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Dead Air #2
Abaddon
Abaddon (Dead Air Series, Book 2)
312 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Bob Larson
54 books36 followersBob Larson is an American radio and television evangelist, and a pastor of Spiritual Freedom Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Larson has authored numerous books critical of rock music and Satanism.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 23, 2008
Bob Larson, Abaddon (Nelson, 1993)
Bob Larson's Abaddon, the sequel to his novel Dead Air, is possibly the funniest book I have read in the past decade. In many ways, Larson reminds me of the kind of televangelist who's out to get ratings and nothing else; he attacks popular culture (even when it's not really popular, as in this case), does just enough research to get some glitzy facts, and then either makes up the rest or completely misunderstands what he's seeing as he goes along. And like said televangelists, Larson's work is always good for a long, loud laugh when you most need it.
This time, we find Wes Bryant (according to a few reviews and interviews, a character Larson based on himself), his new wife Annette, and her daughter Jennifer in Colorado, where Wes is the GM of an all-talk radio station. His main competition is KZOO, a rock station no one who's listened to the radio since the advent of Howard Stern won't recognize, a morass of shock DJs and awful music. With a twist: the station plays death metal. In heavy rotation. Okay, THAT'S new. (Larson does, to his credit, mention very late in the novel that most radio stations don't.) KZOO is sponsoring a Night Sacrifice show on Halloween night, and Bryant, whose stepdaughter is falling under the spell of Night Sacrifice, has singer Clint Blade come into his studio for a dust-up with his most popular talk-show host. Bryant ends up confronting Blade over the air himself, and, disturbed by what he sees (and the depths to which his stepdaughter is getting into the stuff), starts researching the phenomenon that is death metal.
Yes, there is a mystery here, although what that mystery is one isn't sure until the final few pages. Nuff said about that.
The true humor in the book comes from Larson's complete and utter misinterpretation of his readings (one hesitates to say his experiences) on both death metal and psychology. Now, to be fair, such landmark tomes as Lords of Chaos had not yet been released when Larson wrote this book. But still, one figures a guy who goes over to Boyd Rice's house for dinner on a sporadic basis is going to know a little more about underground music and the motivations behind it than the average bear. And for all I know, Bob Larson is actually an expert in the subject; it just doesn't come through here. His occult research seems a bit lacking as well (e.g., his description of a Book of Shadows, confusing a pentagram and a symbol of Baphomet, and various other hilarity-inducing niggles), but not in nearly the scope as the others.
Larson might well have been able to use this book to address the real reasons for the underground popularity of the death metal movement, but instead, he takes a rather more dangerous path-attributing a love of death metal to, of all things, multiple personality disorder, and then going on to assert that MPD is a common and easily-controlled (by the enemy, of course-the good guys will have to spend years curing it, but the enemy can make new personalities appear almost at will!) disease. Hopefully those who have read this do remember that this is fiction, and that multiple personality disorder is a rare and very difficult disease. Not something to be flippant with, one would think, when an author is trying to assert deeper truths. But there you go. I could have even bought that Larson was using MPD as a metaphor for disaffectation and apathy--wouldn't be the first time such things have happened--if not for the acknowledgements page, which should have been placed after the text so as not to mention the MPD angle the book ends up taking (I'd not have included it here had it not been spoiled on the very first page of the book, before the text even begins).
Unfortunately, my humor fades when I realize that Larson's target audience is probably taking this stuff seriously. Those who would like a better look into the phenomenon of underground music and the reasons for its existence are encouraged to look to nonfiction by and about the artists themselves. The aforementioned Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground is a landmark; American Hardcore: A Tribal History, Apocalypse Culture, and such biographies as Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs are all well worth seeking out. The soon-to-be-released England's Hidden Reverse holds much promise as well.
Abaddon, on the other hand, gets * ½ for amusement value and absolutely zilch for accuracy, writing skill, characterization, unpredictability, or anything else remotely related to writing a good novel.
