The Red Church [Kindle Edition]

Scott Nicholson (Author)

Book Description

A boy and a sheriff must solve the mystery of a haunted Appalachian church when a strange preacher returns to town. Stoker Award finalist.

THE RED CHURCH

For 13-year-old Ronnie Day, life is full of problems: Mom and Dad have separated, his brother Tim is a constant pest, Melanie Ward either loves him or hates him, and Jesus Christ won't stay in his heart. Plus he has to walk past the red church every day, where the Bell Monster hides with its wings and claws and livers for eyes. But the biggest problem is that Archer McFall is the new preacher at the church, and Mom wants Ronnie to attend midnight services with her.

Sheriff Frank Littlefield hates the red church for a different reason. His little brother died in a freak accident at the church twenty years ago, and now Frank is starting to see his brother's ghost. And the ghost keeps demanding, "Free me." People are dying in Whispering Pines, and the murders coincide with McFall's return.

The Days, the Littlefields, and the McFalls are descendants of the original families that settled the rural Appalachian community. Those old families share a secret of betrayal and guilt, and McFall wants his congregation to prove its faith. Because he believes he is the Second Son of God, and that the cleansing of sin must be done in blood.

"Sacrifice is the currency of God," McFall preaches, and unless Frank and Ronnie stop him, everybody pays.
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My spiritual thriller "The Red Church" explores a boy's struggle with faith when his mother attends a haunted church. Inspired by real-life legends in the Southern Appalachian Mountains where I live, the novel mirrors my own search for faith, love, and deeper mysteries. I hope you'll try the next Littlefield novel DRUMMER BOY, and my other books, including LIQUID FEAR and SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD. I invite you to contact me at Amazon Central. Thanks for sharing the journey.

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"Scott Nicholson is the kind of writer who always thrills and always entertains." --Jonathan Maberry, Patient Zero

"Scott Nicholson understands that the best horror novels achieve primal fear through a combination of sustained atmosphere, richly drawn characters, and believable if uncanny evils that draw unholy power from everyday lives. The Red Church is a damn scary story well told." --Christopher Ransom, author of the international bestseller, The Birthing House

"A master of atmospheric suspense." --Eric Wilson, NY Times bestselling novelist

"Scott Nicholson knows the territory. Follow him at your own risk."--Stewart O'Nan, Boston Noir

"Keep both hands on your pants, because Nicholson is about to scare them off."--J.A. Konrath, Origin

"A wonderful storyteller. He has entered a literary shadowland between Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman."--Sharyn McCrumb, The Ballad novels

"Like Stephen King, he knows how to summon serious scares."--Bentley Little

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Like Stephen King, Nicholson has an eye and ear for the rhythms of rural America and summons serious scares." -- Bentley Little, author of The Association

"Nicholson writes with a mixture of H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker, stirred with a dose of his own originality." -- Kevin J. Anderson, author of Hopscotch

"Readers will sense echoes of Stephen King's classic Castle Rock tales in The Red Church. Scott Nicholson knows the territory." -- Stewart O'Nan, author of The Circus Fire

"Scott Nicholson explores a nightmare country that ends in Stephen King's yard. A wonderful storyteller." -- Sharyn McCrumb, author of the Ballad novels

“Rarely does a story teller weave prose with the emotional energy and sheer gusto of Nicholson.” -- Horrorfind.com, December 2000

From the Publisher

The church was constructed in the 1860s under the guidance of Reverend Wendell McFall. His sermons declared the existence of God's Second Son- whose mission it is to undo all of Jesus' work on Earth. But when he sacrificed a child to support his rantings, his congregation hung him from the rafters of his own sanctuary.

For twenty years, the red church has stood empty. Crumbling to ruin, it has become a site for Halloween pranks and the setting for ghost stories- including one about the thing that lives in the bell tower, a creature being blamed for a brutal murder that occurred in the church's graveyard.

Now Archer McFall has purchased the church to house his Temple of Two Sons- whose zealous worshippers will stop at nothing to see the Second Son return to his rightful glory.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 471 KB
• Print Length: 362 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 145150702X
• Publisher: Haunted Computer Books (December 30, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0032FPYD8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,196 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #26 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Fantasy > Metaphysical & Visionary

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

155 of 178 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It Was a Dark and Stormy Night... March 21, 2010

By Southern Kindle

Format:Kindle Edition

...when I started to read Scott's book on my Kindle. I should have known better. This is not the genre I typically read. But since he had a recommendation from another author I recently discovered (J.A. Konrath) and he has really impressed me on the discussion boards here on Amazon, I thought I would give it a go. Good decision; bad timing!

