REVIEW: The Devil in Pew Number Seven

ALERT: This post contains spoilers about the various individuals mentioned in the following book.

 

Tragic.

That is how I would describe the early life of Rebecca Nichols Alonzo, author of The Devil in Pew Number Seven. In a way, it almost feels odd to review or evaluate a book detailing the heart-breaking circumstances that someone had to endure. Thus, I will do my best to separate my thoughts about the book from thoughts about Alonzo’s story.

THE STORY

A majority of The Devil in Pew Number Seven takes place in and around the small town of Sellerstown, North Carolina. It is here that Robert and Romona Nichols felt God had called them to serve a local church. As the pastor, Robert led and revitalized a local community congregation, reaching the lost for Christ and leading the church to change and grow in a variety of ways.

However, as any pastor who has led change can tell you, not everyone likes change.

Horry Watts was a well known and widely respected member of the Sellerstown community. Watts had been a previous councilman, was quite wealthy and was very well connected. He was not, however, a fan of the changes brought by this new pastor to HIS church.

And furthermore he was not, under any circumstance, accustomed to NOT getting his way.

Over the next four years Watts orchestrated a campaign of fear aimed at Pastor Nichols and his family. Late night calls punctuated by silent breathing, threatening letters, slashed tires and even sticks of dynamite let off at the pastor’s house were all part of an attempt by Watts to get this pastor to leave town.

However, these acts of terror were not the only horrifying experience the family had to endure.

In a completely unconnected thread to that involving Watts, the family had willingly taken in a local mother and her infant to help them escape the woman’s abusive, drunken husband. The husband, in a fit of rage and revenge, arrived one night at dinner only to shoot and kill the author’s mother (Romona) and twice shoot the author’s father (Robert).

As I said above, this author’s early years are nothing less than heart-breaking and tragic.

THE BOOK

While my heart breaks for the author’s story, I had a lot of conflicting thoughts as I read this book. I recognize that perhaps I’m too used to fiction and I want everything to align in a nice, neat literary fashion. I also recognize that sort of storyline rarely plays out in real life. Yet, purely from a book standpoint, I struggled.

My most significant issue lay in how a vast majority of the work deals with the actions of Mr. Watts and his campaign of terror against the Nichols family. Because he is the titular character, this is unsurprising. Yet, after various chapters of build up have taken place detailing each of the attacks, the effects on the family, etc, another story is interjected regarding the shooting of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols.

Reading it felt very sudden and very disconnected.

Again, I recognize life does not work like literature. However this much more dramatic, and tragic, incident seemingly comes out of nowhere. Given how much build was given to Mr. Watts, I was anticipating some connection to be made between the storylines. Yet, the only connection was the Nichols family itself.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I wish this were the only story I was aware of where church politics resulted in acts of violence. It’s not. It is, however, by far the most extreme example I am aware of.

The Nichols family, particularly the children, endured more than I would hope any child must experience. Yet, in the fallen, broken, messed-up world we live in, many children endure similar tragedy.

Woven throughout the story is a consistent example of the Nichols family commitment to live by the commands of Jesus, offering grace and forgiveness. That is undeniable.

The author concludes identifying how forgiveness and reconciliation was sought out by one such devil in her life, but the status of the other was unknown. Within their stories, you can see how some one-time villains can experience redemption, while others do not.

If all of this feels a little disjointed, then it reflects how I felt about The Devil in Pew Number Seven.