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The Devil #2

The Devil's Heart

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The Lord of Darkness had promised eternal life and endless orgy to get a pledge of love from the coven members. The few who had fought against his hideous powers in Whitfield in 1958 can't believe it could happen again. But then hot wind begins to blow. . . .

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

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498 people want to read

About the author

William W. Johnstone

1,041 books1,392 followers
William W. Johnstone is the #1 bestselling Western writer in America and the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of hundreds of books, with over 50 million copies sold. Born in southern Missouri, he was raised with strong moral and family values by his minister father, and tutored by his schoolteacher mother. He left school at fifteen to work in a carnival and then as a deputy sheriff before serving in the army. He went on to become known as "the Greatest Western writer of the 21st Century." Visit him online at WilliamJohnstone.net.

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5 stars
131 (41%)
4 stars
92 (28%)
3 stars
62 (19%)
2 stars
21 (6%)
1 star
13 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Bill Riggs.
929 reviews15 followers
September 29, 2024
Johnstone tells an epic tale of good versus unholy evil. This is evil that makes you want to run to a church, confess your sins, and then shower for days to scrub the filth from yourself. Like an R-rated Sunday School lesson this will have you questioning your morals, choices, and faith in religion and life.
Profile Image for Melissa.
9 reviews
July 2, 2019
I am a big fan of William W Johnstone's. I love his take on this level of Horror, and the way he brings something so dark to life. Yes, it is very dark and it is very much teetering on Satanism. But the good guys always win. I am just a fan of 80's horror novels, so William's books are right up my alley.
1,364 reviews13 followers
March 27, 2020
Extremely entertaining and intense!

Started a tad slow but once it picked up it
took off like a rocket. I found I couldn't put
it down. Phenomenal battle between good
and evil. I do enjoy this series. It's so very
intense and really grabs the attention. Can't
wait to read the rest in this series!
Profile Image for Leftenant.
153 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2025
20 years after the the events of book #1 The Devil's Kiss, this picks up and it's basically the exact same plot. Preacher Sam died in the first, but he's back as a literal guiding spirit replete with smoky entrails...in his place to battle evil on Earth is his son, also named Sam, who was conveniently an Army Ranger and has skills.
Nydia the Witch, Vampire, and whatever else Johnston calls her (also Sam's Mom) is back only this time she's called Roma and her daughter is called Nydia.
In Whitfield, some of survivors of the original are back. Most notably Jane Ann (Sam's Mom & Spirit Sam's Widow), who Sam the spirit regularly speaks.
The other location is outside of Montreal, where young Sam and Nydia fight Roma and her new beau Falcon...not to complicate things, but Black Wilder (Nydia's partner and Warlock from book #1) isn't here, but their son is - conveniently named Black. It's a messy plot. Super messy.
In this, the struggle between Heaven and Hell is spelled out a bit more...something about a game between the two. God rules Heaven and the Devil controls Earth (or something like that). Lots of talk of rules. A lot of exposition is delivered from Dead Sam to Jane Ann...I found it to be tedious, she asks questions and he give vague answers...over and over again. There's also a small sub-plot about images of God seen in the stars via telescope or something. I never figured it out.
Like my issues with book #1, the same conversations keep happening (often times with a pot of coffee brewing). The same questions are asked (Nydia to young Sam), Dead Sam to his widow Jane Ann, who is told she's going to experience a horrific death. Gee, thanks Dead Sam!
Of course the amount of violent sex has to be mentioned. Book #1 was over the top, this one even more so. It's excessive for sure and really bogs the plot down (at least for me).
The book is all over the place...there's even a giant clay golem that comes to life and helps the citizens of Whitfield fight the wicked devil-worshiping townsfolk.
This is a horrible book on all accounts - completely nonsensical, full of perversion that is repetitive and uninteresting. Tons of boring conversations and religious theoretical babbling that never really arrives at anything...another beef is that when a scene changes from Whitfield folk to Canada, there isn't a double space or chapter break...Sam and Nydia will be having a convo and the next sentence Dead Sam and Jane Ann will. Annoying.
Profile Image for lina.
252 reviews15 followers
December 28, 2015
WARNING: CAUTION, DON'T READ IF YOUR UNDER 16 YEARS OR YOUNGER...

I have to give a warning to the faint of heart because there are scenes in this book that is not appropriate to under 16 status or for the extreme Christian faith. There are scenes that involve virgin children being sacrifice to the devil. I would warn there are rape but rest assure fellow readers that they are not discribed in detail. Trust me I hate too much rape in books.