Lights aglow (cause I am a scaredy-cat), I hunkered into my fluffy featherbed, covered with my warm comforter, listening to the wind howl and the rain dance across the tin roof, 'The Red Church' grabbed my attention and didn't let go! As the storm raged on, the hours flew by, and I was completely entranced.

And then, almost at the end, when the action in the book was reaching a new high...a large bang outside and my power went out!!

I kid you not! Convinced evil forces were now in play (vs just blaming the storm outside), I carefully hid my Kindle under the pillow next to me, closed my eyes so tight, and faded off to a fitful sleep.

By morning, the sun was shining and I was able to finish the book without further incident.

I highly recommend this book and will look for more by Scott. And next time, I will have a flashlight handy. :)

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful, dark, and moving January 19, 2010

By Christa Polkinhorn

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am not exactly a "thriller" or "horror" fan, so when I came across The Red Church by Scott Nicholson I hesitated at first, thinking I probably wouldn't like it. After the first few pages into the book, I realized how limiting and inaccurate such labels really are. To be sure, there is plenty of blood-curdling and scary stuff in the novel. However, there is much more to the book than "blood and gore." A tight, fast-moving plot, vivid, psychologically complex characters that jump off the page and are so real you remember them long after you finish reading the book, and a very accurate depiction of the emotional and mental powers that religious fanatics or new-age gurus can yield over their trusting victims make this book a truly fascinating read. I can only recommend it.

111 of 130 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good writing, bad ending, and some unsettling religious implications January 18, 2011

By rstack

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was the first Scott Nicholson book I've read. I won't bother summarizing the story because so many other reviewers have already done that. I'll just focus on what I liked and didn't like.
First the good:
I was impressed with the writing, and the story was very engaging. You are able to see the story unfold through several of the characters' perspectives. The main character is a young teenage boy (Ronnie Day), but you also get glimpses into the mind of his father, mother, the sheriff, and several other characters as well. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel. I also enjoyed the level of suspense that was injected into the storyline. I was truly immersed in the story.

Now the bad:
I was a little uncomfortable with the religious themes in this novel. I have attended several Southern Baptist churches throughout my life (including several as a child). I was a little bit put off by the author's portrayal of the teaching of salvation by Baptists. Throughout the novel, Ronnie (a Baptist) worries about whether or not he is truly saved. His preacher "senses" every few Sundays that Ronnie needs to be saved again, despite the fact that he has already asked Jesus into his heart. This leaves Ronnie without the assurance that he is truly saved and that Jesus lives in his heart. Ronnie agonizes over this very issue repeatedly throughout the book. This was very much the opposite of what I have observed over the years in several different Baptist churches. Baptist doctrine firmly teaches "once saved, always saved." Baptists believe that if you truly believe that Christ was the son of God, that he died on the Cross for our sins and rose again, and if you ask for forgiveness of your sins, you are eternally assured of your salvation. There is no need for a repeat. So this bothered me about the novel. Not to say that there aren't some Baptist churches that hold to a different doctrine regarding salvation. But based on my experiences, it just didn't feel like a fair portrayal.

The other part that bothered me was the ending (SPOILER alert):
The last couple of pages are from the perspective of the evil entity/Archer McFall/belfry monster. Here are the two quotes that bothered me the most:
"The thing had played many games throughout the billion passages of the sun, but this new one, the one of godhood, was the best." and the last line of the novel: "The master of the world returned to the dirt from which it had arisen."
I was under the assumption throughout the whole novel that Archer McFall was either a demon or Satan. Therefore I was expecting this character/entity to face some sort of punishment at the end. I was wrong. The entity essentially gets a way scot free- he is able to command those in the graveyard to rise up and follow him into the river. And then it is clear that he will likely be back to torture humans another day. Not a satisfying ending at all for me.
Finally, as you've probably guessed, I am a Christian. Therefore the misuse of God's name (g.d.) really bothers me. There were two such uses in this book, so I thought that bears mentioning for other Christians who might like a heads up.

All in all, I think this is a talented writer. I just didn't care for the ending, and I didn't like some of the religious implications in this novel.