When was the visitation written

His novels have sold over 10 million copies, and he is widely credited with reinventing Christian fiction. He and his wife, Barbara, live in the Pacific Northwest. What would you like to know about this product? Please enter your name, your email and your question regarding the product in the fields below, and we'll answer you in the next hours.

The Visitation. By: Frank E. Stock No: WW The Visitation By: Frank E. Wishlist Wishlist. Advanced Search Links. Product Close-up. Add To Cart. Gnarled toes jutting from their flip-flops and worn sandals like assortments of dry-roasted cashews, Brazil nuts, ginger root. Loomis felt no affinity for any of them. Toward the parents he felt a bitter disdain. He gazed at the boy, his son.

The boy looked just like his mother. Thick bright-orange hair, untamable. They were tall, stemlike people with long limbs and that thick hair blossom on top.

Loomis had called them his rosebuds. Or possibly Brazil. He waited glumly for their pizza order to be called out. The boy nodded absently. He got the boy a Coke from the fountain, and ordered a pint of strong pale ale from the bar for himself. By the time their pizza came, Loomis was on his second ale. He felt much better about all the domestic chaos around them in the restaurant. As soon as they finished their pizza, he asked Loomis if he could go stand outside and wait for him there.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. Loomis sipped his beer and watched as the boy weaved his way through the crowd and out of the restaurant, then began to pace back and forth on the sidewalk. Having to be a parent in this fashion was awful. He felt indicted by all the other people in this teeming place: by the parents and their smug happiness, by the old surfer dudes, who had the courage of their lack of conviction, and by the young lovers, who were convinced that they would never be part of either of these groups, not the obnoxious parents, not the grizzled losers clinging to youth like tough, crusty barnacles.

Certainly they would not be Loomis. How hard could that be? He got up to leave, but hesitated, then gulped down the rest of his second beer. Loomis looked at him for a moment. When they arrived, Loomis heard a commotion in the courtyard, and they paused near the gate. But now the group seemed to be accompanied by an older heavyset man, bald on top, graying hair slicked against the sides of his head. He was arguing with a manager while the other guests around the pool pretended to ignore the altercation.

The boy and girl paddled about in the water until the man threw up his hands and told them to get out and go to their room. Let them have their filthy pool.

Did you piss in it? I hope you pissed in it. Now get out! Go to the room! Just before reaching the door the boy paused, turned his head in the direction of the pool and the other guests there, and hawked and spat onto the concrete pool apron. Another guest, a lanky young woman whom Loomis had seen beside the pool earlier, walked past them on her way to the parking lot.

Loomis stopped and stared at his son. They became nomads, wandering around Europe. They were poor. People accused them of stealing. For the next hour, the boy asked him questions about Gypsies and kidnapping.

Loomis had decided to concede that they were Gypsies, whether they really were or not. He made himself a stiff nightcap and stepped out onto the balcony to smoke, although he also peeked through the curtains before going out, to make sure the coast was clear.

The next morning, Sunday, Loomis rose before his son and went down to the lobby for coffee. He stepped out into the empty courtyard to drink it in the morning air, and when he looked into the pool he saw a large dead rat on its side at the bottom. The rat looked peacefully dead, with its eyes closed and its front paws curled at its chest as if it were begging. Loomis took another sip of his coffee and went back into the lobby.

The night clerk was still on duty, studying something on the computer monitor behind the desk. She only cut her eyes at Loomis, and when she saw he was going to approach her she met his gaze steadily in that same way, without turning her head.

He got a second cup of coffee, a plastic cup of juice, and a couple of refrigerator-cold bagels the waffle iron and fresh fruit had disappeared a couple of visits earlier and took them back to the room. He and his son ate there, then Loomis decided that they should get away from the motel for the day.

The boy could always be counted on to want a day trip to San Diego. They took the commuter train down, rode the trolley to the Mexican border, turned around, and came back.

They ate lunch in a famous old diner near downtown, then took a bus to Balboa Park and spent the afternoon in the air-and-space museum and the natural-history museum, and at a small, disappointing model-railroad exhibit.

Then they took the train back up the coast. As they got out of the car at the motel, an old brown van, plain and blocky as a loaf of bread, careened around the far corner of the lot, pulled up next to Loomis, and stopped. Loomis felt a surge of hostile indignation. What, did he have a big sign on his chest telling everyone what a loser he was? The boy gestured for Loomis to hurry over and unlock the car door, and as soon as he did the boy got back into the passenger seat.

When Loomis sat down behind the wheel, the boy hit the lock button. The boy was breathing hard and looking straight out the windshield, close to tears. Loomis was so astonished by the way his son had touched him on the arm that he was close to tears himself. Loomis tried to keep the obvious pleading note from his voice.

The boy thought about it and agreed, and began to calm down a little. They went up to the room, past the courtyard, which was blessedly clear of ridiculous Gypsies and other guests.

When the alcohol woke him at 3 A. He found the remote, turned down the sound on the TV. His son was sleeping, mouth open, a lock of his bright-orange hair across his face.

