Book Review
House
By Frank Peretti & Ted Dekker
And thoughts on Christian Fiction
Welcome back to Ambrose Brothers.org. I apologize for the absence but it’s good to be back with you. Today I wanted to take a moment to review a book I have just finished reading, House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I was originally not going to bring up this book up at this site because of its fiction nature. I enjoy fiction and spend time both reading and writing it, however by its very definition it doesn’t offer the truth that say an Alistair Begg book would. However I have changed my mind, the Truth can exist where there isn’t truth. And in this book it does in a form.
So to the story: House offers the classic horror tale, 4 travelers each with there own sins to hide trapped in house with a killer. This tale spices it up some by adding 3 backwoods hillbillies who revere the killer, a House with a mind of its own, and a masked serial killer who only kills sinners. It’s just less than 400 pages and reads quickly, if you have a little time you can probably finish it in a day or two.
I don’t want to give you much more for fear of giving it all away but if you make it to the final 50 pages you can see why this book sits on the Christian Fiction shelves and isn’t shelved next to Stephen King. This book is ultimately about sin, and forgiveness. Forgiveness which can only be gained through Jesus Christ and ones acceptance into there lives.
So this brings us to our next thought. Do I recommend this book? I would have to answer Yes and No. On a personal note, I had heard a lot about it and wanted to see what the fuss was about. This book covers some deeper themes like Demon possession and the immoral life styles of the 4 houseguests (although never goes into much detail). I wouldn’t recommend it at all for younger children and even for teens would recommend running it by your parents. But parents I also believe you should have an understanding of what your children are reading. So all that being said, I don’t believe this is a must read book as some of the others we have looked at, however if you are going to read Fiction this I would of course push towards Christian fiction which offers some truth, and a much cleaned up language and themes over its secular counterpart.
Feel free to check out my previous thoughts on Christian Fiction.
Hood - http://www.ambrosebrothers.org/2008/06/book-review-hoo.html
Author Websites:
Frank Peretti - http://www.frankperetti.com
Ted Dekker - http://www.teddekker.com/site.php
