An ancient sin. A long forgotten oath. A town with a deadly secret.
Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated mining town in th... read full description
reviews
Jan 23, 2008
Robert
rated it: 
Frank Peretti, The Oath (Word, 1995)
I got this a few years back from my mother as a Christmas present. I pointed out to her that Peretti is widely known as a Christian author (one would think that the book's publisher, who also releases books by folks like Billy Graham, would have been a giveaway there), and her response was "it certainly doesn't sound like Christian fiction. It sounds like Stephen King." And Frank Peretti is, without doubt, the Christian version of Mr. King, More...
I got this a few years back from my mother as a Christmas present. I pointed out to her that Peretti is widely known as a Christian author (one would think that the book's publisher, who also releases books by folks like Billy Graham, would have been a giveaway there), and her response was "it certainly doesn't sound like Christian fiction. It sounds like Stephen King." And Frank Peretti is, without doubt, the Christian version of Mr. King, More...
Aug 03, 2011
Aubrey
rated it: 
"I expect my story will be largely ignored by those who come after me, but who knows? It just might prove useful to the next hapless soul who suspects he's being followed, marked, and hunted. After all, we all live in Hyde River. We all have our dragon..."
I admit I'm not sure what I think of this story. On one hand, it's definately an interesting analogy. Although it doesn't really play in until the late second half, the analogy came together well and it makes a good mental picture of sin and it More...
I admit I'm not sure what I think of this story. On one hand, it's definately an interesting analogy. Although it doesn't really play in until the late second half, the analogy came together well and it makes a good mental picture of sin and it More...
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Jun 25, 2007
Barbara
rated it: 
This is a fictional story that addresses the very real sin that dwells within each of us.
The first 1/3 of the book is very interesting; then, as I read it, I found myself falling asleep through the next 1/3. But the last 1/3, when all the ends start tying up and the pieces fall into place, I literally could not but the book down.
The author did an excellent job describing the mountainous area in which the story takes place. I felt like I was really there. His style of dialogue was More...
The first 1/3 of the book is very interesting; then, as I read it, I found myself falling asleep through the next 1/3. But the last 1/3, when all the ends start tying up and the pieces fall into place, I literally could not but the book down.
The author did an excellent job describing the mountainous area in which the story takes place. I felt like I was really there. His style of dialogue was More...
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Jun 19, 2007
Klasko
rated it:
This book proves that Frank Peretti is the Stephen King of Christian fiction. I think I read this one in about a day and a night. I was worthless for the whole time I was reading it because I couldn't put it down. I read it while my husband was away on a business trip and then I wouldn't put it down until I finished it because my imagination about what might happen next creeped me out more than continuing to read it. So I read it until moving into the larger of the wee hours of the morning.
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Sep 07, 2007
Faith
rated it: 
There is a little bit of everything in this book. A bit of romance, action, mystery, thrill, fear, and of course a good moral & lesson in the end. I was able to read this novel for hours and never grow tired. Frank Peretti has never disappointed me yet with his novels and is one of my favorite authors. His stories are comtemporary and extremely addicting. This is the first books I read by him. I was about 13 or 14 when I first read this book. I saw it on my parents bookshelf and wanted to read i
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Aug 19, 2011
Doyin
rated it:
Sin is the monster we love to deny.
It can stalk us, bite a slice out of our lives, return again and bite again, and even as we bleed and hobble. We prefer to believe nothing has happened. That makes sin the perfect monster, a man-eater that blinds and numbs its victims, convincing them that nothing is wrong and there is no need to flee, and then consumes them at its leisure.
We’ve all been assailed by this beast, sometimes face- to –face, but all too often from a direction we aren’t pre More...
It can stalk us, bite a slice out of our lives, return again and bite again, and even as we bleed and hobble. We prefer to believe nothing has happened. That makes sin the perfect monster, a man-eater that blinds and numbs its victims, convincing them that nothing is wrong and there is no need to flee, and then consumes them at its leisure.
We’ve all been assailed by this beast, sometimes face- to –face, but all too often from a direction we aren’t pre More...
Nov 12, 2009
Savannah
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book, it was a pretty great thriller that kept me thinking.
It didn't read as fast as I would have liked, it did take me a little while to get through it, but it's also a nice chunk of tree to put on ones bookshelf, so I suppose that makes sense.
It certainly does a good job of keeping you on your toes and your heart racing, especially in the beginning and the last half. I mean, the hero is hunting a freaking invisible being that marks people in a way More...
It didn't read as fast as I would have liked, it did take me a little while to get through it, but it's also a nice chunk of tree to put on ones bookshelf, so I suppose that makes sense.
It certainly does a good job of keeping you on your toes and your heart racing, especially in the beginning and the last half. I mean, the hero is hunting a freaking invisible being that marks people in a way More...
