In this new horror/techno/medical thriller by the author of several Christian fiction best sellers (e.g., Leviathan, LJ 9/1/95), readers are treated to the distinct possibility of evil incarnate taking over the world. The plot is murky at best: a hideous being is running amok, drinking blood and kidnapping an innocent child who holds the key to its survival. The good guys are a tormented priest, a disillusioned soldier, and a beautiful doctor (mother of said innocent child). The baddies are double-dealing government agents who are working for "The Dark Side." The main quibble with Huggins's story is a common one, particularly in Christian fiction. Stephen King can mix and match his monsters, blending characteristics, but most authors simply lack the talent. What is Huggins's evil being? Is it a golem? A vampire? A saber-toothed terminator? Lucifer? Cain, son of Adam and Eve? Or just a big, mean, genetically engineered predator who wasn't too nice in the first place? Whatever he is, the novel is a poor blend of Satanic philosophy, Christian platitudes, and garbled Hebraic mythology. Not recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/97.]Lesley C. Keogh, Bethel P.L., Ct.
Why would Bruce Willis snap this up for a million dollars? Because it feels safely familiar, with a wild hook added by Huggins, author of three action thrillers (Leviathan, etc., not reviewed) for the Christian market.
Army scientist Dr. Maggie Milton (Milton, as in Paradise Lost) has created a Frankenstein supersoldier. She's taken the body of a dead soldier, named Cain, who had highly unusual genes (XYY), altered them, rebuilt him with titanium armor, and primed him with all manner of super devices, including nearly instant self-healing flesh in case of wounds, and fangs for chewing up enemy bodies to replenish his lowered RNA. Unfortunately, to do all of this she's had to inject him with a mutated strain of Marburg virus, the deadliest virus known, which, if released, could wipe out all life on Earth within weeks. What the Army doesn't know is that Satan has in fact entered their supersoldier, endowing him with a galactic hunger for evil and apocalyptic plans of his own—and suddenly he's on the loose, with his super speed and his ability to rip through steel like paper! Who can stop him? Well, polymathic Marine Colonel James L. Soloman might be able to. Retired since the death of his wife and daughter (for which he blames himself), he's kept himself in almost superhuman Spartan condition at his home in Death Valley. Soloman, recruited to cancel out Cain quietly, tries a variety of lethal gambits to stop him, but none of them work. Cain, it turns out, is actually seeking Maggie's daughter Amy, intending to make a human sacrifice of her before unleashing the Marburg virus on mankind. Eventually, Soloman, whose plans go awry, loses the help of the intelligence forces. Cain/Satan survives all the ordnance used against him, rants in biblical fustian, and prepares Amy for his great black mass as time runs out for the human race.
Staggering, galactically gruesome comic-strip, a natural for bouncing Bruce.
