Decades before Father Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil's soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in Kenya. Merrin's initial battle with Pazuzu leads to the rediscovery of his faith.

Lankester Merrin is a archaeologist by profession but an ordained Roman Catholic priest who has lost his faith and abandoned his vocation. He is haunted by what he was forced to do in his native Holland during World War II. The church he's excavated in Northern Kenyan dates to the Byzantine period but this puts its construction hundreds of years before Christianity was introduced to the area. the church was buried to the rooftop in sand and as its structure is exposed, a madness slowly descends on the camp. the local tribesmen are prepared to go to war and demand that the church be buried. Soon, two British soldiers are found dead and their commanding officer, Major Granville, shoots a innocent civilian in cold blood. As fear descends upon everyone in the camp, it becomes apparent that a young disabled boy, Cheche, is possessed by the devil forcing Merrin to re-examine his own beliefs.—garykmcd

British East Africa, 1947. Lankester Merrin, an emotionally scarred former Catholic priest, supervises an archaeological dig in Derati, Kenya. After all, he must fight his inner demons after the horrible incident in Nazi-occupied Holland that changed his life forever. But there, the perplexing discovery of a nearly intact Byzantine church triggers a spate of inexplicable, violent incidents. And as the sceptical archaeologist teams up with young priest Father Francis and Dr Rachel Lesno to decipher the temple's occult purpose, the invisible stranglehold of an unearthed malevolent spirit tightens. As a result, unprotected innocents fall prey to its demonic force. Once, faith was Merrin's only weapon. Now, can disbelief shield him from evil's dominion?—Nick Riganas

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