The Coming Thing

by Anne Billson

'She's going to die. I think we both know that. What's coming out of her is too big, too powerful, and it's going to tear her apart. I just hope it doesn't tear me apart as well...'

Your best friend gets all the attention. Now she's pregnant with the Antichrist, religious maniacs are trying to kill her, and she wants to get an abortion. How do you compete with that, persuade her to keep the baby, and at the same time hold down your job as a bookshop assistant while trying not to think too much about decapitated Chihuahuas and the unpleasantness at the clinic? It's not easy.

From the acclaimed author of Suckers, Stiff Lips and The Ex comes an everyday story of female friendship versus suave assassins, pushy tabloid reporters, and the End of Days.

Genres: Horror, Humor, Fiction

494 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2017

About the author

ANNE BILLSON is a film critic, novelist, photographer, style icon, wicked spinster, evil feminist, and international cat-sitter who has lived in London, Tokyo, Paris and Croydon, and now lives in Belgium. She likes frites, beer and chocolate.

Her books include SUCKERS (an upwardly mobile vampire novel), STIFF LIPS (a Notting Hill ghost story), THE EX (a supernatural detective story) and THE COMING THING (Rosemary's Baby meets Bridget Jones) as well as several works of non-fiction, including BILLSON FILM DATABASE, BREAST MAN: A CONVERSATION WITH RUSS MEYER, and monographs on the films THE THING and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.

Her latest book is CATS ON FILM, the definitive work of feline film scholarship.

She sometimes writes about film for the Guardian, and is currently working on a screenplay and a sequel to her vampire novel, SUCKERS. She has three blogs: multiglom.com (the Billson Blog), catsonfilm.net (a blog about cats in the cinema), and lempiredeslumieres.com (photographs of Belgian beer, bars and sunsets).

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner from the always entertaining Anne Billson, ‘The Coming Thing’ is a blackly comic blend of satire and horror that plays like a mix of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘Final Destination’ co-directed by Chuck Jones and Alejandro Jodorowsky.
The story is a of an apparently immaculate conception that refuses to die no matter how many people try to terminate its mother and is told with a joy and verve that means there’s never a dull moment in this glorious, surreal ride of a book. Highlights being the frankly disgusting reminiscences of Jules Delgado and a wonderfully tense Grand Guignol musical scene. The late 90s London setting is brilliantly captured (complete with a load of amusingly named made up designers - Egon Spengler being my favourite) and populated with believable characters amidst all the craziness. Great fun, laugh out loud funny at times and gripping throughout.

[Ernesto In Rome · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deftly comic horror novel about the birth of the Anti-Christ. Nancy and her best friend, whatsername, navigate a very well realised version of London as the Millennium casts a dark shadow over their lives. Nancy is pregnant, the father is AWOL and her best friend is still envious. The Omen, Rosemary's Baby and maybe even a touch of American Psycho are the amniotic fluid that feed this very funny, and in in parts gory, horror novel

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining romp full of jokes, action, scares and social commentary. The tone is a little more outrageous this time, compared to the understated chills of her previous novel The Ex, with lashings of gore and a wild plot stuffed with a weird supporting cast. What grounds it and makes it more than satisfying is the attention paid to developing convincing and interesting characters. Billson's protagonists are always unusual, often misfits or outsiders but not in a clichéd or predictable way, and their believable sets of quirks and neuroses, even occasionally bordering on unlikeability, is refreshing.

[Paul Brazill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy is an unsuccessful London actress whose life goes decidedly pear-shaped when she gets pregnant – with the Antichrist.

Anne Billson’s The Coming Thing is a hell of a romp.

It’s like an inventive, witty and fast-moving cocktail of Ealing Comedy, the Final Destination films, The Plank, ’80s satire, and more.

The Coming Thing is a bundle of joy and is highly recommended.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great idea but... lagged a lot and the conclusion left me dissatisfied.

[Lee Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Horror and humor.