Sacrifice (Paperback)

by John Farris (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
One moment an electronics salesman in Georgia is out jogging, the next he's got a stray bullet in his head. He wakes up in intensive care with odd memories of standing with a Mayan man in front of a flat-topped pyramid. The savvy reader might surmise, "Ah, his brain damage has put him in contact with the past, or with another plane of reality." But veteran horror writer John Farris has more than one surprise up his sleeve before he reveals the horrifying fate awaiting this "perfect" father and the teenaged daughter he idolizes. And that's only half the book. The action moves down to Guatemala, where ensues a rollicking tale of adventure and terror. As Necrofile: The Review of Horror Fiction writes, "Sacrifice ... is [Farris's] strongest novel in years and redeems the reputation he established with The Fury and All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By as a writer skilled at breaking through banal exteriors to the heart of supernatural darkness beneath."

From Publishers Weekly
Large wonders are sacrificed to thin effects as Farris anchors this fanciful trek into Mayan lore with precise detail. A composer of terrors (The Fury) and suspense thrillers (All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By), Farris seldom shocks with tidbits of horror but rather enriches his suspense with far-out plums of plot washed in daily life. Greg Walker, who owns an RCA Servicenter in Georgia, never ages. A member of a Mayan cult, he keeps his longevity abloom by rendering up the living heart of a virgin daughter during an eclipse of the full moon every 19 years. Now over 150, but with the body and mind of a 45-year-old, Greg prepares his latest child, 17-year-old Sharissa, for the old gods in Guatemala. Will C.G. Butterbaugh, a local detective, be able to save fellow tennis player Sharissa from a bloody eclipse, especially when her dad can survive a direct gunshot to the forebrain? And who were Greg's earlier wives and sacrificial daughters? A strongly told story degenerates into sadism, though dashes of Mayan history add a civilized touch, while Greg proves a forgettable character, lacking the inner riches of someone perhaps twice the age of John Gielgud. Though Farris writes with an expert hand, he loses much to the demands of the genre.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 379 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812509560
• ISBN-13: 978-0812509564
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,317,404 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspense---With a Twist!, July 15, 2000

By	Marion "[e-mail]" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

John Farris has suspense down to an art in this early novel. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, BAM!, I'm in the jungles of Central America about a million miles from where I thought the plot was headed. He's a master of dialogue and moving the plot along at a breakneck pace. For all you Farris fans out there, this one is worth going back and reading if you haven't already done so.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Horror to make Freud proud, July 14, 2000

By	mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Greg Walker (so aptly named) seems like the most typical of Americans, hard-working, devoted husband and father, member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Then a series of seemingly random events causes him to act out of character. Or so we think. His wife of 18 years and their beautiful 17-year-old daughter are worried about Greg, but they have no idea who he really is.
Farris manages to let the reader know exactly what is going to happen throughout the novel, while keeping us in suspense by not telling us how those events are going to play out. The characters are richly developed with realistic dialogue and action. Farris also weaves brilliant psychology in with the suspense and terror. No character is all good or all bad; these are complex people facing complex situations. Underlying all this are cultural messages regarding emerging sexuality, fears about aging, and the obsession with youth. Freud would say "I told you so" if he read some of these passages about conflicting father/daughter emotions! This is such a good book, and it is quite unique in the sea of slasher horror that seems to overrun the stands. There is some gore, but overall this is a more subtle form of horror with terrific writing and a wonderful sense of plot and climax.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sacrifice, June 2, 2006

By	Emily R. Jarrell "emma34" (Newport News, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sacrifice (Hardcover)

I have read quite a few John Farris books, and all are brilliant. However, this one and Son of the Endless Night are my two favorites. I must say, if the LA Times review(on the back flap) says their sanity was in tatters long before they finished the book, that's a book I want to read. A lot of the other big name horror writers have great things to say about him also (King, Straub, Bloch, Koontz). He's very different from anyone out there. I would recommend his older works, they're so outlandish, and SCARY and they read very contemporary even though they've been out there for a while.