Reviews - The Red Church | The StoryGraph

30 reviews for:

Very nicely written, realistically creepy and the characters ring true. Scott Nicholson's writing feels like some of Stephen King's, where you can feel the dirt on the ground and hear the accents surrounding you. Very nicely done.

drew5287's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

djotaku's review against another edition

2.0

I got this book as part of a Humble Bundle years ago. It was my first occult horror, unless you count Dean Koontz books, which - now that I think about it - seems to share at least some genre space with this book. Quick note for anyone new to my reviews - I use the Goodreads tooltips to inform how many stars I give a book. At the time I'm writing this review, 2 stars is "it was OK".

I definitely give the author credit for creativity. The occult enemy in this book was an original - not a typical creature from heaven or hell. This kept the narrative fresh and kept me guessing. At first, I thought perhaps this was going to be more akin to a thriller in which nothing supernatural was going on. But like the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk Til Dawn, eventually it became clear that our main antagonist did have some kind of powers and wasn't merely delusional or an amazingly powered con artist. But the mythology this book was proposing (

Spoiler

that Archer McFall was the second son of God

) was so foreign a concept that I wasn't sure throughout the entire book whether it was meant to be truth or a lie. The eventual reveal was a huge surprise, although there were hints all along.

I liked the various points of view throughout the novel, that kept it fresh and allowed the author to provide lots of points of view with different bits of information missing, especially the Ronnie's perspective. Overall, it was well put together and really kept me on my toes. So why the lower rating? Mostly the ending left me wanting and left me a little nonplussed about what exactly had happened after all that buildup. The epilogue - the final part with the antagonist - brought it up to 2 stars.

Overall, this wasn't for me. I'm not fully giving up on the genre, though. And you might like this book if occult horror is up your alley - don't let it falling flat for me keep you from what might be a great book.

sailor_virgo's review against another edition

4.0

I liked this a lot. I will definitely check out more books by the author.

gnostalgia's review against another edition

4.0

Yet another great story by the "Duke of Disturbing" Scott Nicholson. I guess that you would have to call this vintage Nicholson since this was his first novel. If you are looking for an introduction into Nicholson's work, I couldn't think of a better novel.
In the "Red Church", we pick up the story of Ronnie Day. His life is filled with family problems, and to further complicate his young life, he must walk past the haunted Red Church. The church has a dark history and it is the home of the dreaded Bell Monster. Wendell McFall, the former pastor of this church, committed crimes so evil that he was lynched by the people of the town 150 years ago.
Under the pastorage of Archer McFall, Wendell's descendant, the Red Church begins to stir once again. A plague of mutilation murders portends the return of evil to this rural community.
I really enjoyed the book. It could easily sit next to Peter Straub or Stephen King on your bookshelf. I thought of Straub's "Ghost Story" and King's "Silver Bullet" while reading this book.
I give it 4 1/2 stars.