Into the Book

4

This Present Darkness - Frank Peretti

Recommended
On the surface, Ashton seems like a normal little American town. But it soon becomes clear to both pastor Henry Busche and newspaper editor Marshall Hogan that things are anything but normal in the community. While Busche encounters strange stories and stranger people in his congregation, Hogan uncovers conspiracies that seem to include just about everyone with any power in the town.

What neither of them know at first, however, is that Ashton's problems run much deeper than those that meet the eye.

And thus the stage is set for a desperate spiritual fight that will test the strength and faith of every Christian in Ashton, and give the heavenly host a battle that will ring through the generations as a testimony that God always delivers His followers.

While the theological aspects of the demons and angels is somewhat extra-Biblical, the book does an excellent job of driving home the point -- the spiritual battle is just as real as anything we can see, angels and demons exist, just as we do. It makes the spiritual realm real in a way that was new to me, and is a helpful reminder to the many believers who don't always remember what's going on that we can't see or hear.

While it is handled delicately and discreetly, there is a great deal of adult content, including multiple instances of suspected rape and molestation. There is a lot of violence, which is scary but not unnecessarily graphic. A man is suspected of having an affair with his secretary, witchcraft is performed, and a demon-posessed man expresses the desire to rape a woman, though what he actually says is not spelled out. All of the negative content is expressed in the proper light, shown to be wrong.

This Present Darkness is a thrilling adventure of faith and darkness that will keep you turning pages, and give you a lot to think about. And when you are finished reading, you just may look around, as I did, and wonder how many beings are right in the room with you.

It's a reminder that there's more to our fight than meets the eye.
Grace Pennington is a homeschool graduate, a prolific writer, and the oldest of nine kids. She's partial to Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, and Daniel Schwabauer, but will consider almost any book. Most of all, she loves Jesus and desires to live her life for Him.

4 comments:

  1. I read this book and his other one Piercing the Darkness they were both pretty interesting (I thought so at least).

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  2. One of my favorites. Glad you enjoyed it as well.

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  3. One of my very favourite books. :D Excellent review, Grace! :)

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  4. I loved this book! Great review ^^

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