Intensity: 🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written by A. Robles
The Gospel of Noah is a modern retelling of myths surrounding witches and magicians, particularly in the southeastern United States, with some original twists scattered throughout. Noah is a young man who comes from a very old southern family. He longs to be a magician, trying out each year for the big magic show in town. His family are all witches, however. It turns out the difference between the two is more philosophical than anything else. Noah explores good versus evil, ultimately tearing his family apart in the process.
The official “About the Book” statement follows:
Noah has never known peace. Tormented by night terrors and visits from restless spirits, his reality is a waking nightmare. But in the strange town of Summerland, where the rules of the natural world bend, he’s learned to live with the unexplainable. Legends loom large in Summerland—none more chilling than the tale of the Blood Wood, where witches once raised the devil himself three centuries ago. Most treat it as folklore. Noah suspects it’s prophecy.
When a ghost from Noah’s past reappears—charming, mysterious, and all too real—he’s offered a glimpse into the truth he’s always feared. But truth comes at a price, and trust may prove fatal.
As the town descends into chaos with a series of ritualistic cult murders, Noah is forced to reckon with a horrifying secret buried deep in his bloodline. The line between salvation and damnation grows thinner by the day, and Noah stands at the center of it all. — New Forest Press
The cold open is a bit hard to get into, mostly because of the dialog being written with an “accent”. However, later in the book there is far more narrative and less conversation. This makes the flow of the story much smoother. The author also tends to work overly hard to show you that Noah is a hedonistic lost soul. While slow at the start, by the middle the story had engaged me enough to see it through and I was pleased with the ending.
While originally self-published in 2020 under the name Tony Sosa where it won “Best of Indie Horror” in the 2021 Amazon KBR Awards, this new edition will be released by New Forest Press. The new edition of The Gospel of Noah is currently available for pre-sale and will be officially released October 6, 2026.
Review by Kristi Zilbauer.