Frank E. Peretti

[choklit]

I love his novels, and I didn't see a thread about him yet, so I though I'd make one.
I just finished reading "Prophet" and "House." House, wouldn't you know it, I read when it was dark and raining, and it kinda freaked me out. -_- I don't read or watch horror stuff, so I have NO immunity to such whatsoever.
I loved his Darkness books, and I hear they're considering making ti a movie. Can't wait for THAT.
I just love his work. He's really funny and his storytelling is superb, while being fresh and makes you think. What do you guys say?

[ich1990]

In my opinion, The Visitation, The Oath, and Monster are far and away his best works.

House was just to frenetic for me. If it had more of a plot, then it would be a dozen times better.

Prophet was good, but reeaaallllly slow. Plus, it caters more to the already christian crowd (not that there is anything wrong with that). I would prefer that he present christian ideologies in a new and accessable way, because that is what he is best at.

This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness where both average books with an above average concept. These books were written before he took a multi-year sabbatical to hone his writing skills. Don't get me wrong, they are not bad...... but they could be a lot better.

The Veritas series was pretty good, but short. Both books had pretty awesome plots, and decent writing. I would recommend them as excellent Young Adult books.

The Cooper kids adventures were very awesome. They really helped start my reading phase when I was a kid. One thing that I especially liked, was that the heroes were not just "normal kids randomly sucked into this awesome adventure". Instead they were highly competent kids who did this kind of stuff quite frequently "who got randomly sucked into this awesome adventure". In other words, the series had competent protagonists (as opposed to your average high school student), which was something I found quite refreshing.

My favorites for the above series were:

"The Tombs of Anak", which was the scariest book I had ever read as a kid. The kids get sucked into a Indiana Jones style crypt with a bloodthirsty descendent of the Nephilim chasing after them.

"The Deadly Curse of Toko-Rey", also an amazing book, I can't say much more without giving something away.

"Escape from the Island of Aquarius", was an awesome read. The Cooper family discovers an island full of people living in fear of their demonic ruler.

So, in conclusion, if you have read and liked anything by Peretti, make sure you also read:

1) The Oath
2) The Visitation
3) Monster
4) The Tombs of Anak
5) The Deadly Curse of Toko-rey
6) Escape from the Island of Aquarius

[Souba]

[color="RoyalBlue"]I've read both House, and Monster, but I liked Monster most.
House was a collaboration between Peretti, and Derek anyway, but Monster was all Frank, lol!
With Monster I did have one of those moments, when the creature is being described as approaching and then my Dad, knocked on my door, and made me jump!
Beloved in Grace,
Souba [/color]

[GeneD]

My mom read The Oath a few years ago and basically read it to us kids on a holiday. It scared three orders of crud out of me, but I still though it was great. I read it again later and I still like it, but it was just a tiny bit rushed there right at the end.

We read This Present Darkness for a school set work, it was okay, but I liked The Oath more.

[TalKeaton]

I was always a big fan of This Present Darkness- my character Tal (and thus my sn-sake) came partially from an angel in that book, if my memory serves me right.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm a huge Frank Peretti fan.

I've read almost all of his books. He was my first foray into Christian fiction (other than Lewis and a few others) that didn't suck.
I read the Cooper Kids books back in primary school and then in early high-school migrated to his Darkness books, The Oath, The Visitation etc.
I think Monster is his weakest book (of which I enjoy), but I didn't like Prophet at all.
Sure there were some weaknesses to his writing (lame fake swearing etc) but they were few and far between and he paved the way for gritty, entertaining Christian fiction that didn't have to sermonise.

My favourites (in order):

The Oath
The Visitation
This Present Darkness (in concept, not in writing)
Piercing the Darkness (in concept, not in writing)
Nightmare Academy
Hangman's Curse
Tilly (great but too short!)
The Tombs of Anak
The Deadly Curse of Toko-rey
Escape from the Island of Aquarius
Monster (very well-written but the suspense dies down half-way through, also not a very convincing argument again gene technology)
Prophet

[Scarecrow]

The Oath is the only one I really read through the whole thing. I have Monster. I made it halfway and never picked it up since. I mean its not bad its just I find the whole Big Foot concept boring... plus it reminded me of this movie I saw a loooong time ago where this girl falls and sprangs her ankle and a couple of big foots "kidnap" her and nurser her back to health.