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Sep 01, 2009
Anne Hawn
rated it:
This was one of Peretti’s best. The plot centers on the effect of evil on the human soul. Professor Steve Benson. comes to the town of Hyde River because his brother, Cliff, has been killed by some enormous animal that seems to defy description. It is assumed that he was mauled by a bear, but Steve, with a Ph.D in Biological Science and a professorship at Colorado State University teaching environmental science and biology, is not satisfied. He and the conservation officer of Fish and Game
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Jun 05, 2008
Craig
rated it:
I found this book at a campsite in the mountains of Wyoming...expecting it to be a horror novel about murder in the mountains.... Turned out to be a horror novel with an evil monster lurking in the mountains. Needless to say, when I got to the end, all of the pages were ripped out. So I had to wait until the next day to go to the library to finish the last fifty pages. Damn that mountain man that used the ending of the book to keep the fire alive...
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Feb 05, 2012
Lissa
rated it:
I was really surprised when I actually liked this book. I sat down with it because I had nothing else to read on hand, but figured that it would get me through until I found something else.
I knew that this was a "Christian - Horror" novel, not really my thing. (Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christianity or religion, I just prefer to read other genres.) Anyone else out there that may be skeptical about reading this book because of the religious underto More...
I knew that this was a "Christian - Horror" novel, not really my thing. (Please don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christianity or religion, I just prefer to read other genres.) Anyone else out there that may be skeptical about reading this book because of the religious underto More...
Mar 04, 2011
Deb
rated it:
This creepy thriller requires the reader to accept the premise, that the realm of the Spiritual has spilled over to the realm of the physical. A strange attack and death of a man camping in the woods brings his brother and others to a secluded town to investigate. At first they think it is a bear attack, but strange rumors and odd behavior of the local residents keeps the brother puzzled enough to keep investigating. What he discovers is an evil with power over everyone who succombs to i's t
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May 14, 2009
Rain
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 27, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
This book brings a whole new meaning to the saying "Play with fire and you'll get burned". I really enjoyed it. It's a longer read, but most of his novels are usually. It's well worth it though. You really don't have the slightest clue as to what's what until the end of the novel, but that of course just leaves you wanting more and unable to put it down for even a moment. My husband is glad I have finished it, as he is looking forward to having me back in this world. I don't hav
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Mar 09, 2009
Frank Peretti latest novel could be described as one of his best yet, as the Christian writer has mixed all the elements of a good action thriller novel and doused them in a Christian message. His story follows Steve Benson, a renowned wildlife biologist, and his investigation into his brother’s strange and vaguely detailed death. The story unfolds in a region around a small town in the pacific northwest, adding to the mystery and dark roots of the story. The book though dark, graphic and t
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Jul 31, 2010
Steven
rated it:
The only way to categorize this book is "Christian Horror". Set in the small mining town of Hyde River, this story involves a "dragon" which is literally a physical representation of the sins of a community. Just as people are in denial about their sins, this community denies the existence of the dragon, although it is literally eating them alive...
When an outsider, a wildlife biologist named Steve Benson, arrives to investigate the death of his brother, he begin More...
When an outsider, a wildlife biologist named Steve Benson, arrives to investigate the death of his brother, he begin More...
Feb 02, 2010
Chris
rated it:
This is in some ways the standard Peretti work, and has certainly been his most popular. It's an adventure story, a mystery, and a romance, with a healthy dollop of spiritual warfare thrown in. Still, it left me a little cold.
I don't mind a plot-driven book; as a lifelong reader of fantasy and SF, I prefer a strong plot to endless pages of character noodling. Still, character is important to a book, and here it feels that characterization is sacrificed to keep the plot racing along. More...
I don't mind a plot-driven book; as a lifelong reader of fantasy and SF, I prefer a strong plot to endless pages of character noodling. Still, character is important to a book, and here it feels that characterization is sacrificed to keep the plot racing along. More...
Jan 08, 2010
Mike (the Paladin)
rated it: 
Don't get me wrong, I really like Frank Peretti. I've had recordings of him speaking, I've read several of his books. I think The Visitation is an incredibly good book.
Unfortunately I can't say the same about this one. I didn't even finish it (I almost put "couldn't finish it", but I suppose I could have forced myself. It just didn't seem worth it.). I found the story itself somewhat at fault. This might have worked better as a youth book. if I go deeper into why, I'll give More...
Unfortunately I can't say the same about this one. I didn't even finish it (I almost put "couldn't finish it", but I suppose I could have forced myself. It just didn't seem worth it.). I found the story itself somewhat at fault. This might have worked better as a youth book. if I go deeper into why, I'll give More...
Sep 15, 2010
Kathy
rated it:
Wow! What an adventure. It's part mystery, part sci-fi (or maybe that should be fantasy/horror), with just a wee bit of Christian parable and some unobtrusive sex. Peretti makes the Hyde River area a very real and scary place. Indeed the town and its environs are better written than his characters, but that's a minor flaw, if it's a flaw at all.
I do quarrel with the last thirty or so pages; the tale did not need all that gore and violence and running around before the ultimate victor More...
I do quarrel with the last thirty or so pages; the tale did not need all that gore and violence and running around before the ultimate victor More...