Loomis eased himself off the bed, sat on the other one, and watched him breathe. He remembered the constant battle in his heart those days. How he was drawn into this construction of conventional happiness, how he felt that he loved this child more than he had ever loved anyone in his entire life, how all of this was possible, this life, how he might actually be able to do it. And yet whenever he had felt this he was also aware of the other, more deeply seated part of his nature that wanted to run away in fear.

That believed it was not possible after all, that it could only end in catastrophe, that anything this sweet and heartbreaking must indeed one day collapse into shattered pieces.

How he had struggled to free himself, one way or another, from what seemed a horrible limbo of anticipation. He had run away, in his fashion. And yet nothing had ever caused him to feel anything more like despair than what he felt just now, in this moment, looking at his beautiful child asleep on the motel bed in the light of the cheap lamp, with the incessant dull roar of cars on I-5 just the other side of the hedge, a slashing river of what seemed nothing but desperate travel from point A to point B, from which one mad dasher or another would simply disappear, blink out in a flicker of light, at ragged but regular intervals, with no more ceremony or consideration than that.

He checked that his son was still sleeping deeply, then poured himself a plastic cup of neat bourbon and went down to the pool to smoke and sit alone for a while in the dark.

I saw that quite a few of my friends and people I follow on Goodreads had read this novel. The Visitation has a very interesting premise and it is an all-around good novel. I think the only reason why someone might not enjoy it so much is the fact that it's dragged o I didn't know what I was going to get myself into - reading a well known Christian author's novel for the first time. I think the only reason why someone might not enjoy it so much is the fact that it's dragged out a little too much AND Peretti also throws in so many characters at the same time, I needed to go back a couple of pages to remember who was who.

I'm not kidding The plot's simple : Charming dude arrives at a town. Happens to look like Jesus. Performs miracles. People praise him and call him the Messiah. Most of the town's ministers and "pastors," I use that word very loosely, are like: And the only concerned minister, Kyle, is urgently trying to convince Travis Jordan, the protagonist when the point of view isn't Third Person , to help him unmask the supposed Jesus.

Travis, a former pastor, however, is pretty sick of church and church-related stuff to give mind to any nut considering himself to be the Messiah. I mean, Travis is fed up: "Then it came - the one sentence predestined from all eternity for this moment, this place - exactly what it would take to set me off: 'Travis, we're going to take this city for Christ!

And, boy, was it caliente! Basically: "'Pastor Kyle Sherman, dreams and goals in ministry are fine and good, but spare me this 'take the town for Christ' stuff. I've been taking as much of this town as wants to go for the past fifteen years. I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and the town and I are sick of it. His face seemed so different, so tranquil, when his mouth wasn't moving. Indeed he was. Relatable : It was so easy - too easy - to relate to Travis. What true follower of Christ hasn't gotten sick of the church and one way or the other its unloving behavior?

Remember I told you earlier that this novel seems to drag out a lot? In this, it does. Don't get me wrong, it's detrimental for character development. And it's very therapeutic to someone like me who's been through similar circumstances. Reading some of the earlier chapters where Travis reminisces of his past, I swear it was like reading a journal by year-old Bianca ranting about the things she'd seen at church.

Almost every "messed up" thing someone in the novel said or did I've seen, too. Very therapeutic and sincere book for people to understand that while people fail you, whether they're believers or non, church or the world, Jesus never will. The real Jesus, of course. Not the fake one in the book. Though the novel drags in some areas, the story does get more interesting and sinister as it goes. To paraphrase another review, The Visitation is a novel in which Christians need discernment to understand why not everyone that says "Lord!

Terrific story overall. The Visitation will definitely not be the last novel I'll read by Frank Peretti. View 2 comments. Oct 19, John rated it liked it Shelves: Peretti is good at coming up with interesting stories. I read a couple of his books back in 90s and ready to tackle them again now they are available in audiobook from my local library. This one is definitely centered around the church, faith, and Christian Biblical themes. This town has an antichrist character that shows up basically out of nowhere and starts winning people over.

Then all hell breaks loose. One man stands against him and sees through all the fake elements and searches to get to Peretti is good at coming up with interesting stories. One man stands against him and sees through all the fake elements and searches to get to the bottom of the story. Through his faith and a lot of persistence he eventually unmasks the antagonist and saves the town.

The story was a little tropish but I enjoyed it all the same. Not winning an award for awesomeness but it did it's job. Oct 11, Matthew rated it really liked it. When I first picked up The Visitation , I had one question that I desperately wanted to know the answer to. How would Frank Peretti depict the man known as the Antichrist? Would he use biblical allusions or create a fictional character? These questions were clearly answered in the book. The book takes place in the small sleepy town of Antioch, Washington.

The last thing this town would ever expect is the supernatural. There are sightings of angles and messianic images, and a crucifix cries liqu When I first picked up The Visitation , I had one question that I desperately wanted to know the answer to.

