Fear Revival - Scars of the Tormented - A Psychological Thriller
The Setting:
The book surrounds a group of high school seniors who have been friends for life. It's Halloween. Their priest, Father McKenzie, who has also been their youth pastor since they were in the first grade, organizes a youth activity for the group to attend; a local haunted house. They had gone through this venue many times on Halloween in years past. This year everything is different. Each participant who enters the house will not only experience their greatest fear, but their living hell will also torment them.
Unknowingly to the priest and the teens, the man sponsoring the haunted house is a madman (the Death Dealer) who has stalked the kids for an undetermined amount of time. Once the teens get inside the house, they realize they are trapped and sedated by a combination of chemicals administered by the madman. The group is traumatized soon upon entering the house. As onlookers, they witness an individual being tortured and murdered.
These chemicals drive them into hallucinations and visions. All the teens, the priest, and the father of one of the kids meet their personal greatest fear. Everyone is taunted with psychological and physical torture by the Death Dealer. The participants eventually escape the house alive and scarred.
The Death Dealer fled. This group is examined by doctors, debriefed by the police, and released. After they escape, first responder crews arrive, and they are all escorted to a local hospital. Only the priest is admitted overnight because of an injury.
The concluding chapter contains the priest giving a heartfelt message called: Fear Revival. Following the church service, Father McKenzie leaves for his home state to visit his parents in prison.
Many questions concluding the horrendous events of the haunted house are mentioned in the closing chapter. Questions such as Where was Death Dealer? Why did he target this group for torture and ultimately to murder? How long did he stalk them? Who was the man savagely murdered in the opening hell house scene, and why was he chosen to be the victim? Would the manic killer ever attempt to finish what he started with the group? These questions and more would haunt the minds of many for a long, long time. "The Acid Bath Murder in Fort Worth" became a national headline.