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The Fury #1
The Fury
Gillian Bellaver's family is one of the wealthiest in the world. Robin Sandza's father Peter is a government assassin. The two teenagers seem to have nothing in common. Yet they are spiritual twins, possessing a horrifying psychic energy that threatens humanity. While dangerous and fanatical men vie for the secrets of their awesome power, Peter Sandza, using all the ruthless skills of his trade, makes a final desperate effort to save them. Exploring with extraordinary skill the myths and legends deeply rooted in the subconscious mind, this novel builds, scene by shocking scene, to a night of chilling horror that surpasses anything you've ever experienced . . . First published in 1976 and made into a successful movie written by the author and directed by Brian De Palma in 1978, The Fury is one of the all-time classics of the horror genre.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
39 people are currently reading
1491 people want to read
About the author
John Farris
85 books165 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
April 29, 2021
Man, I can’t wait to write this review.
April 27, 2018
Previous reactions to this novel on GR reveal an interesting disconnect for readers when it comes to the marriage of linguistic prowess with genre gratification that is demonstrated in John Farris’s The Fury. More familiar to the masses as an adaptation directed by Brian De Palma, this novel is a mash-up of potboiler espionage and metempsychotic horror that concerns a shadow agency’s attempts to harness the telekinetic powers of two teens who are the vessels of reincarnating lovers engaged in eternal Les Liaisons dangereuses. Demonstrating a robust diction and a good ear for finding poetry in prose, John Farris relishes his every sentence, presenting striking scene after striking scene of unexpected, and often unsettling, incidents. Bopping about time and continents, Farris peoples his novel with a cast of memorable eccentrics: a former assassin with a Joseph Campbell thesis for a subconscious, a deranged government spook with one arm and a flair for theatrics, a transvestite psychologist with an impeccable wardrobe, likable socialites, a psychic turned homeless panhandler, a pair of aging dance consultants for the stars, and the cosmic twins with their volatile abilities and teenage skin. A product of the 1970s, The Fury titillates the reader with sexuality more fetishistic than naturalistic, but with Farris’s talent these add another texture to a work already rich with intrigue, black magic, action set pieces, witty dialogue, erudite allusions and spontaneously bleeding orifices.
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October 22, 2025I’m quitting at page 50 because it’s boring me to death. 💀
I don’t know why I have so many books in my tbr that are so damn slow and aren’t things I love to read. I’m trying to fix that one dnf at a time. I’m going to toss it in a Little Free Library and hopefully it’ll find a better home. I also received this from the now long defunct Nocturnal Readers Box who shafted me out of a lot of $ and I'm still mad about it so out it goes! Good riddance to bad memories, bad book box businesses, terrible business owners and boring as shit books.
I don’t know why I have so many books in my tbr that are so damn slow and aren’t things I love to read. I’m trying to fix that one dnf at a time. I’m going to toss it in a Little Free Library and hopefully it’ll find a better home. I also received this from the now long defunct Nocturnal Readers Box who shafted me out of a lot of $ and I'm still mad about it so out it goes! Good riddance to bad memories, bad book box businesses, terrible business owners and boring as shit books.
September 8, 2020
Yikes. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of this book. And not a good yikes, more of a yikes of disbelief that this ever made it to print. I think it’s probably the most fucking dreadfully boring book I’ve ever had the misfortune to lay my hands on and I wish I had left it on the shelf at the used bookstore for someone else’s displeasure. I’ve seen it hailed as a classic many times and I have to say, I REALLY don’t get it. Like really, REALLY don’t get it.
November 28, 2019
The story and characters drew me in immediately; just as the movie did all those years ago. The ending was quite different, but equally deadly. Farris wrote the screenplay as well. Recommended for fans of classic horror, paranormal & tense thrillers.
January 13, 2018
I came of age in the 1970s, a fact that many people trying to figure me out seem to find significant. In terms of popular culture, it was a mixed bag. It is the decade that brought us The Shining, Sophie's Choice, and Ragtime, Coppola’s The Godfather, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. On the other hand, it was also the decade of leisure suits, Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the Bee Gees. It was a decade trying to recover from the turbulent times that preceded it, rethinking and reassessing all of the beliefs that it had previously clung to. Psychology became a new religion and The Joy of Sex became the Bible for a new generation.
