Sunday, January 10, 2010

What about the Rats?

WHAT ABOUT THE RATS?

Its been described by those in the publishing industry as a psychological thriller.
It's a multifaceted mystery with a glimpse into the inner workings of a criminal organization. A little peek into the criminal mind.
A young boy is raised in the slums of a large city in Kentucky,
by drug dependent parents. He is a brilliant boy but due to circumstances, no one knows this. As his life unfolds on the pages, you see how he is manipulated by his parents, his teachers and society. He attends a local old mission church, just for the hot meals at first. Then he develops a deep abiding faith in God, which stands him in good stead as he faces one problem after another. He meets other people "of like precious faith" in his adventures, without whose help he could not survive.
The young man has been selected and manipulated into becoming a minister of a large cathedral which was built in the wilderness of eastern Kentucky, for the express purpose of being a base for a crime organization. There are strange things going on at the cathedral, one of which is the few rats which survive in the building. The Bishop is in control of most of these strange happenings but not the mystery of the few rats.

A sample of the suspense in the book:

While he lay there unconscious, something stirred nearby. From the gloom under the stairway three pairs of beady little eyes peered out at Willie. Three creatures began to creep closer and closer to Willie's prostrate body. The black creatures came slowly - slowly - ever closer to the prone and helpless form of the young man. One of the creatures reached out and grasp Willie's ankle and began to pull his prostrate form toward the shadows under the stairway. (End of chapter 8.)

(In chapter 10.)
Willie's prostrate body was being slowly pulled into the shadows under the stairway. He began to moan and he moved a little. Abruptly, the creature pulling him stopped and retreated a few feet. The creatures looked at Willie with unblinking eyes as consciousness slowly began to return to him.

Willie looked around in a dazed manner. Where was he? How did he get here? He was sure that he had been at the foot of the staircase when he passed out. He couldn't understand how he was now ten feet from that position.

As he was pondering the situation, he heard footsteps on the staircase above. He decided that he didn't want anyone to see him in this disheveled condition, so he rolled into the shadows under the stairway in order to be out of sight of the people who were descending toward him. As he moved into the shadows he heard a slight rustling in the darkest area under the stairs but he couldn't cry out or run because if he did, he would be discovered by those who were descending toward him. Willie sat there in silence with his heart pounding in fear. He realized that what ever was in the shadows with him had probably dragged him away from the foot of the stairs. What ever it was might be the undiscovered cause of the injuries which had occurred to some of the churches' guests.

As the footsteps came closer, Willie could hear part of a conversation between two men. One was saying "This has been the worst time that I can remember. The mob from New York is here for a holiday and three of our best animals have escaped. Someone bought the northern property which the Bishop wanted so badly, right out from under his nose and now the new minister is missing."

The other man agreed "Yes and now we have to search the ten miles of corridors in this building. We have to look into innumerable nooks and crannies, trying to find the new minister and also try to find those escaped animals. That's what I am worried about; those things are very cunning and dangerous!" The two men continued down the corridor looking this way and that but hoping to find nothing.

The description of the animals as ‘very cunning and dangerous’ didn't make Willie feel any better about his position there in the shadows, along with what ever had made the noise he had heard.

Willie slowly - - very slowly began to move out of the shadows, hoping he wouldn't arouse the killing instinct of what ever might be in the shadows with him. He moved ever so slowly -- five feet from the stairway -- ten feet --. Willie started to move a little faster now. Twenty five feet -- fifty feet -- one hundred feet. He finally felt safe enough to look around at his surroundings. He began to realize that he was in the very corridor in which his room was located. He was able to see the door to his room ahead and he could see that the old man had left the key right there in the lock. Willie dashed for the door, unlocked and opened the door in one motion and slammed and locked the door from the inside. He stumbled to his bed in the darkness, collapsed and lay there as he trembled from fright and exhaustion.

As he lay there, it happened again. As had been the case lately when Willie had come through some traumatic event he remembered a passage from scripture. This time it was from Psalm 20:4.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

Goto: www.amazon.com/mervincollier/e/B008IAKSVK