{"product_id":"the-shepherds-house-phillip-lategan-9798249927769","title":"The Shepherd's house","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaniel Mercer\u003c\/b\u003e, raised in a brutal convent orphanage where deprivation and \"spiritual correction\" were normalized, grows up internalizing one core belief: suffering reshapes people. In the convent basement, isolation, hunger, and ritualized discipline were framed as purification. Those lessons never leave him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a young adult, Daniel meets \u003cb\u003eAbigail\u003c\/b\u003e, a nurse raised in rigid evangelical control. Unlike others, she does not recoil from institutional cruelty - she studies it. Their bond forms not through romance, but through shared belief in structured suffering. Together, they reinterpret punishment as refinement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheir first act of \"purification\" begins with a morally compromised church volunteer. That experience transforms them from reactive avengers into system designers. They refine psychological techniques: isolation, scarcity, selective reward, betrayal incentives. Hunger becomes their primary tool.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey scale.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnder the name \u003cb\u003e\"The Shepherd's House\"\u003c\/b\u003e, they advertise Christian restoration retreats for troubled young adults. Participants willingly surrender phones and sign waivers. Once isolated in a remote warehouse converted into staggered containment enclosures, group bonding is dismantled through controlled deprivation. Scarcity fractures morality. Betrayal becomes currency. Survival narrows identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver \u003cb\u003eseven full cycles\u003c\/b\u003e, dozens disappear. Bodies are incinerated. Ash dispersed. Digital traces erased. The operation becomes efficient, procedural - disturbingly calm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut residue remains.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA drain scrubbed too clean.\u003cbr\u003eSoil with altered mineral composition.\u003cbr\u003eAnchor bolts left embedded in concrete.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd most dangerously: pattern.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Phillip Lategan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798249927769\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/26\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 266\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d","brand":"Phillip Lategan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48440726356223,"sku":"9798249927769","price":10.42,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5c4f6d5a-93f3-46f7-a8af-34df63025132.jpg?v=1777184400","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-shepherds-house-phillip-lategan-9798249927769","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}