I know I am supposed to be reviewing a reprint of The Fury, originally released in 1976, but this book really is a product of the decade that spawned it, hence the preface. It is a conglomeration of science fiction, horror, political intrigue, and parapsychological thriller with shadowy government agents pursuing two teenagers with psychokinetic abilities, intent on turning them into weapons to use against their enemies. The cast includes a professional government assassin, a hot young psychiatrist, a transvestite, and the quintessential evil genius who uses blackmail to manipulate the powerful into funding and supporting MORG, his super-secret government agency. There is also Gillian and Robin, two teenagers linked throughout history, whose destiny to be twins was thwarted by a prenatal accident. Still, they share a psychic link and powers that they are just beginning to understand.
Although the plot seems a bit farfetched now, it should be noted that it was written during the age of Watergate when political skullduggery was the norm and J. Edgar Hoover had files on everyone and used them to make the FBI the powerhouse of law enforcement that it was. There was also a level of gratuitous sexual activity that is unusual today. I found it particularly unsettling in that much of it involved children.
Bottom line: A lot of great books were written in the 1970s but The Fury will not be one that stays with me. It lacks originality and its flow is a bit on the clunky side. I also found it to be a bit dated. With references to Annie Green Springs Wine, Johnny Bench and Truman Capote, it makes a better tet for students of pop culture than a thriller.
The audio version produced by Tantor Audio was ably narrated by Joe Barret.
* The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
I know I am supposed to be reviewing a reprint of The Fury, originally released in 1976, but this book really is a product of the decade that spawned it, hence the preface. It is a conglomeration of science fiction, horror, political intrigue, and parapsychological thriller with shadowy government agents pursuing two teenagers with psychokinetic abilities, intent on turning them into weapons to use against their enemies. The cast includes a professional government assassin, a hot young psychiatrist, a transvestite, and the quintessential evil genius who uses blackmail to manipulate the powerful into funding and supporting MORG, his super-secret government agency. There is also Gillian and Robin, two teenagers linked throughout history, whose destiny to be twins was thwarted by a prenatal accident. Still, they share a psychic link and powers that they are just beginning to understand.
Although the plot seems a bit farfetched now, it should be noted that it was written during the age of Watergate when political skullduggery was the norm and J. Edgar Hoover had files on everyone and used them to make the FBI the powerhouse of law enforcement that it was. There was also a level of gratuitous sexual activity that is unusual today. I found it particularly unsettling in that much of it involved children.
Bottom line: A lot of great books were written in the 1970s but The Fury will not be one that stays with me. It lacks originality and its flow is a bit on the clunky side. I also found it to be a bit dated. With references to Annie Green Springs Wine, Johnny Bench and Truman Capote, it makes a better tet for students of pop culture than a thriller.
The audio version produced by Tantor Audio was ably narrated by Joe Barret.
* The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
April 23, 2018
The Fury was written in 1976, one year after I was born. The entire time I was reading it I felt totally immersed in the late 70's. I'm curious what this story would be like if it were written today. I think it would be very different.
Let me just start by saying the first half of this book is all over the place. Farris throws characters and at you like confetti, and the reader is left trying to figure out who everyone is and what they have to do with the story. The simple answer is that The Fury is about two teens with psychokinetic abilities, and a shady top secret agency who wants to kidnap them and use their powers for evil. Sounds simple enough, but there is a lot going on in this novel.
Sometimes when I have trouble gathering my thoughts for a review I try to explain the plot of a book to my husband. I sat here just now for about 10 minutes trying to tell him everything that happens in this book, and he looked incredibly confused the whole time. Once Farris stops introducing new characters (even though he saves a few for right up to the very end) I was able to suss out who everyone is and what their parts are in the story. However, for quite a bit of this novel I was confused and overloaded by characters and their relationships to each other.
There is some good action here, and the teen's abilities are probably the coolest part of the book. A lot of the novel is extremely dated though. There are some super uncomfortable sex scenes, and a few characters are described in ways that would be considered improper or downright racist today. Having grown up in the 80's I know that people in general did not distinguish between a person who is transgender, transexual, or a transvestite. One character is constantly described as "the transvestite" and it's impossible to tell which distinction Farris meant or why it even matters. She essentially exists in the story to disgust one character and help another.
Essentially, I liked parts of this story, especially the second half, but had a number of problems with it too. It's definitely dated, and a bit confusing at the beginning, but entertaining enough that I finished the entire book.
Let me just start by saying the first half of this book is all over the place. Farris throws characters and at you like confetti, and the reader is left trying to figure out who everyone is and what they have to do with the story. The simple answer is that The Fury is about two teens with psychokinetic abilities, and a shady top secret agency who wants to kidnap them and use their powers for evil. Sounds simple enough, but there is a lot going on in this novel.
