It’s not often that you can categorize a book as both a ghost/horror story and as inspirational fiction. However, Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker teamed up to writeHouse, which is one of those rare books. In this book, Jack and Stephanie’s marriage is on the brink of falling apart, when the couple becomes stranded along a country road in Alabama. With darkness falling, they seek refuge in a nearby bed and breakfast. But what initally seems to be a cozy refuge soon turns out to be a house of horrors. Along with another stranded couple, Jack and Stephanie are soon fighting for their lives.

I wasn’t sure how to think about this book while I was reading it–part Stephen King, part David Morrell, with a healthy dose of obviously Christian symbolism thrown in for good measure. It was hard to settle down and enjoy the story, because I was constantly trying to decide what direction the book was going to take next. Was someone going to die a strange and terrible death, was a new apparition going to appear, or was a new symbolism for sin about to be revealed? Peretti’s books aren’t typically so difficult to figure out, although recently he has taken a turn more towards horror. I haven’t read any of Ted Dekker’s books to know his style. I guess the book can be summed up as: hard to categorize, entertaining to read, and preaching an interesting, yet convoluted message of sin, sacrifice and salvation.