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Book Review of The Oath

The Oath
The Oath
Author: Frank Peretti
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 46 more book reviews


Apparently Frank Peretti is a well-known Christian author. I did not know this.

I don't know how I ended up with this book on my shelf, but I've had a used copy for a while and finally decided to dive in. I thought I was getting a regular old horror/monster/thriller type book. That's NOT what this book is. If that's what you're looking for, this book is probably not for you.

The Oath starts out okay. Not great, by any means, but okay. The writing is really middle-schoolish, with lots of telling instead of showing, and really stilted, awkward dialog, but the secretive town is compelling enough that I kept reading. There were hints along the way that religion was somehow involved. I stopped and checked the cover, and the blurb. Nothing to indicate it's Christian fiction. But, once you reach the third act, there's no doubt. The author spends the entire last 150 pages of the book hitting the reader over the head with sin, and God, and more sin, and how the only way to escape the dragon is to find Jesus.

Now, it's possible a book could be religious and still be a good thriller, but that's not the case with The Oath. It's not at all scary, and even if you get through all the preaching, the ending is a total let-down.

So, if you want a book about faith and sin, then you might like this book. But if you're just after a good horror story, I'd definitely suggest looking elsewhere.