The Fury

A Novel

De: John Farris

Narrado por: Joe Barrett

Gillian Bellaver's family is one of the wealthiest in the world. Robin Sandza's father Peter is a government assassin. The two teenagers seem to have nothing in common. Yet they are spiritual twins, possessing a horrifying psychic energy that threatens humanity. While dangerous and fanatical men vie for the secrets of their awesome power, Peter Sandza, using all the ruthless skills of his trade, makes a final desperate effort to save them. Exploring with extraordinary skill the myths and legends deeply rooted in the subconscious mind, this novel builds, scene by shocking scene, to a night of chilling horror that surpasses anything you've ever experienced....

First published in 1976 and made into a successful movie written by the author and directed by Brian De Palma in 1978, The Fury is one of the all-time classics of the horror genre.

©1976 John Farris (P)2017 Tantor

A Hard Whiff on a Fun Idea

An interesting idea flounders with passive characters, a meandering plot, and numerous and uncalled-for descriptions of urinating, vomiting, boobs and nipples. Adults screwing 14-year-olds, rapey scenes, etc distract from a conventional government vs psychic teens yarn. I’d chalk it up to the 70’s if it didn't feel like a vain attempt to pump some energy into a flat story with venal, unlikely characters. Farris wrote this at age 23, so I’ll likely check out some of his later work. Give this one a pass.

Interesting ideas, ultimately a bit disappointing.

The book had so much potential, and some of the ideas and concepts were intriguing. The writing itself was very good, and only because of Farris's overall skill do I not regret hearing the book to completion.

The exciting parts were thrilling, but so much of the story was a lot of build up leading to a quick unsatisfying conclusion. Most of the characters were unlikeable, and not in a compelling way, just ugly and hateable. I wish I could say that I enjoyed the book more, but was underwhelmed by the time it had ended.

I was surprised at how similar certain parts were to the superior novel Firestarter which came out 4 years later, and I do wonder if King was inspired by this novel as he has praised the writing of John Farris.

The narrator was also middling. Much of the time, his read was tolerable, but sometimes veered into high pitched and distractingly cartoonish territory.