Customer Reviews

Omen 5: Abomination (Signet)

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This is not actually a review of this book alone. This is a comprehensive review of all five Omen books, i.e. The Omen (David Seltzer), Damien: Omen II (Joseph Howard), The Final Conflict: Omen III, (Gordon McGill), Armageddon: Omen IV (Gordon McGill) and The Abomination: Omen V ( Gordon McGill). Amazon.com also lists Damien: Omen Book II by David Seltzer. This I believe is a mistake and to my knowledge, Seltzer has authorwed only the original and the second sequel was by Joseph Howard. There is another book titled The Anti Christ:After the Omen by Frank Allnutt, though it is not connected with the series and is rather a behind the scenes look at the writing of Omen, the making of the movie, and the bizarre things that happened during filming.
The Omen Series are the best of horror novels I have ever read. "Omen" was the story of the birth of Damien, the son of Satan. It followed the life of the devil child as a toddler. In Part II we find Damien now a teenager, who has slowly realized the potential of his power, and in Final Conflict, Damien is a young man, U.S. Ambassador to United Kingdom, who is slowly gearing up for world power. These three books, the original trilogy is a superior horror story, that will chill and thriller the horror lover. However, I believe that Part IV and V were an afterthought. After the death of Damien in Part III, book IV begins with the story of Damien's posthumous son, and the story ends with his end in Part V. The books were without mincing words boring, though I liked Part V better than IV. Again, the movie Omen IV has no bearing with the movie Omen IV (Omen IV: The Awakening was written by Harry Bernhard & Brian Taggerd and I believe no book version is available.)

I remember seeing a column around the time that the movie The Final Conflict came out that indicated that 20th Century Fox had originally intended there to be 5 Omen movies but had changed their minds when Omen II did not do as well as expected at the box office. I have often wondered if these two books by Gordon Mcgill were based upon what the original movie plan had been. Consider this: In Omen I Bugenhagen gave explicit instructions on how to use the 7 daggers. Specifically the first extinquished life and the others were to be placed in the shape of a cross on hallowed ground. At the end of The Final Conflict this did not happen and it is only in this book that the correct procedure is applied. I personally think these books would have made much better movies than the wretched Omen IV on the USA network a few years later.

Investigative writer's next project is a biography of Damien Thorn, former AntiChrist. As he uncovers the truth behind the history of the Thorn family accidents, his friends become victims of the forces of darkness. Climax to the cinematic trilogy novel spin-offs, Omen V: The Abomination entertains. Fans shouldn't be too disappointed with it.