From Publishers Weekly
Wilder and weirder than its predecessor (The Fury and the Terror), this second sequel to Farris's trendsetting supernatural thriller The Fury (1976) takes risks that will befuddle newcomers but titillate loyal fans used to his audacity. Once again second-generation psychic Eden Waring is pursued by malevolent forces hell-bent on harnessing her awesome and largely unrealized paranormal powers. This time the villain is the sinister demiurge Mordaunt, known to his adversaries as "The Dark Side of God." In the guise of stage magician Lincoln Grayle, Mordaunt has been endowing select attendees of his Vegas extravaganzas with fearsome shapeshifting powers, then using them as assassins against prominent world religious leaders. It's surely not a coincidence that these events draw Eden and her team of psychic operatives out of seclusion and into the magician's sphere: Mordaunt needs Eden's doppelganger, Gwen, who can travel through time, to retrieve the half of his soul imprisoned in a mortal form in 1926; he also plans to impregnate Eden to further his plans for domination of the earthly dimension. There are more twists and turns in the plot than in a nest full of snakes, but Farris distracts readers from the improbabilities and logic stretches with strategically timed blasts of paranormal pyrotechnics and old-fashioned gory gunplay. The ending holds a few disappointing surprises, including plot threads left dangling until the forthcoming Avenging Fury, but readers who have sojourned thus far in the strange and chaotic world of Farris's fiction will surely return for another installment. Last year Farris received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"America's premier novelist of terror . . . Nobody does it better."-Stephen King



Book Description
Eden Waring has known fear in her life. She is an Avatar, a talented young psychic with the ability to produce at will her doppelganger - her mirror image, who calls herself "Gwen" and possesses remarkable powers beyond even Eden's gifts. Gwen can be invisible to mortal eyes, if she chooses to be, and can even travel back and forth in time.

As gifted as Eden and Gwen are, there is an even stronger entity that stalks them, coveting Gwen's unique talents. He is known as Mordant, the Dark Side of God, a being both ageless and deadly, so evil that his soul was split in two by the Caretakers, ancient souls in surprising positions of earthly influence, who are charged to watch over humankind. In order to regain his full potential for destruction and reach his goal of world domination, he must accomplish two goals: seduce Eden Waring through any means necessary and take away Eden's control of her own doppelganger.

In human form, Mordant is the ultimate trickster: handsome, wealthy, charming. But when he is provoked, he is nothing but deadly. Eden is his unwitting prey, stalked from the barren Rift Valley of Kenya to the holy streets of Rome, and finally to the neon glitz of Las Vegas, where a terrible and frightening reckoning is waiting to pounce on them both.



About the Author
John Farris lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of the classic thrillers Dragonfly, Soon She Will Be Gone, The Fury, and The Fury and the Terror.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Eden Waring has known fear in her life. She is an Avatar, a talented young psychic with the ability to produce at will her doppelganger-her mirror image, who calls herself "Gwen" and possesses remarkable powers beyond even Eden's gifts. Gwen can be invisible to mortal eyes, if she chooses to be, and can even travel back and forth in time.

As gifted as Eden and Gwen are, there is an even stronger entity that stalks them, coveting Gwen's unique talents. He is known as Mordant, the Dark Side of God, a being both ageless and deadly, so evil that his soul was split in two by the Caretakers, ancient souls in surprising positions of earthly influence, who are charged to watch over humankind. In order to regain his full potential for destruction and reach his goal of world domination, he must accomplish two goals: seduce Eden Waring through any means necessary and take away Eden's control of her own doppelganger.

In human form, Mordant is the ultimate trickster: handsome, wealthy, charming. But when he is provoked, he is nothing but deadly. Eden is his unwitting prey, stalked from the barren Rift Valley of Kenya to the holy streets of Rome, and finally to the neon glitz of Las Vegas, where a terrible and frightening reckoning is waiting to pounce on them both.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Wilder and weirder than its predecessor (The Fury and the Terror), this second sequel to Farris's trendsetting supernatural thriller The Fury (1976) takes risks that will befuddle newcomers but titillate loyal fans used to his audacity. Once again second-generation psychic Eden Waring is pursued by malevolent forces hell-bent on harnessing her awesome and largely unrealized paranormal powers. This time the villain is the sinister demiurge Mordaunt, known to his adversaries as "The Dark Side of God." In the guise of stage magician Lincoln Grayle, Mordaunt has been endowing select attendees of his Vegas extravaganzas with fearsome shapeshifting powers, then using them as assassins against prominent world religious leaders. It's surely not a coincidence that these events draw Eden and her team of psychic operatives out of seclusion and into the magician's sphere: Mordaunt needs Eden's doppelganger, Gwen, who can travel through time, to retrieve the half of his soul imprisoned in a mortal form in 1926; he also plans to impregnate Eden to further his plans for domination of the earthly dimension. There are more twists and turns in the plot than in a nest full of snakes, but Farris distracts readers from the improbabilities and logic stretches with strategically timed blasts of paranormal pyrotechnics and old-fashioned gory gunplay. The ending holds a few disappointing surprises, including plot threads left dangling until the forthcoming Avenging Fury, but readers who have sojourned thus far in the strange and chaotic world of Farris's fiction will surely return for another installment. (Mar. 4) FYI: Last year Farris received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association

Publishers Weekly

Terrormeister Farris's sequel to The Fury outdoes its bestselling predecessor in mystery, malevolence and mayhem. Moving at video-game speed, this fanciful thriller pits ambitious politicians against psychics on the run to save America. The novel opens with a bang as Eden Waring's college valedictory speech turns into a warning that an airplane is about to crash on campus. Eden's adoptive parents take refuge in the countryside, and her boyfriend decides which side he's on, while Eden hides from MORG, the secret government agency for psychic bioengineering, and from an evil First Lady both seeking to harness Eden's powers for their own ends. On the run, Eden develops such skills as producing her doppelg nger at will; she also learns she is the daughter of the preceding novel's heroine, Gillian (dead but still visiting Eden in her dreams), and of Gillian's soul mate, Robin (alive but held captive in MORG's Montana hideaway). Eden joins forces with an ex-game hunter once married to her mother, and with a beautiful black model with a few powers of her own, to thwart the First Lady's plan to take over the White House, MORG's effort to control psychic activity and a terrorist plot to wreak havoc at a Garth Brooks concert. Farris (Dragonfly; Sacrifice, etc.) packs his novel with villains, explosions and odd, occasionally grotesque characters possessed of just enough charm to make readers care. Through frenzied plot twists, he mixes humor with pseudo-science, creating his own world which he promises we can return to in the forthcoming The Fury and the Power. (Apr.) Forecast: Despite the nearly 25 years since The Fury was first published, this sequel, supported by a major ad campaign, should draw lots of attention, bolstered by Forge's reissue of the original novel in October 2000. The Fury was a hit movie, of course, directed by Brian DePalma, and perhaps its sequel will enjoy the same fate. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews