Customer Reviews

The Fury (Fury and the Terror)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

John Farris hasn't gotten much recognition as a horror writer. This is the only book of his I've read, but if the rest are nearly as good as this one then he's one of the least recognized writers out there. There are quite a few things that set this book apart from the conventional horror novel, and these are the things that make this book truly horrifying. It is an extremely dense book and seems longer than its 400 page length, although it never drags. Its chock-full of intertwining characters and plot elements with lots of shocking twists. Farris isn't afraid to make us care about his characters and then subject them to horrible fates. The author's treatment of the book's main character, Peter Sandza, is especially chilling. So are the unwilling results of Gillian's special ability. The depiction of the government officials and the character Childress are quite menacing. The true relationship between Gillian and Sandza'a son is at once beautiful and unsettling. The watchable Brian De Palma film starring Kirk Douglas only scratches the surface of this solid thriller which accomplishes what few horror novels ever do: leave the reader both horrified and satisfied. If you can find this book anywhere read it at once!

5

Turning fifteen, New Yorker Gillian Bellaver possesses a rare talent. She can convert psychic energy into a powerful, destructive force that she struggles to restrain. Teenager Robin Sandaz also contains the same power. The Feds, several foreign governments, and other wealthy interests share in common the desire to control Gillian, Robin, and similar talents for purposes of exploiting their respective powers mostly as weapons.

Robin's father, Peter is one of the US government's most dangerous and successful assassins, but feels it is time to retire. The sanguinary Middle East has been his most frequent playground, but a recent personal incident has returned him to America. Peter worries that he may be too late to save his son from the brain washing happening to Robin back in the States. Peter plans to attempt to free Robin and the other "student"-prisoners from their captivity before they become inhuman pawns deadlier than any known terrorist in the world today. Failure means death while success means being on the lam perhaps forever.

It has been twenty-five years since John Farris released THE FURY, but the book is being re-released in anticipation of Mr. Farris' sequel. I feel like the star of Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" that I read so long ago and just reread yesterday. The original retains all the freshness that made it a best seller as the look inside the unused segments of the mind seems even more relevant in this age of rapid medical achievements. This reviewer strongly recommends reading the novel followed by the De Palma's movie because both are excellent.

Harriet Klausner

John Farris' breakthrough bestseller holds up well, after all these years. It spawned a minor cottage industry in the film business, especially, with the "evil government psychic projects" plot. Scanners and Firestarter, and their numerous clones and offspring, were inspired by this piece. It was ahead of its time in discussing then-unknown true-life psychic spying programs, which have since been written about in quite some detail - though discussing nothing quite like what happens in this book.

Robin and Gillian are twins separated at pre-birth, reincarnated souls meant to grow up together who instead are growing up separately. Robin is the more powerful of the two, and comes to the attention of MORG, a nefarious super-secret government agency that attempts to murder Robin's CIA assassin father in order to more fully take Robin under their wing. Robin's father is mighty ticked-off about all this, and wages a private little mini-war with MORG head Childermass to get his son back. In the meantime, promising newcomer Gillian has also come to MORG's attention - and Robin's father's, as well, who wants to use her to locate his sequestered son.

Definitely one of Farris' best. Even though Farris also wrote the screenplay to the stylish Brian DePalma movie, the film is weak compared to its original source material.

What possessed John Farris to write, in 1976, such an avant-garde no holds barred of a novel, we will never know. But one thing's for sure, his FURY is one heck of a roller coaster ride. From the get go, the novel screams of ingeniuty, whether it's in its pre-Koontz-like subject (Gouverment propaganda behind "gifted" subjects), its dead-on characterization or in its dynamic and assured pace. The author's skills as a writer shine through and through, up to the edge-of-your seat conclusion that leaves the reader literally breathless. Be prepared to applaud the man, for THE FURY certainly deserves all of its success.-----Martin Boucher

This book blew me away, I haven't read a good book in a while but this griped me. I was sad to finish it

The Fury follows a half-dozen characters as they grapple with two children who, in the tail end of puberty, develop enhanced psychic powers like clairvoyance, telekenesis, and telebloodboiling (that last one's not a scientific term, as far as I know, but it describes the effect well enough). The two main characters are Peter, a CIA assassin and father of one of the children, and Gillian, a sensible early-teen debutante who discovers psychic powers that kill people whether she wants them to or not.

A few thoughts:

* This book feels very much of its year. While a modern science fiction novel will take as a given the idea that nanotechnology will be available to do wondrous things soon or that computers will be able to simulate/emulate digital beings or that digital/mind interfaces will be possible, the givens about the 1970s seem to stem from the Age of Aquarius stuff: mind expanding, astral projection, psychic phenomenon are all present.
* The palpable distrust of government in the 1970s roils through the book as well, with two competing government agencies eager to take advantage of the psychic children. And nearly every character in those agencies is revealed to be amoral or downright vicious.
* The casual misogyny of 1970s horror also seethes through the book. The sex scenes use a blunt, one sided kind of language to regularly describe womens' bodies using terms that, by today's standards, are downright ugly. And abuse of all sorts, sexual or no, undergirds all these relationships.
* By contrast, Farris does a nice job crafting an intricate plot that reveals itself at just the right pace and prods the reader to strive for the end. While the novel took me a bit longer to get into than I would have liked, I was genuinely interested, in the last half, to find out what happened.
* Once you get past the believability of the science-fiction aspects of the novel, the deadly psychic children made for an intriguing concept, and Farris' talent with gory description drives the story nicely, er, gruesomely.

I probably wouldn't recommend seeking this book out, but it has its high points.

THIS IS NOT THE FURY AND THE TERROR.
The idiots working for Amazon constantly list books and CDs with incorrect titles or incorrect formatting. Am I the only person who cares?

Having enjoyed John Farris's novella, THE RANSOME WOMEN, I found in Ed McBain's anthology, TRANSGRESSIONS, I thought I'd try his best-known work, THE FURY.

THE FURY starts out well as we get to know teenagers Gillian Bellaver and Robin Sandza. They have known each other intimately in previous lives and both have incredible psychic powers. Peter Sandza, Robin's father, is the third major character.

There is an early discussion on reincarnation that I found especially stimulating. Robin compares it to a baseball game. If he plays poorly, he can always do better in the next game. Gillian's father, millionaire Avery Bellaver, is also a unique character. He is an amateur anthropologist who feels that the problem with American teenagers is that ritual is lacking in their lives.

The book deteriorates when it turns into a Tom Clancy-type thriller. Robin Sandza falls into the hands of MORG, a clandestine group similar to the CIA who plan to use his psychic powers as a secret weapon. Peter Sandza, who was once a MORG agent, fights incredible odds to get his son back. Meanwhile Gillian's psychic powers have gone awry.

The villain of the piece, MORG leader Childermass, is somewhat of a cartoon character. I couldn't find one redeeming characteristic. The last half of the novel reads a bit like an episode from THE MAN FROM UNCLE. The psychic twins don't do a whole lot with their psychic powers besides bleed people out. I would have preferred a much larger role for Avery Bellaver.