Hello, Friday Fiction Friends! Today, I’m reviewing what I consider a classic “supernatural” novel. Frank Peretti released The Visitation twenty-five years ago. Here’s the blurb:
The sleepy, eastern Washington wheat town of Antioch has suddenly become a gateway for the supernatural–from sightings of angels and messianic images to a weeping crucifix. Then a self-proclaimed prophet mysteriously appears with an astounding message.
The national media and the curious all flock to the little town–a great boon for local business but not for Travis Jordan. The burned-out former pastor has been trying to hide his past in Antioch. Now the whole world is headed to his backyard to find the Messiah, and in the process, every spiritual assumption he has ever held will be challenged. The startling secret behind this visitation ultimately pushes one man into a supernatural confrontation that will forever alter the lives of everyone involved.
Peretti is a master of suspense. Even when he is penning a simple scene, you can feel the “oh, no” rise in you. That deep-down knowledge that something off-the-wall is about to happen. His foreshadowing and the way he builds upon the town of Antioch when the supernatural events begin to occur is mind-blowing. I couldn’t put it down but didn’t want to see what happened next either. I mean, wow, I could not see any way that the good guys would win.
The novel also brought to life a lot of memories of my own. The way churches can be; both good and bad. Several of the main character’s experiences had been mine and I marveled at the way I realized I’d grown myself, over the years, through the positive and negative of life as a Christian in the United States.
I would highly recommend The Visitation by Frank Peretti. Now, I just need to figure out which of his novels I want to read next…
When I lived in Washington near Olympia, we used to drive to the little town of Yelm which was reported to be the town where The Visitation took place. A woman who claimed to be a medium who contacted the dead lived there. I can’t confirm that Peretti actually based his novel there, but I heard the rumors. My only regret is he didn’t write more books.
Wow. That must have been awesome…