Customer Reviews

The Night Church

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A pair of young lovers gradually discovers that they are integral parts of a centuries-old Satanist conspiracy to rule the world. A good idea that begins well is largely undone by mediocre prose and plotting that fails to integrate the threads of its story. The most fascinating aspect of the novel, the revelation of a secret history of warfare between the Catholic Church and a powerful dynasty of Satanists, is tossed off in a series of asides that turn out to have little to do with the main story. We are set up to anticipate the arrival of a certain character who is dispatched as soon as he pokes his head up. Whitley Streiber could have done better.

This book is standard Strieber, great concept flattened by mediocre writing. A Satanist cult is out to destroy the world with a super plague. Somewhere between The Stand and The X-Files, just nowhere near as good.

There's a lot more going on in Queens than this New Yorker ever suspected. In Whitley Streiber's Night Church, a secret ancient cult takes over a Catholic church with the aim of creating a new species that looks human but isn't. This is all part of a plot to take over the world. There's some sex on the altar, the Pope finds out, special agents are sent to defeat this horrendous plot against us, etc....

If all this sounds confusing, it is. It's not the best thriller I've ever read, but I give it an extra star for the Queens setting. It's just too, too exciting to read that all of this is going on in my neighborhood. If only I could figure out how this will effect property values!

If you've ever lived in Queens or are a die-hard fan of Whitley Strieber you will want to read this one.

Strieber stumbles around the concept of a Satanic Church that plots the destruction of the human race by a special breeding program to create a meta-humanoid (The Anti-man)that will be the antithesis of all humanity regards as good. A plague will wipe out the old Homo sapiens, and then, well, that's the question, Satan rules supreme, I suppose. The Catholic Church is absolved of the sins of the Inquisition in this alternate reality,since they were just trying to root out the breeding program of the Satanists all those years, and continuing to do so to the present. And where did this arcane breeding knowledge come from? Why, from King Solomon! Strieber apparently wanted to weave in a bit of anti-Semitic blood libel into the tale.
Luckily, I got my copy used, and since it is such utter trash, I didn't feel bad throwing into the recycling bin.