Four books into the series, and finally we have an actual follow up novel to The Keep. I’ve also managed to keep to the same style of covers so far in this series because I just think these look like proper horror novels. I love the old 80s and 90s OTT artwork like this.
Set twenty six years after the events of the first book, the action moves to Long Island USA. Dr Roderick Hanley, millionaire geneticist, dies in a plane crash with his working partner. In his will he leaves a struggling writer, Jim Stevens, his mansion, and the vast majority of his estate.
More importantly, it solves a mystery Jim, who was adopted as a baby, has been struggling with his whole life- the identity of his birth father. Far from making his life easier though, it leads to more questions and some shocking revelations.
Meanwhile, his wife Carol has started having horrific dreams of torture and violence. Also, a disparate group of religious believers have received divine word that a great evil is coming. Led by a wandering monk, they form an alliance to fight it when and where it surfaces.
We finally have a returning character from book one as well.
This is just as good as the first three in the series that this was officially (at the time) part two of. The main characters are fleshed out nicely and they’re all believably flawed. When Carol makes a horrendously stupid decision at the midpoint of the book, we go with it, despite thinking she’s a complete idiot. As the story unfolds, there could be more to it though.
I’m not sure if it’s just because I was on holiday and trying to sleep in a strange bed, but while I was reading this, I was having deeply unsettled sleep, and this book was a definite part of my dreams including a persistent nightmare that I struggled to shake off for nearly an hour. It’s the first horror novel to invade my dreams quite so insidiously in I don’t know how long so it must be applauded for that.
There’s a very 1980’s debate near the end that truly dates the book even though the book is set in the late 60’s.
There are some completely unexpected character deaths, and this book never quite goes in the direction you think it will. By the end of the book, morality is so grey, that it’s hard to tell if the group fighting to stop the rebirth of what they believe to be the antichrist are the good guys or the bad guys.
That type of ambiguity sets this book apart for me and raises the whole thing significantly.
I loved it. My biggest regret is not buying these as they came out all those years ago.
Easily one of the best horror novels I’ve read this year.
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