There are sightings of angles and messianic images, and a crucifix cries liquid that can heal any physical limitations. Above all, a self-proclaimed prophet appears claming to be Jesus. Nobody dares to face his transcendence. Except for one man named Travis Jordon. Travis Jordon, the protagonist, is a burnt-out former pastor from Antioch. He has been trying to hide his past ever since the death of his wife. Those parts are boring and hard to read because they seem irrelevant to the story.

In reality they are really important. This is the only reason I demoted the book from five stars to four stars. It was like reading a book within a book.

He is self-proclaimed prophet claiming to be Jesus. He is the reason this book is so excellent. The chapters involving his preaching and performances of his supernatural abilities are exceptionally exciting. I also truly enjoy when he argues with Travis. God or good vs. He tears away at peoples hearts but heals their physical limitations. He heals the outside but destroys the inside. The book has deep religious overtones. Travis Jordon is a devout Christian and Brandon Nichols is proclaiming to be Jesus and wants to turn everyone away from God.

This leads to citizens of Antioch turning away from God and fallowing Brandon. Peretti spectacularly weaves together the background stories of Travis and Brandon. Throughout the book the theme of similarity between these two is very apparent. Travis believes in a Jesus that came down from Heaven acting as the scapegoat of the human race.

Brandon believes he is a new and improved Jesus. The irony throughout this book is that the true attributes of Jesus shine through Travis like love, kindness, and patience.

These twin stories come to a smashing conclusion in the end. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs. Even though they are opposites, they seem to understand each other. It is a very interesting and intriguing part of the story line.

I really enjoyed reading this book. His choice of language throughout the story makes you believe that you are a human who lives in Antioch experiencing these supernatural events. He especially does a good job crafting Brandon into a possible Antichrist that we might see someday. Frank Peretti strongly shows his message to the reader on how faith and trust in God will prevail over evil, no matter the opponent.

Interesting enough, The Visitation was made into a movie in View 1 comment. I read another previous work and thought it was an okay read. Now reading this one, caught my interest at certain peaks, and think it is quite a bit long with some of the backstories Aside from my minor dislikes, I do like the biblical messages given and stated!

He emphasizes on regular people where some are always in church every Sunday, habitual attenders just for show reminds me of the Pharisees, religious leaders. I think of all kinds of things to do to please God. Spiritual band-aids and need to PTL praise the Lord!

I love these symbolic terms and initials used; moreover, he touches on wolves in sheep clothing--this type of deception will cost people souls straight to HELL! I hope to complete this read in the next couple of days. Some are skeptics--believing its the Antichrist as others believe it is the Messiah. Early on I agree with the skeptics since the Bible states when Christ returns that He will not touch the Earth again with his feet but come as He left in the sky.

I was interested in finding out more about this visitation that goes from a mystery man to a mystery event to a great suspicion that took until the very end of a real thrill.

Leisure read What a fascinating book! Travis is so great, as are Kyle and Marian. It was interesting, seeing the different denominations portrayed in this book, as were all of Travis' flashbacks. Overall, an excellent thriller. I just wish that Nicholls had been saved in the end.

Incidentally, this is the second Christian novel I've read where someone comes along, c What a fascinating book! Incidentally, this is the second Christian novel I've read where someone comes along, claiming to be Jesus, and deceives a whole bunch of people the other one being Tartarus by Jack Cavanaugh.

It's pretty freaky, the way so many people fall for it. I can't say which take on the idea I like better - they're both well-written and chilling. Sep 28, Heather rated it it was amazing Shelves: thriller , favorites. HERE is my all-time favorite Peretti novel! Now, about thrillers They have a very natural tendency to be extremely plot-driven. Granted, a good thriller requires a tight, unexpected plot in order to be a page-turner.

A lot of thriller authors, however, construct this awesome, mind-blowing plot, but give little or not attention to the painting of their characters. Peretti handles this masterfully! He populates his exciting stories with characters that are rounded out with style and quirks. I thought that this book was good. Rating 3. The other two I read was and which was fantastic reads.

The writing for me was great. As previously stated, the build up was slow, getting to know the various amount of characters and scenarios and churches explained Rating 3. As previously stated, the build up was slow, getting to know the various amount of characters and scenarios and churches explained in the book.

Peretti did a great job of introducing all the characters and surroundings, but this added to the book starting out slow, but his books always builds up and ends with a bang as with this book. The flow between the first person and third person I felt was smoothly done - it was never confusing and didn't break my reading pace. The story flows between two main plots.

The current plot where Brandon Collins appears claiming to be the Messiah, while Kyle, the new minister, believes he is the Antichrist. For me this was a strong plot. Peretti clearly illustrated how people with so much hurt and pain will cling to any hope provided to them, even if it is false. Another thing which stood out is how we will really need to know the Bible and pray for discernment to be able to identity false prophets. As the story unfolds, you can clearly see from Brandon's fruit what the truth is.

Brandon was believable and Peretti even did a great job in revealing Brandon's past that I even felt sorry for him. There was also some humorous moments of people coming to him with stupid requests, and it just shows what some people see as their miracle. The other story was Travis Jordan's life story. I enjoyed getting to know Travis and to see how he grew as man, husband but above all, minister. It was great to see how he tried and failed and tried again and how he grew in his faith.