Plot summary

After one of his men is murdered with a kitchen knife in his back, a Nazi officer gathers all the citizens in the small Holland town and orders ten of them to be shot. And he demands that the town's priest, Father Merrin, choose which ten. British East Africa, 1947. It's three years later. Father Merrin has lost his faith, and his standing in the church is undecided. Merrin has now developed an interest in archeology. He is working now on his sixth archeological dig, and this one is by far the most fascinating. He's supervising the uncovering of a church that dates from the fifth century in an area where there should be no Christian church that old. A woman doctor, a zealous young missionary, an overzealous British major and Merrin soon find themselves caught in a battle between good and evil, as the dig supernaturally causes a crippled adolescent, shunned by the local tribe, to become possessed by a demon.—J. Spurlin