Red Church by Scott Nicholson

"Hold onto your pants, because Nicholson is about to scare them off."--J.A. Konrath, Origin

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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Professionally formatted by Dellaster Design. A Stoker Award finalist and alternate selection of The Mystery Guild Book Club, 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 my other novels DRUMMER BOY, THE SKULL RING, and SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD. I invite you to contact me at or at Amazon Central. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

My Review - I gave up on this book...I mean I started it on March 9th and was only 75 pages into it by March 16th. So I gave it up, don't usually do that on books but couldn't get into it.