The Lighthouse, Book 4
Contemporary Christian Fiction/Thriller
Date Published: December 26, 2023
Publisher: Besondy Publishing LLC
When Charley Austin Marches to the Wrong Beat, Life Gets Ugly
Twenty-year-old Charley Austin travels a torn and troubled world as the star drummer and lyricist for the famous Christian rock band, DelivRus. He has musical gifts and a clear mission from God.
And that mission makes him a big problem for Lucky Zebul.
Zebul implements a sinister and depraved plan to crush the vulnerable rock star and put an end to the band’s Godly influence in the world.
Against a backdrop of societal upheaval, Road to Nineveh continues the story of Charley Austin (introduced in Book 3, The Snare) as he, like a modern-day Jonah, faces the harsh consequences of turning away from God’s purpose for his life and succumbs to pride and lust.
Follow the gripping, emotionally charged story as Charley performs in the bright lights with DelivRus across America and Europe, igniting hope and faith, while off-stage his soul is systematically smothered by the darkness.
Will the tough love of his parents, band mates, and Mia be enough to bring him back from a devastating scandal? Will he regain purpose for his life on a sun-baked Texas ranch, or for redemption, must he make one more trip to the Lighthouse on the misty Washington coast?
Besondy’s Christian thrillers have been compared to the character development and emotion found in a Charles Martin novel. Others suggest Besondy writes as if he is the secret lovechild of C.S. Lewis and Stephen King. You can decide.
Road to Nineveh will appeal to fans of edgy Christian Thrillers or New Adult Thrillers.
Road to Nineveh by Charles Besondy received a gold medal in the Christian Mystery/Thriller category of the 2024 Illumination Book Awards.
Reword to suit.
Part of The Lighthouse series
#1 The Hidden Saboteur
#2 The Chase
#3 The Snare
#4 Road to Nineveh
EXCERPT
1
The Austins’ lighthouse home, Reef Bay,
Washington, August 5, 2040
He stood in the lantern room surrounded
by thick glass windows. The space at the top of the tower was mostly filled
with the decommissioned lantern assembly bolted firmly to the center of the
steel floor. Just enough space existed, about three feet between the circular
wall and lantern, to permit access to the equipment. This space provided an
area to stand or sit on the cold metal floor.
From this vantage point, Charley took a
moment to look to the south, to the narrow, buoy-marked entrance of the Reef
Bay harbor that lay between two twin cliffs rising seventy-five feet from the
churning waves. To the north, the lawn he had just mowed yesterday spread out
like a green carpet to the windswept trees that bordered the property. Beyond
lay the rugged coastline. To the west was nothing but ocean, a vast gray canvas
with splashes of white where the blustering wind blew the wave tops into white
foam.
He turned from the spectacular view. He
wasn’t up here to sightsee. Sitting down on the floor, Charley retrieved a pen
from his shirt pocket. Seventeen months ago he sat here with Jerry Levine and
wrote the lyrics to a hit Christian song. Here he was again, paper pad and pen
in hand, prepared to write other lyrics that would become the song that would
launch him, once again, onto the world stage.
With eyes closed, he stilled his mind,
preparing it for a rush of creative inspiration. Outside the tower, the
whistling wind seemed to be urging him on. Hurrrrry.
Hurrrrry.
Time passed. The only
words that came to mind, were “Go to Nineveh.”
He scribbled the words on the pad in his
lap and studied them. “Go to Nineveh.” What on earth did that mean? He vaguely
remembered that in Biblical times, Nineveh had been a city on the Tigris River.
That’s all he could remember.
Where was he going with this, a single
sentence, three words? He closed his eyes again, waiting for the next line to
rush into his brain, but it didn’t. “Go to Nineveh” was stuck in his head, like
brain constipation.
Wind buffeted the tower, making the eerie
sound again. Hurrrrry. Hurrrrry.
Maybe he was going about this all wrong.
Rather than wait for lyrics to roll through his head as they used to, he should
first think about his objective. What did he want the song to say to the world?
He’d already decided against writing music with Christian themes, so the door
was wide open. He was free to write about anything. He could cut loose. Let it
all hang out.
He recalled the night on tour when he
ripped open his shirt on stage and played the remaining set bare-chested. Fans
told him later that they loved the act, that it symbolized a passionate
submission to God, a willingness to strip off worldly things to present himself
humbly before Jesus.
Actually, the motivation, what the fans
believed to be an expression of submission and surrender, was nothing more than
a jealousy-fueled gesture aimed at stirring up the crowd and drawing attention
to himself, away from the stately Jerry Levine, the band’s frontman and leader.
The adrenaline rush he had felt when the
audience roared in response was incredible.
There was the answer. The purpose of his
new music would be to encourage unbridled physical expression. His music would
celebrate life free from the norms that society and religion imposes on people.
He was beginning to get excited now. The
purpose of this song, the big vision for his band, was coming into focus.
Hurrrrry. Hurrrrry, the wind sounded.
He scratched a line through the words on
his pad: “Go to Nineveh.” He was ready to seize other phrases and sentences
now, to tame and shape them to deliver powerful sensual experiences. He would
become, through his music, a guru of pleasure—a leader of physical expression
and experimentation.
Visions of what his stage performances
could be excited him. As a trademark, should he tear off his shirt every night?
A name for the band popped into his head and he scribbled it on the pad:
“Ripped Open.” It was missing something. He wrote on another line, “Charley
Austin and the Ripped Open Band.”
He smiled. He was on a roll. Now, with a
vision established, he could settle down to write the first hit song. Charley
closed his eyes and waited.
Random thoughts and images flew through
his head like a fireworks display, but it was all mental noise, nothing even
close to a lyric. He just needed to be patient. He settled with his back
against the lantern and waited.
Thirty minutes passed; the paper pad was
empty except for the band name ideas and the words he had struck through: “Go
to Nineveh.”
What was going on? Lyrics had always come
to him easily. He could write lyrics for a complete song in half an hour. His
skill had amazed Jerry and the other members of DelivRus. So, why wasn’t it
happening now? Could his song writing have been a fluke, a one-time thing?
He closed his eyes again to concentrate.
Time passed.
It was no use. The
creative juices weren’t flowing. Panic twisted his gut. What if he couldn’t
write anymore? That would be the end of the dream. No more rock star.
Depressed and frustrated, he stood.
Ignoring the rain now pelting the thick glass windows, he lowered himself down
the ladder to the platform below. From there he gazed into the darkness below
and began his long, winding descent.
About the Author
Charles Besondy is a multi-award-winning author of Christian thrillers and New Adult Christian thrillers. All his books explore the sometimes raw spiritual battle for our hearts.
His first novel, The Hidden Saboteur, was published in 2018. He has self-published four major novels, a novella and a short story within The Lighthouse series.
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