As a lesbian who grew up in a Georgia Baptist church, Robbie Dorman could've been writing pieces of my biography in Words in Christ in Red. Brutal and brilliant, Dorman's triggered a lot of deep-seated fears religious gays have when considering the hate of neighbors. Has there ever been a more sympathetic character than Tommy?

Set in a backdrop of a southern small town, gay preacher David arrives with the mindset he's attending to a progressively religious church. From the start, though, members of the community reveal they have a violent hatred of queerness. David and his husband, Jason, are thrown into a blood soaked culture war led by Eli Parsons who, backed by the local cops, waves his bible over everyone with self-righteous fury.

There's a lot to love and appreciate here. Eli isn't sympathetic at all and his bigotry is Very There. He doesn't even toy with the notion of redemption, and he's so very, very evil. David is a fine enough protagonist and also harbors his own violent impulses, and it's a lot of fun when he lets them show through the pages. (Love a fist-fighting preacher, ok. More of that.)

Overall it's a quick, captivating read that's both horrifying and thrilling. There are some negatives - the abuse of commas, the sort of blandness between David and Jason, the lack of input from villains outside of Eli and the Sheriff, etc. I wish the southern gothic vibe was captured more clearly through settings (small churches can have like, 15 people but the most beautiful chapels you've ever seen), and I would've liked more use of religious iconography outside of the Jesus suffering on a cross (Listen - I love a crucifixion as much as anyone, and I can see why it came back so many times; but growing up stained glass windows could show so many biblical scenes and would've been equally as powerful, while still offering a sense of diversity).

A good pick for horror or gay book clubs.

📿⛪️🙏𝕲𝖔𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌🙏⛪️📿


"𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮'𝓼 𝓷𝓸 𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮"

A church divided.

A congregation damned.

The Holy Church of Sacred is in need of a new Pastor after their last one tragically died in an accident, this is where Pastor David and his family come in, and move in to preach the good word of Jesus Christ.

But how can a gay man lead a church? Isn't that a sin? That was what the patriach of the small town, Eli, thinks, and his influence and delusions run heavy in the town. And he is not happy, not one bit, and he will do anything to get "his" church back.

This was such a thought-provoking, fast-paced, cruel, and engulfing read! I started it and finished it all within 24 hours. It was heavily cinematic while reading. The passion and rage within the pages were palpable. Living in a small town in the middle of SC and having been raised Catholic, this was very relatable in some of the hypocrisy that sometimes comes with sins. And the extremes of being a follower vs. a fanatic.

(Fun fact, I used to teach Sunday school)

If you enjoy a small town horror or religious, read this book right here for you.

I would love to thank NetGalley and Robbie Doorman for allowing me to read and review this e-book ARC. Can't wait to add to my bookshelves!

One of the reasons that this book won my attention was the cover, I've always loved religious paintings event though I'm not a religious person at the moment, I grow up in a very Christan house so maybe that´s why this book called me from the very beginning, religious trauma it's my favorite trope.

David is a gay pastor, he have been hired in this small town in order to replaced the last one who just died, he sees this like an opportunity to find a place to settle with his husband and son, what he doesn't know is how much violence he can face when some of the assistants of the church find his queernes sinful.

Through different POV we know the differents angles of the story, David the pastor, Eli who's conveinced that God is talking and guide him to reform the church and take it away from the "devil" ones, Tommy the 15 year old kid who's the son of Eli, and a few others who are part of this church congregation.

This book is violent, grotesque but also beautiful, when we are living in a time that rights are taken away from minorities and people are spreading hate, there is always people like David, Zeke or Anna who are ready to protect those who needed, the author do a very good job with the characters, I loved that David use verses from the Bible to defend against attacks, and his sermons were beautiful. Eli in the other side was a horrible and wicked character, I'm sure (sadly) that this type of persons exists.

The end for me was not what I expected, it felt like a few pages were missing.

Pastor David Ingram accepts a job in a small church in Georgia, taking over for his friend, the previous minister, who died in a tragic car crash. The job is offered to David by the late minister’s wife, and it doesn’t take long for the super-conservative congregation to split.

David, along with his husband and young son, are accused of bringing Satan into the church and continuing to change things as the previous pastor had begun. As David attempts to preach love and acceptance, Eli, a long standing member of the church, believes it is his calling to bring judgment and punishment to those who refuse to stay on his side. A commissioned statue of Christ is removed from the church, and Eli believes it is giving him commands straight from God.

WORDS OF CHRIST IN RED may be a bit more thriller than flat out horror, but supernatural elements do come in to play, especially when one of the faithful shows David his special way of communing with God.

Anyone who grew up in (or even visited) a small church can easily associate with the turmoils presented here, and the author builds enough suspense and tension that even if religious horror isn’t your thing, you may still find yourself racing through the pages to see what happens … and the final chapter will surely be debated by all who take this emotional trip.

It’s hard not to have some religious trauma if you grew up in the evangelical church like I did, and this book exemplifies the real human horrors that occur when people use religion to shield and justify their horrific actions. This is a book that I couldn’t look away from, terrifying, heartbreaking, but so raw and real. It’s short but brutal and fantastic. I highly recommend this one for any readers looking for some very human horrors.

This is a bloody religious horror novel set in a small town where competing factors wage a war for control of the church.

A gay pastor takes his first leadership role in a small town church in Georgia. He and his husband along with their young son see it as an opportunity to heal and unify the residents after the death of the former pastor..

But there are others who see this as a sin against God and a sin against themselves and all they hold sacred. And they're not above using extreme measures, in the name of God, to rid their town of the evil they believe is homosexuality.

From the brutal first chapter we know that this will not end well and this book has a spark of tension throughout which builds in waves until the horrific climax.

This novel sets two religious factions against each other. One clearly serves the God of the old testament, full of fury and fire. The man leading this side is formed of antiquated ideas and resists any progressive changes. But the sheriff is on his side allowing for violence and bloodshed to run freely.

The ending is a chaotic, brutal, gore filled event. It does end rather abruptly though. It felt jarring. But I still loved the story and definitely felt that it amplified events which are readily apparent in todays society but with more blood and gore! I highly recommend this if you want a good religious horror story between good and evil.

This was ok. The culmination in the crucifixion was really powerful and unexpected, but that’s really the only interesting part of this. The characters weren’t well developed, key things weren’t explained, and a lot of time was wasted in useless flashbacks that could have made the contemporary scenes relevant and interesting.