A young woman attempts to seduce Busche while he is counseling her Marshall's marriage begins to fall apart because of the time he spends with his comrade, Bernice Kreuger. On the first page, where we glimpse the Ashton Summer Festival going on, Peretti writes that it was a place to get "drunk, pregnant, beat up, ripped off, and sick, all in one night." There are several other references to drunkenness.Ī girl accuses her father of raping her when she was little - a blatantly false charge. (Note: There is more violence than this, but this covers the major points fairly well.) One character is deceived by a demon masquerading as an angel and, when the demon reveals itself, is chained and beaten.
Treachery and deception are powerful undercurrents throughout the narrative and the suspense mounts until it can be positively frightening. Demons drip blood from their talons and scales (not all of it being their own). Demons also attack and sometimes possess humans Bernice is assaulted (by humans) and Busche's wife nearly so, before an angel swoops to the latter's rescue. The spiritual warfare gets physical here as demons and angels clash claws and swords, but it's not just spiritual beings who get knocked around.
There's probably as much violence in this book as there is spiritual content, if not more. God is revered by several characters, though Marshall scoffs at His existence through part of the book, and Lucifer is honored by all the demons (though some may disagree with his methods in seducing Mankind). Demons and angels are present as they fight for domination of Ashton, and Henry Busche calls several demons out of people by the authority of Christ. For the most part good and evil are kept separate, though some characters, like Marshall's daughter, are undecided as to what they believe.įrom page 1 to page 136 this book is doused in spiritual content.
All characters have their faults, though Busche's are significantly fewer than unbelievers' like Marshall's. Marshall Hogan, the town's skeptical reporter and Henry Busche, pastor of one of the town's two churches, are both determined to get to the bottom of what is happening, despite their vastly different worldviews. PerettiĪ fascinating read, but a lot of violence and a very physical approach to spiritual warfare.īackwoods American town Ashton comes alive as spiritual forces, evil and holy, clash amid the human realm.
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