Showdown

Showdown is the first of three books in Ted Dekker's series The Paradise Novels. It's apart of the larger Books of History Chronicles.

Paradise, Colorado is a sleepy little town with just one church, store, and road running through it, with a few houses scattered about to decorate the scenery. It's remote, mundane, and as insignificant as any small town could possible be.

That is until Marsuvees Black decides to visit.

A stranger in all black, he immediately becomes the talk of the town. Suave, charming, edgy, and with miraculous powers at his fingertips; no one has seen anything like him.

But the longer he stays, the more a young Johny Drake notices the affect Marsuvees' presence is having on Paradise. From peaceful nobodies to violent sociopaths, the longer Marsuvees remains and performs his tricks, the more selfish, violent, and downright murderous the townspeople get.

But while Johny tries to unravel the chaos, another story unfolds in a hidden monastery not far from Paradise. A program known as "Project Showdown" has housed a group of children in the monastery since the day they were born. There, the children are taught to be the next world leaders by being isolated from the world and taught only about God's love and the ways He wants people to live.

One of the children, Billy Rediger, finds a library hidden beneath the monastery, full of books that have the ability to create what is written as long as the person has the faith of a young child (AKA The Lost Books of Elyon that vanished from Other Earth into our world at the end of The Circle Series). Using the powers of the book, he creates the demon-turned-preacher, Marsuvees Black, and sends him to Paradise to reveal the sinful hearts of man.

But the library is a dark catacomb drenched in a strange mucus with large, unknown larva-like creatures crawling on the walls. The longer Billy stays there, the more corrupt and sadistic his actions towards his fellow children and the town of Paradise becomes. It's up to Johny to steal the books away, and use them to stop Marsuvees and Billy both before Paradise is destroyed.

Tropes used in Showdown include:

Awesome McCoolname / Names to Run Away From: Who else but Marsuvees?
Badass Longcoat: Marsuvees Black
Big Bad: Marsuvees Black