Sometimes when I have trouble gathering my thoughts for a review I try to explain the plot of a book to my husband. I sat here just now for about 10 minutes trying to tell him everything that happens in this book, and he looked incredibly confused the whole time. Once Farris stops introducing new characters (even though he saves a few for right up to the very end) I was able to suss out who everyone is and what their parts are in the story. However, for quite a bit of this novel I was confused and overloaded by characters and their relationships to each other.
There is some good action here, and the teen's abilities are probably the coolest part of the book. A lot of the novel is extremely dated though. There are some super uncomfortable sex scenes, and a few characters are described in ways that would be considered improper or downright racist today. Having grown up in the 80's I know that people in general did not distinguish between a person who is transgender, transexual, or a transvestite. One character is constantly described as "the transvestite" and it's impossible to tell which distinction Farris meant or why it even matters. She essentially exists in the story to disgust one character and help another.
Essentially, I liked parts of this story, especially the second half, but had a number of problems with it too. It's definitely dated, and a bit confusing at the beginning, but entertaining enough that I finished the entire book.
September 23, 2011
Mr. Farris wrote the screenplay for the 1978 Brian DePalma movie version of his novel. Actually the screenplay came first, but after several years of nothing Mr. Farris turned it into a novel. It was then promptly adapted for the big screen.
It was one of the first movies I saw on VHS back in the summer of 1981.I recall it was a Kirk Douglas triple feature (Spartacus, The Final Countdown and The Fury)which my aunt had thoughtfully put together for my viewing pleasure. I was thirteen, her favorite nephew and a fan of Kirk Douglas. I recall thinking it was a pretty good movie. Yes well.........it was thirty years ago. However I want to say thanks to Annie. You're still one terrific aunt.
Okay then. So last weekend I was with my wife on a Saturday afternoon of shopping. Fortunately she likes to stop in at second hand stores and I'm always assured of finding at least one or two books to browse through while she does her thing. This last Saturday was no exception. I came across an old threadbare copy of The Fury. I recalled the movie and especially the ending. I plunked down 50 cents and read it over the next few days at a relaxed pace. Well the book (no big surprise here) wasn't much different from the movie.Yes it was pretty much the same cheese festival that the movie was.
And what an odd novel it is. As noted by another reviewer it's very much a product of it's time. Full of Age of Aquarius/Edgar Cayce/pyramid mumbo-jumbo and post Watergate/Vietnam anti-goverment paranoia. It bounces all over the place. It's a horror novel! It's an action novel! It's an espionage novel!It's a conspiracy thriller! No it's a satire!
Just what the hell is this thing?
Well despite all my griping it's an entertaining novel is what it is. Does the novel require some focus? Yes indeed and by todays standards it's rather ho-hum when it comes to the whole goverment/ESP conspiracy. Nothing shocking about this stuff today. Heck I wish we did have some superpowered agents who could give our enemies massive strokes and prevent us from sending hundreds of thousands of troops to hostile locations in Asia. So much for that aspect of the story.
The story moves along at a fairly brisk pace and doesn't try to explain the science behind the events. It just asks you to go along and not ask any questions. As long as you do that and appreciate the fact that it's a thirty-four year old novel you'll be just fine.
Oh one last thing. I watched the movie again today. I have a source for old VHS tapes. Yep you'll want some chips to go with that cheese, but it's still very good tasting. Bad for you? Absolutely. Plug your arteries up in a second, but you'll die with a smile on your face. The ending of the movie is one instance where they change it for visual effect and it is far superior to the book's ending. A spewing, multi-angle, Grande Guignol spectacle that gives nothing but satisfaction.
Turn off the brain. Kick back and experience the seventies like it never was.
It was one of the first movies I saw on VHS back in the summer of 1981.I recall it was a Kirk Douglas triple feature (Spartacus, The Final Countdown and The Fury)which my aunt had thoughtfully put together for my viewing pleasure. I was thirteen, her favorite nephew and a fan of Kirk Douglas. I recall thinking it was a pretty good movie. Yes well.........it was thirty years ago. However I want to say thanks to Annie. You're still one terrific aunt.
Okay then. So last weekend I was with my wife on a Saturday afternoon of shopping. Fortunately she likes to stop in at second hand stores and I'm always assured of finding at least one or two books to browse through while she does her thing. This last Saturday was no exception. I came across an old threadbare copy of The Fury. I recalled the movie and especially the ending. I plunked down 50 cents and read it over the next few days at a relaxed pace. Well the book (no big surprise here) wasn't much different from the movie.Yes it was pretty much the same cheese festival that the movie was.
