An Ancient Evil Arises

The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Back in the prehistoric times around where the New Jersey forests are today there crashed a meteor with something ominous inside. For aeons it lingered there waiting. Until one day a young boy wonders in there. There is waits perched and waiting. Something happens to boy that day. That was back in around the 1800’s.

Flash forward to modern times, Jeremy Freer is a college professor ,who wants to spend the summer with the Bretheren in the town of Gilead. Gilead is an isolated town in the middle of the New Jersey forest. The Bretheren are a religious group that are much like the Amish. Jeremy rents a room from the Porath family. Things are a little weird at first when he he lives with this family. He being a modern 20th century’s man from New York and the family being part of a religious group that tries to make due with as few modern conveniences as possible. The community has a biblical outlook which many would call quaint.

The other part of the story involves Carol. She is a New York girls who lives a very sheltered life. At one point she wanted to be a nun but she rejects that idea and ends up working in the library . While working at the library she meets a certain Mr. Rosebottom. Rosie as he likes to be called changes her life around by not only paying her but also introducing her to some of the better things in life. It is not a romantic relationship.

She also meets Jeremy as the library. The spark is instant and they hit it off. He meets her at the library and she attends one of his classes. Unfortunately he has arrangements up in Gilead. There are always visitations.

Once Jeremy is there weird things begin happening. Crop failures, infertile chickens and stillborn babies. Sar Porath, owner of the house has a mother that seems to know certain things and she does not have a good feeling about Jeremy and CRol. Jeremy’s twentieth century moral class with the old biblical world view.

Little do they know that Rosie is behind it all. Some ancient evil is about to be awakened.

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