PREACH IT

A North Carolina pastor may be much more diabolical than he initially appears in Parker’s debut thriller.

Associate pastor Greg Bartlett’s boyhood dream was to preach; the 30-something husband and father is now the heir apparent to Josiah Shanks, the senior pastor at Abundant Grace Baptist Church in Charlotte. They need the congregation to grow, as Covid-19 has mercilessly slashed attendance, so Greg films his boss performing an exorcism—an entirely dramatized one, complete with a woman they’ve paid to feign demonic possession. This brings more people into the church, and subsequent videos become a veritable “exorcism movie series,” but the women appearing in the scenes seem shaken or withdrawn after the filming is done. Greg stumbles onto a bizarre shrine in the woods bordering the church and suspects that genuine “supernatural forces” are threatening him. He thinks that Shanks may be behind all of it, but needs physical evidence to prove that sinister machinations are at play. Parker’s novel grows more unnerving as it rolls along and Greg witnesses things that range from the inexplicable to the outright horrifying. Readers get plenty of insight into the associate pastor, whose journal entries drive the narrative. He’s a devout Christian who seemingly cares about all those who make up the congregation; still, while Shanks, who’s prone to angry outbursts, is despicable, Greg isn’t exactly his opposite—the associate pastor knows he’s doing questionable things, like recruiting female actors from uptown Charlotte’s “troubled” population. Parker layers the story with compelling mysteries; from the beginning, it’s obvious that Shanks has at least perused Greg’s journal, as he’s added snarky and/or creepy footnotes. These sometimes tease upcoming events, though they don’t immediately reveal what exactly is unfolding. Answers do come, however, by the dazzling final act, which readers won’t forget anytime soon.

A nightmarish tale teeming with fiendish beings and macabre imagery.