And what an odd novel it is. As noted by another reviewer it's very much a product of it's time. Full of Age of Aquarius/Edgar Cayce/pyramid mumbo-jumbo and post Watergate/Vietnam anti-goverment paranoia. It bounces all over the place. It's a horror novel! It's an action novel! It's an espionage novel!It's a conspiracy thriller! No it's a satire!
Just what the hell is this thing?
Well despite all my griping it's an entertaining novel is what it is. Does the novel require some focus? Yes indeed and by todays standards it's rather ho-hum when it comes to the whole goverment/ESP conspiracy. Nothing shocking about this stuff today. Heck I wish we did have some superpowered agents who could give our enemies massive strokes and prevent us from sending hundreds of thousands of troops to hostile locations in Asia. So much for that aspect of the story.
The story moves along at a fairly brisk pace and doesn't try to explain the science behind the events. It just asks you to go along and not ask any questions. As long as you do that and appreciate the fact that it's a thirty-four year old novel you'll be just fine.
Oh one last thing. I watched the movie again today. I have a source for old VHS tapes. Yep you'll want some chips to go with that cheese, but it's still very good tasting. Bad for you? Absolutely. Plug your arteries up in a second, but you'll die with a smile on your face. The ending of the movie is one instance where they change it for visual effect and it is far superior to the book's ending. A spewing, multi-angle, Grande Guignol spectacle that gives nothing but satisfaction.
Turn off the brain. Kick back and experience the seventies like it never was.
July 11, 2024
I'm one of the few who has yet seen the hit movie, so I dove in knowing almost nothing about this book. Though far from being straight-laced horror, THE FURY still left me feeling quite satisfied, mainly because of the strong narrative and some surprising turn of events, not to mention the '70s time period which I always dig. A sort of a Koontz book before Koontz became a household name, THE FURY features predominantly government baddies and gifted teens and the mandatory chase scenes (in a hospital, in a park...) Overall it was all fun and exciting enough to leave me yearn for more which is what I wanted since I already own the published sequels from Tor (three, I think).
April 13, 2024
This was like an esoteric precursor to King's Firestarter. I found the book interesting and exciting until after the hospital escape where the book promptly fell in its face and sank into the mire of tedium.
2.5/5
2.5/5
February 12, 2011
The Fury follows a half-dozen characters as they grapple with two children who, in the tail end of puberty, develop enhanced psychic powers like clairvoyance, telekenesis, and telebloodboiling (that last one's not a scientific term, as far as I know, but it describes the effect well enough). The two main characters are Peter, a CIA assassin and father of one of the children, and Gillian, a sensible early-teen debutante who discovers psychic powers that kill people whether she wants them to or not.
A few thoughts:
* This book feels very much of its year. While a modern science fiction novel will take as a given the idea that nanotechnology will be available to do wondrous things soon or that computers will be able to simulate/emulate digital beings or that digital/mind interfaces will be possible, the givens about the 1970s seem to stem from the Age of Aquarius stuff: mind expanding, astral projection, psychic phenomenon are all present.
* The palpable distrust of government in the 1970s roils through the book as well, with two competing government agencies eager to take advantage of the psychic children. And nearly every character in those agencies is revealed to be amoral or downright vicious.
* The casual misogyny of 1970s horror also seethes through the book. The sex scenes use a blunt, one sided kind of language to regularly describe womens' bodies using terms that, by today's standards, are downright ugly. And abuse of all sorts, sexual or no, undergirds all these relationships.
* By contrast, Farris does a nice job crafting an intricate plot that reveals itself at just the right pace and prods the reader to strive for the end. While the novel took me a bit longer to get into than I would have liked, I was genuinely interested, in the last half, to find out what happened.
* Once you get past the believability of the science-fiction aspects of the novel, the deadly psychic children made for an intriguing concept, and Farris' talent with gory description drives the story nicely, er, gruesomely.
I probably wouldn't recommend seeking this book out, but it has its high points.
A few thoughts:
* This book feels very much of its year. While a modern science fiction novel will take as a given the idea that nanotechnology will be available to do wondrous things soon or that computers will be able to simulate/emulate digital beings or that digital/mind interfaces will be possible, the givens about the 1970s seem to stem from the Age of Aquarius stuff: mind expanding, astral projection, psychic phenomenon are all present.
