Customer Reviews

Second Horseman Out of Eden

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There is not a single Mongo book that can be given a rank of less than 4 stars, and this one is no exception.In fact , it is one of the finest of the series. For those of you who have never read one of the Mongo books do not read this one first.In fact, it is unwise to read them in any manner except in the order in which they were written.This novel continues to develop the wonderful characters that Mr. Chesbro introduced with " The Shadow of a Broken Man".The pace , as always, is fast, and our heroes will go through much pain before the end of the tale is written. Do yourself a favour and get "Shadow" and read it. Whodunnit, whoizzeee,mystery,fantasy,action,adventure,and one of the most extraordinary characters introduced in modern fiction (no exaggeration).If you enjoy it, get the other books in the series and read them in order.As much as you'll enjoy this book on its own, when read after following the series through to this point it is that much better a book. I'd rank it a 4.7 stars if read on its own and a 5 star book when read as part of the series.

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword."
- KJV, Revelations 6:3-4

The only guy in a red suit that Mongo and Garth Frederickson expected to be involved with this Christmas was Santa Claus, as each brother is in the habit of picking up five kids' letters to Santa from the post office every year and making their Christmas wishes come true. But this year, they've only got one letter between them, and they expect that to be all they can handle.

Young Vicky Brown, writing from "a secret place" where she isn't allowed to play with any other kids, only wants two things this year: a puppy to keep her company, and something to give to "Reverend Billy" so that he'll stop hurting her. It's clear that the girl's being abused sexually, but the Fredericksons have very few clues to trace her: an envelope with a New York postmark, smeared with dirt, and a reference to a sexually aberrant preacher.

The brothers' own memories of recent scandals put them onto Reverend "Wild Bill" Kenecky, but unfortunately he's already on the run from the IRS this Christmas. The envelope turns out to be a better bet when chemical analysis reveals that the soil is native to the Amazon rainforest, and even the New York Botanical Gardens can't ship the stuff into the US, not even for their best private financial supporter, the eccentric billionaire Henry Blaisdel and his Nuvironment biosphere project, with a goal of building rainforests under glass for eventual use in space habitat construction.

Everyone encountered in the case understandably seems anxious to help - all except Nuvironment personnel, who'll be perfectly happy to cooperate *after* New Year's.

Now what could they be hiding that won't be endanger of exposure after New Year's? Given the high proportion of people encountered in the case who seem to think that the end of the world is *very* near indeed, the question is a tad unsettling.

Drive-in totals:
- Some classic James Bond-type sudden death scenarios.
- Sexual content (the little girl's letter is very clear about what's been going on while sticking to an eight-year-old's language).
- Suicidal religious fanatics, with a lot of really disgusting bigotry.
- One wrecked VW Rabbit with dunking in the East River.
- Massive snowstorm with isolation and power failure.

A fast-paced, thought provoking, almost science fiction mystery. I have the entire series and reread them at regular intervals.