Oath [Library Binding]

Frank Peretti (Author), Steven Clive Benson (Epilogue)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1996

Un pecado antiguo. Un juramento olvidado hace mucho tiempo. Un pueblo con un secreto mortal.

Algo siniestro sucede en Hyde River, aislado y viejo poblado minero de las montanas del noroeste del Pacifico. Algo diabolico.

Bajo el manto de oscuridad ataca el depredador sin aviso cobrando vidas de la manera mas escalofriante y salvaje. La comunidad de Hyde River observa aterrorizada mientras residentes desaparecen repentinamente. Pero por mas que se investigue entre los habitantes de la zona, mas estos callan como si estuvieran bajo un juramento de mantener el secreto de los pecados escondidos de sus antepasados.

Solo cuando se revelan los secretos de Hyde River sale a luz la verdadera gravedad del peligro. El pueblo descubre algo mucho mas mortal que lo que jamas se habria imaginado: algo que no solamente acecha sus victimas sino que tiene el poder de ennegrecer sus corazones de pudricion al lentamente llenarles el alma con oscuridad.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613020030
• ISBN-13: 978-0613020039
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (348 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,079,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank E. Peretti is one of American Christianity's best-known authors. His novels have sold over 10 million copies, and he is widely credited with reinventing Christian fiction. He and his wife, Barbara, live in the Pacific Northwest. www.frankperetti.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No-Holds-Barred!, November 2, 2000

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Oath (Paperback)

I've heard more negative response from other Christians toward this Peretti book than any other. Why? Because it's dark, maybe. Because it doesn't paint a gleeful, daisy-filled meadow scene for us, possibly.

And these are the reasons I consider this his best.

Without forgetting to grab our attention and build his characters, Peretti sets the stage for a powerful spiritual metaphor that hits the reader between the eyes. The seductive oath of this town comes back to haunt them, and by the end, no one will be left unchanged--for better of for worse. The consequences of flirting with sin are starkly portrayed here. Don't give up too soon; read on to the finish and you'll understand Peretti's point.

Of all Peretti's books, this one alone have I been able to pass out freely to my nonbelieving friends. The story is genuinely intriguing--not just a hastly sketched backdrop for a sermon--and it grabs your attention, demanding that you heed its warning.

This may not be for all readers, particularly those who like syrupy romance or immediate feel-goods, but it's worth the effort. If you like no-holds-barred Christian fiction, "The Oath" is for you.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A look at what goes on inside, May 3, 2000

By 

"stellane" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oath (Paperback)

A fan of Peretti's from the first chapter of "This Present Darkness," I was not in the least disappointed in "The Oath." While "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness" were true to life from start to finish, this book contained a different approach. Although I enjoyed every minute of it, there were several times during the reading that I stopped and thought, "This is so unreal. This could never happen." However, it was toward the end of the book that I realized it was a parody (in the loosest sense of the word) of what takes place in the spiritual world. The dragon that controlled the town was Sin, and although sin can never take a fleshly form and go around devouring unsuspecting townsfolk, in a spiritual sense, it does just exactly that. While we cannot see a smelly black substance oozing from our chests when we get sin in our lives, if we could see through spiritual eyes, we really would see a blackened heart, full of sin. As in the book, it is when the smallest sins get into our hearts and turn them "black," and we have removed ourselves from the realm of God's protection that the big "dragon" can come and eat us up. It is obvious that Peretti really knows something about the spiritual world, and this book, when taken in the right context, can help the reader to understand what is actually going on although we can't see it in the natural.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Time well spent......, March 21, 2001

By 

John K (Welland, Ont Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oath (Paperback)

A very good book! Peretti is very talented in his storytelling style. I read just about all of his adult books and this one ranks as one of his best (second only to the wonderful "This Present Darkness")

There are those who feel this book is too dark and too horrific--This is as close that Christian fiction can come to secular horror novels such as those by Stephen King and Dean Koontz--And I admit, I was surpised from some of the content I read and often thought to myself: 'And this is supposed to be a *Christian* book!?'...But really, it does make sense and is warrented. All in all, this story is about Sin. This book is very allagoric and symbolic of what sin is and what it can do to people. It usually starts small, and it grows. Quickly you become addicted to it. You don't even want to aknowledge your sin and so you become blind to it...that is until it is too late. You become a slave to sin and the only way to truly free yourself is through Jesus. Otherwise Sin will grow and grow until it devours you (Something litterally from this book). I know that this is starting to sound like a sermon, but this message is EXACTLY what this book is about...And yet, It never gets *preachy*

It's a fairly hefty novel, especially for Peretti, and at times you wish something more interesting would happen. But the pace never falters and it does manage to hold you. Only the most impatient of readers would put this book aside for good without having it finished.