Bob Larson's Abaddon, the sequel to his novel Dead Air, is possibly the funniest book I have read in the past decade. In many ways, Larson reminds me of the kind of televangelist who's out to get ratings and nothing else; he attacks popular culture (even when it's not really popular, as in this case), does just enough research to get some glitzy facts, and then either makes up the rest or completely misunderstands what he's seeing as he goes along. And like said televangelists, Larson's work is always good for a long, loud laugh when you most need it.
This time, we find Wes Bryant (according to a few reviews and interviews, a character Larson based on himself), his new wife Annette, and her daughter Jennifer in Colorado, where Wes is the GM of an all-talk radio station. His main competition is KZOO, a rock station no one who's listened to the radio since the advent of Howard Stern won't recognize, a morass of shock DJs and awful music. With a twist: the station plays death metal. In heavy rotation. Okay, THAT'S new. (Larson does, to his credit, mention very late in the novel that most radio stations don't.) KZOO is sponsoring a Night Sacrifice show on Halloween night, and Bryant, whose stepdaughter is falling under the spell of Night Sacrifice, has singer Clint Blade come into his studio for a dust-up with his most popular talk-show host. Bryant ends up confronting Blade over the air himself, and, disturbed by what he sees (and the depths to which his stepdaughter is getting into the stuff), starts researching the phenomenon that is death metal.
Yes, there is a mystery here, although what that mystery is one isn't sure until the final few pages. Nuff said about that.
The true humor in the book comes from Larson's complete and utter misinterpretation of his readings (one hesitates to say his experiences) on both death metal and psychology. Now, to be fair, such landmark tomes as Lords of Chaos had not yet been released when Larson wrote this book. But still, one figures a guy who goes over to Boyd Rice's house for dinner on a sporadic basis is going to know a little more about underground music and the motivations behind it than the average bear. And for all I know, Bob Larson is actually an expert in the subject; it just doesn't come through here. His occult research seems a bit lacking as well (e.g., his description of a Book of Shadows, confusing a pentagram and a symbol of Baphomet, and various other hilarity-inducing niggles), but not in nearly the scope as the others.
Larson might well have been able to use this book to address the real reasons for the underground popularity of the death metal movement, but instead, he takes a rather more dangerous path-attributing a love of death metal to, of all things, multiple personality disorder, and then going on to assert that MPD is a common and easily-controlled (by the enemy, of course-the good guys will have to spend years curing it, but the enemy can make new personalities appear almost at will!) disease. Hopefully those who have read this do remember that this is fiction, and that multiple personality disorder is a rare and very difficult disease. Not something to be flippant with, one would think, when an author is trying to assert deeper truths. But there you go. I could have even bought that Larson was using MPD as a metaphor for disaffectation and apathy--wouldn't be the first time such things have happened--if not for the acknowledgements page, which should have been placed after the text so as not to mention the MPD angle the book ends up taking (I'd not have included it here had it not been spoiled on the very first page of the book, before the text even begins).
Unfortunately, my humor fades when I realize that Larson's target audience is probably taking this stuff seriously. Those who would like a better look into the phenomenon of underground music and the reasons for its existence are encouraged to look to nonfiction by and about the artists themselves. The aforementioned Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground is a landmark; American Hardcore: A Tribal History, Apocalypse Culture, and such biographies as Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs are all well worth seeking out. The soon-to-be-released England's Hidden Reverse holds much promise as well.
Abaddon, on the other hand, gets * ½ for amusement value and absolutely zilch for accuracy, writing skill, characterization, unpredictability, or anything else remotely related to writing a good novel.
January 17, 2026
This book was terrible. The satanic panic propaganda was ridiculous. How could anyone buy into it?
March 14, 2021
While the plot was exciting and the subject matter engrossing, the dialogue and character relationships (and sometimes actions) lacked authenticity. The climax was downright cringey. I've long been interested in dissociative identity disorder, but mixing it with demon possession seemed to muddy the waters; though that may be entirely plausible, I found the treatment in the book questionable.
