewpoint of the children. The zealots who follow McFall tell their story, as well, and you get to peek inside the mind of someone who is rationalizing death and sacrifice in the name of their beliefs.The church itself is a creepy and terrifying character in this story. From the very first scene, you feel the unease that its presence causes. As you learn its tragic history, its evil grows and becomes the setting for some of the scarier parts of the book. The fact that there is a church that’s painted red sets the tone right away and sent chills down my spine every time I thought about it. If you are looking for an entertaining, well written and scary book to read, this would be a good choice!
—ExLibris_Kate