* The palpable distrust of government in the 1970s roils through the book as well, with two competing government agencies eager to take advantage of the psychic children. And nearly every character in those agencies is revealed to be amoral or downright vicious.
* The casual misogyny of 1970s horror also seethes through the book. The sex scenes use a blunt, one sided kind of language to regularly describe womens' bodies using terms that, by today's standards, are downright ugly. And abuse of all sorts, sexual or no, undergirds all these relationships.
* By contrast, Farris does a nice job crafting an intricate plot that reveals itself at just the right pace and prods the reader to strive for the end. While the novel took me a bit longer to get into than I would have liked, I was genuinely interested, in the last half, to find out what happened.
* Once you get past the believability of the science-fiction aspects of the novel, the deadly psychic children made for an intriguing concept, and Farris' talent with gory description drives the story nicely, er, gruesomely.
I probably wouldn't recommend seeking this book out, but it has its high points.
July 22, 2013
Take one look at the cover of the paperback and it shows reference to Pet Semetery and Floating Dragon, two highly praised book by two highly praised authors in the horror genre. That is a mighty high bar to set. The Fury by John Farris is quite good, but not quite up to that level, in my opinion. The Fury deals with the subject of psychokinesis, telepathy, and clairvoyancy. When young Gillian Bellaver starts to experience strange phenomina, she has an incident in which she forsees as man’s death. She is hospitalized. Meanwhile her “twin” brother, Robin, although they have never met and have different parents, has been kidnapped by a secret government agency that investigates telepathy. The boy’s father is trying to find him and at the same time being pursued by the government agency that kidnapped the boy. The action in the book is similar to something you would see in the Bourne Series of books by Robert Ludlum. Predicament presents itself then the character finds a way around it, repeat. If it didn’t have the shocking side effects of the psychokinesis from Gillian and Robin, it wouldn’t even be close to having elements of horror. I would put this in the category of thriller. As far as thrillers go, this one is quite good. There are several unexpected plot twists that keep you from guessing the conclusion along with a few details that seem to be left alone that could have made the story a little bit more of a page turner. The book has some very graphic sexual scenes included some with minor children and adults. Probably not recommended for a teen, but young adults and adults would be ok to read, keeping in mind the sexual portions. I give it 4 stars because I thought it could have been a little better. But if you’re looking for a thriller with some gruesome scenes, this book will certainly get it done.
April 18, 2018
D.N.F. I just cannot get into this book which is a shame since it came in my book box and has a Stephen King rave review across the front. I got almost halfway through and felt like they were still bringing in new characters without revealing why I should care what is happening to any of the already introduced characters. Every time I stop reading for a day, I forget almost everything that happened because it's just kind of a "meh" story "about" psychic kids (thus far it's not about them at all which would have been more interesting, it's about the people interested in them who are bureaucratically boring). Might try to pick it up again later, but I've got about a dozen new books that seem more interesting that I'd rather be reading.
October 18, 2017
This book was way better for me than the movie. It was not all chopped up feeling.
The powers that Gillian and Robin have are scary as heck. And Peter is a real badass
without having any powers. The psychic abilities have so much more visual imagination stimulation then just watching it. Too me the movie was all action bang, but the book showed the human side and filled in big gaps. I liked it, didn't make my best list , but not bad at all. So I would recommend this book
The powers that Gillian and Robin have are scary as heck. And Peter is a real badass
without having any powers. The psychic abilities have so much more visual imagination stimulation then just watching it. Too me the movie was all action bang, but the book showed the human side and filled in big gaps. I liked it, didn't make my best list , but not bad at all. So I would recommend this book
April 18, 2018
I got my first ever ‘Nocturnal Reader’s Box’ in March and this was one of the books. I felt obligated to read it because of my new subscription, despite not really enjoying the story line. This just wasn’t for me and I don’t think I’m going to force myself to read things anymore
February 22, 2018
I first read this novel almost 40 years ago , before I saw the movie, the screenplay of which was also written by Farris. At the time, it was just a great horror novel, by a writer Stephen King called "America's premier novelist of terror". I recently discovered that this is actually the first book in a quadrology, so I had to re-read The Fury again before I read the rest of the series. 40 years is enough time between reads, right?
.
Robin and Gillian have never met, but have a bond closer than siblings; they are psychic twins. The powers they individually possess could be man's greatest gifts, or mean humanity's destruction. There is a shadowy party of the government that wants to see what they can do with that power. Robin's father, a former government assassin, wants his son back. And with Gillian's help, he is willing to enter the lion's den to save Robin.
