Things move on to another level when, while running in the woods, the Reverend Mack comes across an 8ft stone standing in a clearing where none stood before. It seems, however, that he is destined to be the sole witness to this phenomenon. Later, while attempting to rescue a friend's dog, Mack falls into a local gorge which has claimed many lives in the past. Instead of perishing down there, he meets the Devil - who, rather than any absent God, is revealed to be the observing presence in his life. Mack and the Devil find that they get on well, both spiritually and, indeed, physically.
Simply recounting the narrative of The Testament of Gideon Mack does the novel scant justice. In the hands of great writers the unlikeliest stories are generally the most rewarding. What Robertson produces here is a parable of organised religion, the supernatural (surely one of the necessary components of true religious belief) and mental illness, and the opaque but evident relationship between them.
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