Official Review: Hell In The Choirstand by Titus Pollard

[rachel_bruhn]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hell In The Choirstand" by Titus Pollard.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hell in the Choirstand by Titus Pollard is a well written religious suspense novel. The story mainly revolves around two main characters and their fight for what they believe in. Renard Singleton is a well-established music director at Ezekiel Baptist Church. On the side he writes non-Christian pieces that border on anti-religious. Jeremiah Day is new to Olds, MI and immediately feels drawn toward Ezekiel Baptist. He is a talent musician, so Pastor Trantham decides to put him in charge of the music ministry. Jeremiah hopes to take the music at Ezekiel to a whole new level to enhance the spirituality at the church and give it that something that it is lacking. This throws a wrench in Renard's plans that have been in existence since he started at Ezekiel. This position is necessary, despite his distain for religion, due to his membership in the Society of Tyrus. The Society's mission is to infiltrate churches through corrupt music using "demonic musical deception" and Renard has big plans for Ezekiel. The story unfolds as Jeremiah struggles to remain faithful and bring faith back to Ezekiel, but is he blessed enough to overcome the confusion and corruption that Renard has been instilling in the years that he has been there?

Pollard, a man of Christian faith, is clearly speaking to how music has been corrupted and is, in turn, influencing the Christian culture. Historically, music came from the heavens and the composer was not financially compelled to produce and share their music. As people began to expect compensation for their works, music became something that could be influenced by Satan. In today's society we have songs about killing, violence, sex, drugs, etc. In the religious world, these are all temptations of the Devil. This story is all about Christians restoring their faith in God and fighting corruption and temptations sent by Satan, while showing how easy it is for corruption to sneak its way into a church of God when people begin straying from their faith. Pollard is arguing that just calling yourself a Christian is not enough if you do not truly live a Christian life.

This book is aimed at the adult Christian audience. There is a clear message here relating to religious beliefs. Pollard even includes questions at the end of the story for reading groups to discuss. Some of these questions refer to scripture and require prerequisite knowledge about the Bible. Each chapter also begins with a scripture that sets the tone for that chapter. This novel is meant to speak to the reader through scripture and through religion.

I believe this book has earned 3 out of 4 stars. There are places where the wording feels off, like a word is missing or it is just phrased oddly. There are also numerous missing or added quotation marks throughout the novel. This causes some confusion while reading because narration and speech blur together until you realize what happened. Aside from technical errors, I felt that the story lacked a true climax. It seems that the intention was for the climax of the novel to be a music battle between Renard and Jeremiah. When this climactic moment took place in the story, I felt that it held no more excitement than every other musical interaction between the two characters. In fact, an earlier battle seemed more climactic than the final one.

Not being of religious beliefs, it is possible that I was not moved by this book as much as someone else who may feel the power from the scriptures and have a deeper connection to what is taking place. As I mentioned before, the intention of this book is to speak to Christians. Since I am not, I read this book the same way I would read any other CMTS novel, with the same expectations for the overall flow and feel of the writing. Pollard is a talented author with great ideas, which is why I still gave this book 3 stars. It's not for me, but it was never meant to be.

This book has a powerful and relevant message for Christians living in the world today. It speaks of renewing faith in a world full of temptations and corruption. I would strongly suggest Hell in the Choirstand by Titus Pollard to anyone that follows the Christian faith.

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Hell In The Choirstand
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Like rachel_jacks's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Levi]

Great job @rachel_jacks I don't follow a completely dogmatic religious line, but I still think that sometimes these days a lot of entertainment is about seeing how much farther you can cross the line than the last guy. And that is unacceptable. I may think the line is crossed at one thing, and for the author it may be that the line is crossed way earlier, but at least we can see that there is a line to be crossed and stand together in our differences. I think you did a great job portraying the book, in fact at one point I thought you completely agreed with the author, which means that you were definitely trying to be impartial, and for that I commend you. Congrats to the author on a positive and impartial review!

[gali]

Thank you for a nice and insightful review.

[bookowlie]

Nice, balanced review. Sometimes odd phrasing can throw off the rhythm of a story. Still, it sounds like you were able to enjoy the book.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Wow, this book has a unique premise! It is true that no one knows where the line is drawn, with anything. When I listen to Nightingale by Yanni, it feels like a religious experience, but it might not feel that way to someone else. So that's one factor. I enjoyed your review and found it to have lots of useful information.

It also reminded me of my days in the handbell choir!

[Tanaya]

I think it's really awesome that you read and reviewed the book even though you're not the intended audience for it. That really speaks to your strengths as a reviewer and provides a really interesting angle to the review.