But the story telling was very well told. I was afraid to even consider this author again since sandman. I did not enjoy that book at all. But like most authors he had a flop. Even Stephen King has his flops.

I actually loved the book. Even though the missed spelled words but what author don't and the grammar was ok. So I give this book 5 witches and warlocks out of 5.
555 reviews8 followers
August 23, 2017
Once again I'm glad I am a Christian!! Really like this series...
Profile Image for Doug Hohbein.
117 reviews
July 4, 2019
I consider myself a strong Christian and pretty conservative overall. I'm also not a prude or easily offended by eroticism in books. With that in mind, I have to say this book was more an adolescent fantasy than a horror novel for adults. The ridiculous sex talk, sex thoughts, actual sex, rape and torture made me numb and had me skipping a few sections. While the premise of the book is good vs. evil, the devil and God playing some sort of game to get the best of each other and making/breaking promises was disgusting to me. The book was strange. It had guns, sex and violence mixed with 'Christian values'. As for the story and writing, it was OK. It was odd that the scenes would shift from one location and group of people to another with no chapter break or even an added blank line, but you get used to it.
Profile Image for Horror Guy.
294 reviews38 followers
April 4, 2020
Finally, I've come to the end of this craptastic Christian horror series by William W. Johnstone, read out of order from Devil's Touch, to Devil's Cat, then back to Kiss and finally this. Of all four of them, I feel like none of them are great: you get a very similar format with the Cat's Cradle/Cat's Eye series but with better creatures.

One element that's really emphasized here, more than any of the other books in series to me, is how much god comes across as an awful character in this world, completely willing to let someone be tortured to death and kids be killed for really no good moral or narrative reason. Seriously, shouldn't a loving god that the book wants us to believe he is be less willing to let an entire town full of people die, several times over?

If you have to read some of Johnstone's work, stick with Cat's Cradle and Cat's Eye.
Profile Image for Thee_ron_clark.
318 reviews10 followers
November 23, 2009
Sam Bolan's son takes up where his father left off in battling the forces of Satan on earth. In this book, Sam Jr. finds himself surround by a huge Satanic coven and supernatural creatures with few friends in a secluded mansion in the wilderness of Canada while his mother and the survivors of the first story must again defend their Nebraska town from a rebuilt coven.

It's pupl fiction. Mostly a blend of violence and sex. Some of the characters are interesting and again, I must compliment Johnstone on the original concept behind this series.
Profile Image for Monica.
18 reviews
September 11, 2008
Great book! This book is quite horrifying and detailed and pretty much deals with satanic cult.
60 reviews4 followers
July 12, 2016
Very graphic book. Very fast read. I now have all four in the series. Not for the people who don't like violence and sexual situations but very well written
Profile Image for Bibliophile Raider.
130 reviews2 followers
January 24, 2024
This one just didn’t feel as strong as the first book in the series. It got better as it went along, and it finished on a high note with you wanting to immediately jump into the next book to see how the story continues to play out but most of the book was just nothing new, and like I said, it didn’t really start getting good until the end. 4 stars though and I can’t wait to continue the series.
Profile Image for henry smith.
386 reviews5 followers
December 14, 2022
Never new mr. Johnstone wrote books like this. Have read many western and frontier books. These are great. I am thankful this stuff isn’t real except maybe in the minds of a devil worshiper. They are extremely grafic up toward them last part I would catch myself holding my breath at the end I was trembling and wanted to cry. Look forward to more. Never had such an amazing experience with a horror book. Definitely horrible 😵‍💫😬🫢🥵😳
Profile Image for Tam French.
167 reviews
December 31, 2019
WOW!!! Very intense book!

Another book that didn't disappoint me!! Such great intensity and the continuing story that kept me on the edge of my seat! Great character and storyline development!
20 reviews
November 15, 2024
Silly as all hell. I loved it. After reading the first two books in the series, I now want to read all other William W. Johnstone horror books to see if any characters eat anything besides sandwiches.
Profile Image for Eric Swiger.
6 reviews
November 28, 2014
This book read like a novelization of an exploitation horror B-movie. Not for the easily offended...very mature and disturbing themes/images presented in graphic detail.
Profile Image for Neil Davis.
21 reviews1 follower
February 13, 2016
A great book

A great read and series. I have long been a fan of this series. I wish Moorhead been written and published.
Profile Image for Laura Lavender-blackwood.
211 reviews3 followers
Read
May 9, 2015
This one wasn't as good as the first one. Although still good I wonder what will take place now.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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