But I really loved the Oath. Started This Present Darkness but again didn't make it very far. I have a hard time concentrating unless its something Im interested in or it pulls you in right from the beginning. The Oath did that. The Oath would be the best one to turn into a movie IMO. I'm also somewhat familiar with The Visitation.... but only cause of the movie. I was an extra in it But it totally sucked so I really have no desire to read the book.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

The Visitation book is infinitely better than the movie (who were you in the movie, mate?)
I agree that The Oath would be amazing as a movie but they have to have a good budget for it. It must not be cheesy.

[Monkey J. Luffy]

yeah, I've been reading some of his stuff, reading this present darkness at the moment. If you like Perretti, then I would suggest Ted Dekker, since he is my favorite writer. they're quite comparable actually.

[heatherjanae35]

I read House and loved it! I'm not usually into those kinds of books, but I really enjoyed it. I generally read before I go to bed, so it was kinda freaky reading that book before falling asleep. I couldn't stop reading though... My friend has a few of his books, and I am anxiously waiting for her to finish them so I can read them!

[Popsicle]

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]I've read a few of Peretti's books. I have a lot of his books, but have only read a handful.

Some of my favorites are:

This Present Darkness
Monster
Hangman's Curse
Nightmare Academy

I started reading House and The Oath, but stopped because of me being busy. I should pick those back up again though.[/color]

I was always a big fan of This Present Darkness- my character Tal

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]Tal is awesome, enough said...[/color]

[Maledicte]

My favorites of his are The Oath (tops!), the Darkness books and the Visitation. The first five chapters or so of Monster freaked me out (and I was reading at night, too), but once we found out what the monsters were, it wasn't that scary. But then during the finale, lots of characters got killed off while unexpected ones survived...that was pretty cool.

I grew up on the Cooper Kids series. The Deadly Curse of Toko-Rey was my favorite.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

It's true. Some parts of Monster were very good. I just find that as a whole the book isn't all that great.

Very good Monkey. Ted Dekker is a natural progression from Frank Peretti (I started with Peretti and discovered Dekker about 3 years ago).

Dean Koontz is also very good and if you can handle some heavy adult content, some of Stephen King's works are very good - namely 'The Stand'. Both are a big influence on Dekker.

Peretti has cited Michael Crichton as his main writing influence.

[ich1990]

Personally, I read Monster while I was recovering from Salmonella poisoning. I was glad for anything to take my mind off of throwing up, so I found Monster to be the perfect pastime. Now that I think about it, however, I remember there being a giant "boring spot" right smack dab in the middle of the book.

Also, I third that about Ted Dekker, if you like Frank Peretti, you will most likely enjoy Ted Dekker's books. Like others here, I started with Peretti and moved on to Dekker. Now, after reading all of his books, Dekker has become my favorite living author. If you do read Dekker, I would recommend that you start with Thr3e and then follow it up with the Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, and White).

@Warrior 4 Jesus: What is the content level of Stephen King's books (particularly The Stand)? I tried reading a Koontz book once, but stopped because of the large amount of sexual content. How does King's book compare?

[Amzi Live]

I've read the Peretti's darkness books too,but haven't read any of Ted Dekker's books.I hear that Dekker's trilogy is good though.

[Scarecrow]

The Visitation book is infinitely better than the movie (who were you in the movie, mate?)

I was just an extra so like... when the people are going in the tent and the false preacher dude is speaking gathering followers. But you can only see like the back of my head when I'm leaving the car. 2 days and 12 hours each and all you see is the back of my head >.<

I guess its better than in Click... where I didn't show up AT ALL... but I at least got paid for that

K back on topic now

[ShiroiHikari]

@Warrior 4 Jesus: What is the content level of Stephen King's books (particularly The Stand)? I tried reading a Koontz book once, but stopped because of the large amount of sexual content. How does King's book compare?