Feb 26, 2011
C.L.
rated it:
I'm not much for thrillers, I'm a coward, I admit it, This one, however, had me hooked from start to finish, even though it did give me nightmares. With engaging, although not always likeable, characters, you find yourself feeling sorry for heros and villains alike because they are all so deceived. Except for one, and even he doesn't make it out the story unscathed. It also is an allegory for the way sin can start so small, but can grow so out of control that it eventually devours you. This
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Apr 27, 2009
Rachel
rated it:
None of the reviews I’ve seen attempt to judge Oath on its merits as a thriller—only as a Christian thriller. I find this insulting and sad. The implication is that it is unfair or irrelevant to weigh Christian cultural/artistic efforts on the same scale as secular culture. This is akin to saying that it is unfair to judge art produced by women by the same standards as art produced by men; it’s patronizing and wrong. Bach wrote sacred music of enduring power and beauty—suck on that, Jars of Clay
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Oct 20, 2011
Bonnie
rated it:
I made the right choice reading this around Halloween back in '09.
Back when I was younger, I remember seeing this book for the first time and was intrigued by the scary looking cover (also awesome looking), and flipped the pages in the beginning to read about a scared out of her wits woman running away from something. Mr. Perreti has some intense writing skills as he successfully portrays a most ominous setting in the mountains around this small town called Hyde River.
The More...
Back when I was younger, I remember seeing this book for the first time and was intrigued by the scary looking cover (also awesome looking), and flipped the pages in the beginning to read about a scared out of her wits woman running away from something. Mr. Perreti has some intense writing skills as he successfully portrays a most ominous setting in the mountains around this small town called Hyde River.
The More...
Oct 29, 2011
Michael
rated it:
A fun bit of Christian fiction about a town that has become lost to sin, and is haunted by the personification of that sin (or, perhaps, monsterification): a man-eating dragon. The book is long and fairly simple, but I enjoyed reading it. Peretti is an evangelical Christian who writes for other evangelical Christians, so I suspect there isn't a wide audience for this sort of book (that's a joke). However...pretty light and harmless. If you like the Dragon of Sin eating people, then being destroy
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Oct 12, 2011
Rebekah
rated it:
The book The Oath by Frank Peretti is really interesting. It takes place in Hyde Valley, a small town with a dark secret. Steve Benson gets a call that his sister-in-law, Evelyn Benson was found on the high way leading into the town crazily stabbing a semi-truck and nearly taking off the driver’s ear. Upon arriving in the town Steve finds that his brother was killed and they found the site of the murder. Him and police deputy, Tracy Ellis visit the scene of the crime, he is told the coroner
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May 02, 2011
A Dean Koontz-type story- strange and bizarre! A man and wife are attacked in the woods of a small, old mining town in the Pacific Northwest. The husband is killed but the surviving wife, found with a knife and covered in blood, doesn't remember anything. Steve, her brother-in-law, arrives to try to find out what happened- was it a bear attack? murder? a dragon? The town has a mysterious history (strange disappearances, deaths) that nobody talks about because they've taken an oath of silence.
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Mar 16, 2011
Rachel
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 31, 2008
Andrew
rated it:
This is among my most favorite novels ever. A young woman runs for help from something terrifying, something that has enraged as well as frightened her. Her brother in law, Steve Benson, is called to her aid and learns that his brother has been killed - and Evelyn, his sister in law, cannot describe the thing that killed him. Neither can the police. So Steve undertakes to find out for himself, partly because he is sure something is being hidden. That beginning is common to a lot of novels, and
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Aug 18, 2008
Werner
rated it:
Peretti is generally viewed as the dean of supernatural fiction writers in the commercial "Christian fiction" market (which he was largely single-handedly responsible for opening up to this genre). Although I haven't read any of his other work, I'd be inclined to say that he deserves his stature in the field. His characters (at least, in this novel) are utterly believable, fallible people; his plot is gripping, and perfectly paced; the Oregon mountain setting is well-drawn (the autho
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Mar 07, 2011
Shari
rated it:
This is probably my least favorite of the Peretti books I've read. It was pretty far out there teetering between fantasy and morality. Lots of people die in unpleasant ways which leads one to believe we have a punishing God. Sin is represented by a dragon that preys on those who have committed sins. The problem is that salvation is only offered to the main character. Many good people are taken without the chance to realize their sin and repent.
Mr. Peretti is pretty judgmental in m More...
Mr. Peretti is pretty judgmental in m More...
Aug 24, 2011
Dan
rated it:
Finishing this book was like letting someone continuously stab needles into my eyes. Not only was the writing in general terrible and word choice horrendous, but the theme and moral of the story was about as subtle as a kick in the crotch. Even looking beyond the in your face religious agenda, the story as a whole was awful. The only celebration to be found is when each cookie cutter character meets their demise at the hands of the lame excuse for a monster.
Skip It.
Skip It.
Oct 30, 2010
Lynnda
rated it:
I am not a big fan of Frank Peretti's suspense novels. The Oath, however, captured me from the first page and didn't release me until the last page. For once, Mr. Peretti did not over-dramatize the situation. The story - the way evil will destroy anyone willing to reject God - is told as if it were an Alfred Hitchcock movie. This is a Halloween story with the promise of hope. If the hope angle had been a little stronger, I would have rated it a five.
