Frank E. Peretti

Jay and Lila Cooper and their archaeologist father travel to Nepur to uncover the truth behind the legend of the deadly Door in the Dragon's Throat. What danger lies beyond the Door?

The Door in the Dragon's Throat

Kirsten Simkiss

This book really does deserve one star – two, maybe, at a push. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

The Door in the Dragon’s Throat is a story surrounding the Cooper family and their colleagues in the pursuit of biblical archaeological finds. In this case, it takes place in the fictional middle eastern country of Nepur, run by a greedy oil mogul who is also the president of the nation. He hired them to come there and explore this anomaly in his nation that had claimed the lives of more than 50 people easily from four different markedly European nations. 

Here is my biggest warning: You also can scarcely get through a page without the author very pointedly reminding you that the Coopers are Christian, and therefore above the perils that Nepur has to offer because their God is superior. While I knew going in that Frank Peretti is a Christian author (I’m a big fan of his Hangman’s Curse book, which is much better written), I wasn’t anticipating this level of preaching to the reader. It’s VERY preachy pretty consistently. I begrudge no one their faith, but if you’re already a Christian reading this, you’d better be interested in reading a church sermon rather than a novel showcasing a Christian family of archaeologists. And trust me, I’ve definitely heard more interesting sermons.

During the first chapter, the Coopers arrive and begin the story by brushing off rumors and myths and cautions of a man who has lived in the country and known of all the deaths that has occurred at this ruin. They brush it all off, quoting bible verses and telling the man that their god is greater than whatever aboriginal gods might be there. This struck me as remarkably disrespectful and unprofessional. Especially as archaeologists, they should absolutely be willing to take into account these stories that he wanted to tell them as opposed to brushing them off without a care. Sure, they had probably been told some about it and done some research about the expeditions that had come before, but would it not be better to hear it from the mouth of a native who’s actually concerned for your safety? 

They also proceed to essentially make fun of the man, Gozan, who they force to go with them into the cavern when he’s terrified of adding himself to the list of the dead that the place has claimed. They offer absolutely no words of comfort to him. I’m sure it’s probably meant to show that they have confidence in their God, but good gracious, couldn’t you at least try to be a little sympathetic toward him? If you’re trying to bring someone into a religion, it’s always best to lead by example. This really was just not the way to go.

They also get attacked by a king cobra in the first chapter, which is then killed in the second. Just for the record, king cobras literally DO NOT LIVE in the middle east – especially not in desert regions. King cobras live in forested regions where there’s usually a river or lake nearby in more temperate regions, and are generally found in parts of India, China, and southeastern Asian nations. This lack of accuracy was a major warning sign for me.

From there, it is slowly but surely revealed that it isn’t a door belonging to Nimrod but, in fact, it’s a door. TO HELL. That’s right folks – a mailing address for Satan himself. Through the almightly GLORY of God, the door is shut again and the world is saved from all the demons of hell. Literally, the action is boring and pointless, not to mention punctured by appeals to God and bible quotes and characters reminding themselves that they’re the children of God and are therefore protected.

As if to top off the entire thing, the prose is really just pretty boring and simple. I know it’s meant to be a children’s book, but even children enjoy a book that has fun wordplay and characters that have a personality. There really were no personality traits for any of the Coopers beside being Christian and therefore good personified and Gozan and the President were not and were therefore evil personified. It was just not a good book, honestly. If you want Christian children's fiction, there are much better books.

The Door in the Dragon's Throat

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