January 20, 2026
I'm on page 40 and will plunder on. However, I will say the greatest evil I've read so far is the main character, Wes', inability to make his own food. Danish? Delivered by female secretary. Tuna sandwich? Why, that's what the wifey is for. Heavy metal music? Evil? Oh if only we all had a preference for the Beatles. Guess they weren't playing a lot of Viking music in the 90s. That gutteral throat singing? Sometimes, it's cultural, which isn't necessarily evil at all. I always know to avoid cult music on the radio when it uses key words like light, cross, lifted, soaring, wings, save, etc. But trust me, true evil is a woman having to make a man food because he can't lift himself off a couch.
May 27, 2018
I did really enjoy this book, but the ending was so frustrating that it kind of ruined the rest of it for me. What a cliffhanger!
November 30, 2021
Loved it! Find a few years back and still revisit from time to time. Recommend for a decent read!
August 16, 2022
Seemed fairly cheesy, like a B rated movie about demons and death metal.
March 4, 2015
Even though this book is a bit dated, it has a compelling story line. It picks up a few years after Bob Larson's earlier book, Dead Air. Radio man, Wes Bryant, has married the heroine from the last book, Annette, and is now Jennifer's stepfather. He and his wife are noticing some strange behavior from their teenaged daughter, which they eventually learn is a latent result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and his Satanic cult. Her fascination with a death metal music group leads Wes into unfamiliar ground, as he learns the power this group has over their fans is more than mere entertainment value.
The book is written in Larson's typical terse style, but seems a bit more polished than his previous book. It's written entirely from Wes' point of view. The author demonstrates a keen understanding of Satanism, death metal music and multiple personality disorder (MPD)--the main subjects of this book. Larson does oversimplify both MPD and deliverance. The second matter should never be entered into lightly--not without much prayer and fasting in advance.
The book moved rather frenetically toward the end, and its conclusion was extremely abrupt. I felt like the author left way too many loose ends--an unsolved murder, an attempted murder, and another individual who clearly suffered MPD, to name a few.
Because the author downplays both the ritualistic abuse and its consequences, this book might actually be a fairly decent introduction of the subject for young adults. Too many adults, for that matter, are clueless about SRA, MPD and related issues. Their children may be under the influence of any one of them, and they wouldn't even know it!
For more in-depth reading material on MPD, read Dr. James Friesen's book, Uncovering the Mystery of MPD. For a great tome on deliverance, read Derek Prince's book, They Shall Expel Demons.
The book is written in Larson's typical terse style, but seems a bit more polished than his previous book. It's written entirely from Wes' point of view. The author demonstrates a keen understanding of Satanism, death metal music and multiple personality disorder (MPD)--the main subjects of this book. Larson does oversimplify both MPD and deliverance. The second matter should never be entered into lightly--not without much prayer and fasting in advance.
The book moved rather frenetically toward the end, and its conclusion was extremely abrupt. I felt like the author left way too many loose ends--an unsolved murder, an attempted murder, and another individual who clearly suffered MPD, to name a few.
Because the author downplays both the ritualistic abuse and its consequences, this book might actually be a fairly decent introduction of the subject for young adults. Too many adults, for that matter, are clueless about SRA, MPD and related issues. Their children may be under the influence of any one of them, and they wouldn't even know it!
For more in-depth reading material on MPD, read Dr. James Friesen's book, Uncovering the Mystery of MPD. For a great tome on deliverance, read Derek Prince's book, They Shall Expel Demons.
October 26, 2011
Definitely an easier-to-read-than-the-previous book. I read it completely through in a single 24 hour period. It was also far less graphic than the preivous. I will not go into my viewpoints on the material, concepts or ideology of the subject matter in the book. I'll leave that for the debators. His writing style, however, did make it difficult to put the book down. My interest was kept throughout the story (although my conclusions or acceptance may not be as simple to relay).
December 11, 2008
The sequel to Larson's 'dead Air' is the continuing story of the raido talk host who is investigating satanic cults involved in kidnapping, murder, and corruption in high places.
Not quite as good a story as the first book. I think 'Dead Air' was more within the author's real life and easier to write.
Not quite as good a story as the first book. I think 'Dead Air' was more within the author's real life and easier to write.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews