The Oath is a 1995 novel by Frank E. Peretti. It tells a story of a mining town beside a fictional river called "Hyde River", and of a mysterious "Oath" which guards the town's terrible secret. This novel received the 1996 ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for fiction.
Synopsis
Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated old mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Something evil. Under the cover of darkness it strikes without warning, taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion. The latest victim, nature photographer Cliff Benson, was brutally killed while camping in the mountains. His wife Evelyn, who was found bloody and half-crazed on a logging road, now lies dazed in a local hospital bed with only vague recollections of the terrifying attack.
With little hard evidence to go on, Sheriff Les Collins closes the case, chalking it up to the work of a rogue bear -- just like so many other unsolvable deaths and disappearances that have plagued Hyde River over the years.
But Wildlife biologist Steve Benson isn't convinced. He knows bears. And he knows that his brother, a seasoned woodsman like himself, would have taken every precaution. Refusing to let the matter drop, Steve begins his own investigation.
Attractive, auburn-haired Sheriff's Deputy Tracy Ellis isn't convinced either. She grew up in Hyde River, a town haunted by bizarre incidents. She's also seen enough things swept under the rug by her boss to know that something is amiss. And when Maggie Bly, the unfaithful wife of mining company owner Harold Bly, goes missing, Tracy joins Steve in his search for truth.
But the harder Steve presses the townsfolk for information, the more they close ranks, as if sworn to secrecy. All except for Levi Cobb, an aging mechanic and highly misunderstood Christian who talks to himself. Considered the "town crazy man", Levi rants and raves about old superstitions and folktales to anyone who will listen.
It is only when Steve gains access to the old letters and diaries of the town's forefathers, that he begins to peel away the layers of mystery surrounding Hyde River. As he does, he and Tracy are drawn closer to each tother and to the town's terrible secret. What they discover is a predator more terrifying than anything they had imagined, and a town in the grip of unspeakable evil.
Steve realizes that his own life is in jeopardy, as is Tracy's. If they have any hope of saving themselves, they must confront the full force of evil.
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