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THE BOOK OF MARK

THE BOOK OF MARK
By Monte M. Moore

GENRE: Horror, Independent, Thriller
LOGLINE:

A reclusive bibliophile battles for his own body and soul against a demonic spirit who takes control of his body each night while he sleeps, and carries out his own twisted plans.

SYNOPSIS:

When his mother dies, Mark Mathews inherits a Christian bookstore called The Carpenter, which he converts in to an occult bookstore renamed Carpe Noctem...Latin for "Seize the Night". Mark's life is difficult enough, as he battles his own obsessive compulsions that govern his daily life, including agoraphobia which makes him a virtual prisoner in his own shop.

Mark's nightly dreams turn to sadistic nightmares when he comes into possession of a unique and cryptic book. A book that is covered with ancient writings, is sealed ... with no visible means to open it.

Through research Mark discovers that the book might have been authored by an Apostle of the Devil, or may even contain the soul of a demon. Mark does not buy into these beliefs, and learns a key isn't needed to release its prisoner. If the folklore is to be believed, all that's needed to open the book, is for the owner of the book to speak the demon's name ...and so the game begins. A game of virtual chess, played out in Mark's nightmares, with a robed figure who shares the same face with Mark.

The nightmares worsen until finally the demon himself visits Mark in his dreams and tricks him into opening it. Mark feels he's been duped when the book appears to be empty, and so he sells it as a journal and thinks nothing more of it.

His life turns into a downward spiral of psychosis when he thinks he is seeing signs from Revelations coming to life. His psychiatrist says Mark's mental issues are getting worse, and wants him to undergo hypnotherapy, but Mark suspects something more real and sinister. And so he begins to try and solve the biggest mystery of his life, with the help of a colorful variety of friends and family including Harmony, his high school crush who has recently returned as the town's newest Police Detective. Thus the battle for Mark's body and soul begins, and the demon who walks in Mark's sleep will do anything including destroying his new vessel, to stay outside the book that was once his supernatural cage.

Meanwhile, a string of ritualistic bloody murders have plagued the area and it seems that each night Mark sleeps, he awakes the next morning tired and sometimes bloody. As the police investigate these murders, all signs point to Mark's involvement, and Harmony is on the verge of having to take him into custody. Will she trust her heart, or follow the evidence to Mark's doorstep?

Mark finally believes it's not mere sleepwalking, and slowly accepts his involvement...could he be a sadistic killer? His life becomes a whirlwind of exhaustion, mystery and pain, as he dare not fall asleep, for fear of unleashing the horrors inside him. He eventually has no choice but to try and face his inner demon. Is Mark involved in stopping the arrival of Lucifer and the End Times here on Earth, or is he seeing signs where there are none, and these are just the final threads of his sanity breaking away? How do you defeat the devil...when the devil is inside you?

Nate Rymer

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