What do you think?
Rate this book
Doctor Janeway's Plague
A science-fiction/horror cross between C.S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides
A young woman reaches Cambridge in search of a distant relative whom she believes has lived longer than any other human being.
An astronomer discovers a strange, point-like source of cosmic rays coming from the constellation of the Unicorn.
A retiring professor discovers documents from Puritan times about a series of strange deaths and disappearances in the early Boston settlement. One of the signed witnesses has the exact same name as a celebrated minister whom the old professor has welcomed on campus.
Three sleuths and three threads… all leading to the same man.
"I long to believe in immortality," wrote the poet John Keats over 150 years ago. There are those who knew while the poet lived and those who know better now —that some things are better not wished for. The Reverend Doctor Janeway knows why. And his secret is one of the most frightening ever uncovered.
A young woman reaches Cambridge in search of a distant relative whom she believes has lived longer than any other human being.
An astronomer discovers a strange, point-like source of cosmic rays coming from the constellation of the Unicorn.
A retiring professor discovers documents from Puritan times about a series of strange deaths and disappearances in the early Boston settlement. One of the signed witnesses has the exact same name as a celebrated minister whom the old professor has welcomed on campus.
Three sleuths and three threads… all leading to the same man.
"I long to believe in immortality," wrote the poet John Keats over 150 years ago. There are those who knew while the poet lived and those who know better now —that some things are better not wished for. The Reverend Doctor Janeway knows why. And his secret is one of the most frightening ever uncovered.
- GenresAudiobook
305 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 5, 2018
A modern Dracula, Doctor Janeway’s Plague is a wonderfully written thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
January 24, 2008
John Farrell, Doctor Janeway's Plague (iUniverse.com, 2001)
The first thing I thought of when seeing the title of this novel was "oh, great, another Star Trek tie-in. Say it ain't so, Jimbob." Well, it ain't so, Billy Jack. The Janeway of the title is Robert H. Janeway, namesake of the Mayflower minister and lecturer at a Boston college. Perhaps. Or is he the same guy, still looking like he's forty even though he's ten times as old? And if so, how has he managed to keep himself so well-preserved? Such are the questions facing one Mollie Tailor, who believes herself to be a distant cousin of Janeway's. She gets her answers, and complications, as usual, ensue.
This is a fast novel. It's also quite capable of hooking a reader and pulling him along, as I found out. I started this expecting I'd read fifty pages, then move onto something else I had in rotation, then come back and read another fifty, and so on, as I usually do. When I looked up, I was thirty pages from the end, a whole afternoon had elapsed, and I was late for a doctor's appointment. Whoops. It's pretty heavily plot-driven, and some minor characters suffer for it, but this is forgivable in the greater scheme of things; the major charcters are well-drawn and keep the reader's attention. It's also the first horror novel I've come across that uses astrophysics and actually makes it halfway believeable. (The cheese factor of the climax will probably vary according to reader. I loved it.)
There are a few niggling problems I had with it, but they are minor at best. A few cultural references that could have been better documented (e.g., I know what "The Moldau" is thanks to having read _The Inextinguishable Symphony_ last year, but I'm guessing most people not familiar with modern classical music are going to have that reference jar), some errors that are equally likely the fault of editors or conversion to PDF rather than the author's problems. So there aren't really any major knocks against it; the reader of modern horror novels will find little to complain about here. I look forward to Mr. Farrell's next effort. ***
The first thing I thought of when seeing the title of this novel was "oh, great, another Star Trek tie-in. Say it ain't so, Jimbob." Well, it ain't so, Billy Jack. The Janeway of the title is Robert H. Janeway, namesake of the Mayflower minister and lecturer at a Boston college. Perhaps. Or is he the same guy, still looking like he's forty even though he's ten times as old? And if so, how has he managed to keep himself so well-preserved? Such are the questions facing one Mollie Tailor, who believes herself to be a distant cousin of Janeway's. She gets her answers, and complications, as usual, ensue.
This is a fast novel. It's also quite capable of hooking a reader and pulling him along, as I found out. I started this expecting I'd read fifty pages, then move onto something else I had in rotation, then come back and read another fifty, and so on, as I usually do. When I looked up, I was thirty pages from the end, a whole afternoon had elapsed, and I was late for a doctor's appointment. Whoops. It's pretty heavily plot-driven, and some minor characters suffer for it, but this is forgivable in the greater scheme of things; the major charcters are well-drawn and keep the reader's attention. It's also the first horror novel I've come across that uses astrophysics and actually makes it halfway believeable. (The cheese factor of the climax will probably vary according to reader. I loved it.)
There are a few niggling problems I had with it, but they are minor at best. A few cultural references that could have been better documented (e.g., I know what "The Moldau" is thanks to having read _The Inextinguishable Symphony_ last year, but I'm guessing most people not familiar with modern classical music are going to have that reference jar), some errors that are equally likely the fault of editors or conversion to PDF rather than the author's problems. So there aren't really any major knocks against it; the reader of modern horror novels will find little to complain about here. I look forward to Mr. Farrell's next effort. ***
May 4, 2013
I would like to be able to give this more stars--the writing was competent for the most part and there were some great ideas in the book. The reading for the audiobook was good, if a little rushed. However, I spent most of the time listening to it feeling quite confused about what was going on and why characters were doing things, and many of the characters seemed to have little to distinguish them from one another. I'd try another book by this author because I think there's quite a bit of potential there. This one, though, could have used the attentions of a substantive editor before it made its way to readers and listeners.
January 23, 2009
I listened to this podiobook, read by the author. It dabbled in a great many things. There's Puritans and Native Americans. There's weird astronomical occurrences. There's a plague. And then there's Janeway. A man with a secret.
Definitely an interesting mix of things to weave into a tale, to be sure.
Definitely an interesting mix of things to weave into a tale, to be sure.
November 12, 2011
Some quite interesting elements but I got hopelessly confused towards the end and aspects of the plot seemed to be never really explained/resolved. Nothing really in the way of memorable characters and too many of them for my liking. The author's reading was good.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews