Sekta

by Graham Masterton

Conor O'Neill jest ochroniarzem, który wiedzie spokojne życie z piękną dziewczyną u boku. Jego sielanka zostaje jednak zaburzona, kiedy przypadkiem zmuszony jest wziąć udział w dwóch napadach, w których skradzione zostają depozyty warte dziesiątki milionów dolarów. Nieszczęśliwy zbieg wydarzeń sprawia, że O'Neill staje się głównym podejrzanym. Nagonka nowojorskiej policji zmusza bohatera do szaleńczej ucieczki i walki o własne życie. Prowadząc prywatne śledztwo, Conor natrafia na szeroko zakrojony spisek. Trop prowadzi do terrorysty, przywódcy sekty o nazwie Światowy Ruch Posłannictwa, który uważa się za nowego Mesjasza ze świętą misją mającą na celu ujednolicenie religii na całym świecie. By spełnić swój święty obowiązek, czarny charakter nie cofnie się przed niczym, nawet przed uwolnieniem wirusa hiszpańskiej grypy, który może zdziesiątkować populację.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller

399 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 1999

About the author

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.

At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.

Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.

Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.

He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.

Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.

He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.

Reviews

[Tracy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Holy Terror' is the perfect title for this Graham Masterton novel. After Ex cop Conor O'Neil is framed for a crime he did not commit and then falsely arrested by a crooked cop, he finds himself - literally - running for his life. Determined to find those culpable for the crime so he clear his name he quickly discovers this is not going to be easy or without serious consequences to himself and the small group of loyal friends he has acquired in his search. O'Neil finds out the crime was committed by a pair of well trained hypnotists. (Very early on hypnotism is established as a major part of the plot). When Conor realizes that the hypnotists were hired by a demented narcissistic televangelist named Dennis Evelyn Branch - who thinks he has been called by God to be the next Messiah - his course of action quickly changes. Branch used the services of the hypnotists to steal millions of dollars which will help fund his goal of accessing the Spanish flu, and deadliest natural disaster (1918) the world has ever seen. His goal is to unleash it worldwide if all religious leaders everywhere do not forgo their faiths and join as one under his leadership in the "Global Message Movement." This is to be the Universal religion. No negotiations.
Once this established the plot quickly picks up with some seriously gruesome and disturbing scenes. For example: "There was a deafening bang and (---'s) head turned into a muslin bag full of crushed strawberries." - What a fabulously ghastly and creative description.
Some reviewers mention the hypnotism seemed farfetched and a bit much. However, if you read to the end of the book the author makes a point of noting the following:
"All of the hypnotic induction techniques described in this book are genuine and most of them are based on transcriptions of real case histories."
In my humble opinion, Graham Masterton has provided us with a remarkably suspenseful, horrifying, educational* and character driven novel.
See highlights.*

[Plum-crazy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fancied re-reading one of my Masterton collection & this is the one I picked. No demons or supernatural beings in this tale but an interesting take on the abilities of hypnotists & a sinister evangelist intending to let a deadly virus loose on the world. A great read, even if the plot is a bit too close for comfort at the moment....

[Fred Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, but, like most of Masterton's non-horror thrillers, it's completely implausible. Lots of characters and plotlines are woven together in an attempt to set up what is supposed to be a complex conspiracy, but is really just a silly action-movie story about hypnotists and religious fanatics. You won't be bored, but you may shake your head a lot.

[Daniel DeLappe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think this author has ever written a bad story. Fascinating characters make for a good, quick read

[Magda Beret · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Niestety bardzo tanie i trochę szkoda czasu.

[Joe Stamber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading Graham Masterton's novels since the 1980s and I'm a big fan, from his early horror stories up to and including his more recent Katie Maguire series. Holy Terror is neither a horror novel nor one of Masterton's best books. The story is that former police captain Conor gets embroiled in a heist at the place where he is now the security chief and ends up a fugitive. What started off as an unusual robbery turns out to be something far greater in scope. The main problem is that as a former captain in the police, Conor is expected to have a certain level of intelligence. Unfortunately, most of the major plot points centre on him doing incredibly stupid things to keep the story going. The book also drags on far too long and I longed for it to finish. One of Masterton's few weak novels.

[mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

męczyłam ją przez 5 miesiecy, przeczytałam 300stron i nie zniosę tego dluzej. najwidoczniej nie jest to książka dla mnie bo nawet nie pamiętam połowy co się tam działo

[Brenda]

It was one of those books that drives you to keep reading it to see what is going to happen next...and plenty does!

[Tony Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great read, laboured a bit towards the end. Struggled to finish it.

[Karolina · Rating 2 out of 5]

It gathered lots of motives that I love in literature, however I suppose it must have been the ending, that didn't amuse me.

[Brett]

Horror

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really nor my cup of tea.