Nearly seven hundred years ago the Italian poet Dante wroteThe Inferno, an epic tale of the fate awaiting doomed souls in the underworld. Now, the story continues Thomas Travis had always thought the toughest streets in the ghettos of Atlanta were next door to hell. But he didnt know just how close they were until the threat of racial violence sent him fleeing down the stairs of an abandoned buildingonly to fall headlong into a tortured realm of fire and ice, the place of the damned. The only chance of escape was to trust the strange elderly woman who met him there and insisted on being his guide. She claimed to know the way out, but it would lead through all the terrifying circles of divine judgment, each one deeper and more tormenting than the last. In the lowest pit, the Lord of Darkness himself lay in wait. Thomas had lived a godless life, and now there was hell to pay. If his soul could be purged on the journey, he just might make it. But the odds were against him. In hell, the only guarantee is justiceand the only way out is down.

About the Author

PAUL THIGPEN, PhD, is an award-winning journalist and the best-selling author of more than twenty-five books, includingA Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, Blood of the Martyrs,andSeed of the Church. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University and also holds a doctorate in historical theology from Emory University.