I know you're not asking me, but King's books tend to have a lot of gratuitous sexual content in them. It's one of the reasons I don't read his stuff anymore. @_@

As for Peretti, I started to read one of his books a looong time ago, but I never got very far. I think it was Prophet. What would be a better book to start on?

[ich1990]

I know you're not asking me, but King's books tend to have a lot of gratuitous sexual content in them. It's one of the reasons I don't read his stuff anymore. @_@

Ok, I was afraid of that.

As for Peretti, I started to read one of his books a looong time ago, but I never got very far. I think it was Prophet. What would be a better book to start on?

Considering everybody else's comments on this thread, my own personal experience, and conversations with other people, I would say The Oath would be the best Peretti book to start out on.

[mysngoeshere56]

Frank Peretti's a great author. I have a lot of his books.

[Popsicle]

[color="DeepSkyBlue"]I was reading some stuff on Frank Peretti's blog and he said that he might write a third Darkness book. This could be interesting...

He also stated in his blog that the movie for House is done, but hasn't appeared in theaters because of its R rating. Peretti also said that in a couple years he gets rights to the This Present Darkness movie again. I think it would be cool to see that movie in all CGI if possible...like FF Advent Children or something. He plans to become a director and hopes to work on movies for his own books too.[/color]

[Maledicte]

Dean Koontz is also very good and if you can handle some heavy adult content, some of Stephen King's works are very good - namely 'The Stand'. Both are a big influence on Dekker.

Some good Dean Koontz books are the Odd Thomas books. Low sexual content, great lead character, and Elvis. The second book in the series is pretty lame though. His Frankenstein books are also good, but the series hasn't finished yet.

A new Darkness book? Sweet. That would be nice.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Odd Thomas is very good. I don't like Elvis and the story didn't really interest me but I found Odd such an interesting and well-written character (so humble but not a walkmat) that it was quite inspirational at times.
Also Odd's abilities are pretty awesome. I love how Koontz takes the extra ordinary world and makes it something great.

I also recommend Koontz book - The Face.


ich1990, 'The Stand' has some sexual content, it's not so much gratuitous as it is commonly used - although there is a gay rape scene that really, really was unnecessary.
His books have become cleaner in content since he became a Theist.
Still he has a lot of adult themes, intense scenes and lots of graphic violence so be wary.

Scarecrow, that's cool. Sucks that they didn't show your face in the movie though.

[eternalprincess]

I'm a longtime Frank Peretti fan. He and Ted Dekker are my favorite authors.

Yes, ich1990! The Cooper Kids Series was awesome. I loved those when I was littlier. I own them all in the orignal covers, they've since redid the cover art.

Peretti is thinking of making another book to go along with Pericing the Darkness, and This Present Darkness. I really hope he does, cause I'd look forward to it.


The only book I haven't read by Peretti is Tilly, though I'm planing on reading it this summer. Cause I have a goal of reading 200 books for the year 08. XD

[mysngoeshere56]

The only book I haven't read by Peretti is Tilly, though I'm planing on reading it this summer. Cause I have a goal off reading 200 books for the year 08. XD

I read that one in less than a day. It was very different when compared to the rest of his books, but I still loved that one. It was beautiful.

[Corkyspaniel]

[color="black"][color="SeaGreen"]House was the first Christian fiction book I ever read. It's one of my favorites. I was just walking through the Christian bookstore at the mall and saw the cover, and I was like, "Ooh, scary!" It's an awesome book. I recommend it to anyone.[/color][/color]

[MBlight]

Every one's said this and it really counts for something but Oath was my absolute favourite, I'm not a very big reader, mostly cuz I work fulltime and study at the same time, but I just couldn't put this one down! We did the darkness books at school and I was pretty impressed with them, but dissapointed with Monster, there WAS a big boring chunk in the middle, howvever I loved the way he spoke against evolution with the book... that was cool!

I also read "Hangman's Curse" and "Nightmare Academy" when I was in my early teens and loved them, they're really good for that age!

He is definately one of the best fictional christian writers I've ever come across!

[TallHobbit86]

I've read all of his novels except The Visitation (which I listened to the audio book of). The Oath is probably my favorite of his novels, but they're all really good!