.
This was the first John Farris novel I had ever read, and I've been a lifelong fan since. Farris knows how to create suspense as well as any author, alive or dead. His storytelling is riveting, and will leave the reader breathless with antici...pation (sorry, I couldn't resist).
.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
.
Robin and Gillian have never met, but have a bond closer than siblings; they are psychic twins. The powers they individually possess could be man's greatest gifts, or mean humanity's destruction. There is a shadowy party of the government that wants to see what they can do with that power. Robin's father, a former government assassin, wants his son back. And with Gillian's help, he is willing to enter the lion's den to save Robin.
.
This was the first John Farris novel I had ever read, and I've been a lifelong fan since. Farris knows how to create suspense as well as any author, alive or dead. His storytelling is riveting, and will leave the reader breathless with antici...pation (sorry, I couldn't resist).
.
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
March 28, 2018
A short take:
What a bizarre read! Farris introduces unexpected characters and plot directions often enough that I found myself flipping back to make sure I didn’t miss anything (and no, I didn’t, so guess I’ll just hang on to the plot as it veers in this direction...) I enjoyed many scenes and many of Farris’s ideas and, in the middle of it all, I got an inkling that this book might be something great; sadly, the denouement didn’t quite land for me, and I found myself fondly recalling earlier scenes to compensate for the mild disappointment.
What the hell, “Fury” is a singular book—for any genre, horror or otherwise—and I am glad that I read it.
What a bizarre read! Farris introduces unexpected characters and plot directions often enough that I found myself flipping back to make sure I didn’t miss anything (and no, I didn’t, so guess I’ll just hang on to the plot as it veers in this direction...) I enjoyed many scenes and many of Farris’s ideas and, in the middle of it all, I got an inkling that this book might be something great; sadly, the denouement didn’t quite land for me, and I found myself fondly recalling earlier scenes to compensate for the mild disappointment.
What the hell, “Fury” is a singular book—for any genre, horror or otherwise—and I am glad that I read it.
September 1, 2018
If it wasn't for the fact that I have a signed copy, I probably would have gotten shot of this book.
It was boring, unstatisfying and quite frankly a chore to read. It wasn't scary, and John Farris has an obsession with womens bodily functions that verges on the wierd.
Recommended for people who hate fun.
It was boring, unstatisfying and quite frankly a chore to read. It wasn't scary, and John Farris has an obsession with womens bodily functions that verges on the wierd.
Recommended for people who hate fun.
August 24, 2007
I guess Farris is pretty highly-regarded as a suspense/horror yarn-spinner, but this book was ass. He wrote a later book called Shatter that was pretty good.
April 25, 2018
I couldn't even get past chapter 5. It was so boring I fell asleep.
March 20, 2021
This book glorifies rape of children and even describes a scene with a ten year-old as a "fun rape". Horrifying.
December 20, 2025
It STILL freaks the hell out of me after almost 50 years!
Brian DePalma released this Horror CLASSIC in 1978 after the HUGE success of his previous horror classic "Carrie"......and this one scared the shit out of me when I saw it in the theaters! Amy Irving, Andrew Stevens, and Kirk Douglas were flawless in this tale of psychic "twins" two 14 year old kids who were born on the same day at the same exact time.....and both happened to be Psychic terrors! Though this fact was not of their own doings, it was from the abuse that they were subjected to from a group of messed of psychiatrists and doctors. The book still has some of the most disturbing scenes of graphic horror and sex ever written in horror fiction.....and IMO is still author John Farris best work, though the book had two sequels neither were as good as this first one.
Peter Sandza is told that his kidnapped son; Robin is dead.....and he knows that this is not correct, and he must find him. In the meantime 14 year old Gillian Bellaver, daughter of rich New York parents, is being held against her will at the Paragon Institute because she is told they are studying her for ability to 'Bleed' complete strangers when she gets angry. What the hell!? As the story unfolds you are drawn into a world that we had not really experienced then or still have not to this day......this is a Horror CLASSIC! And if you ever saw and loved the DePalma film, you MUST read the book that it was based on. Get ready for a story that is similar but very disturbing! Highly recommended, but WARNING: It has scenes of EXTREME sexual rape of a 14 year old boy, almost well NOT almost......but there is pedophelia to the maxx! See, Robin has the sex organ that is almost 10 inches and he is extremely sexually active. So, go into this with an open mind.
4 stars WAY up!
Brian DePalma released this Horror CLASSIC in 1978 after the HUGE success of his previous horror classic "Carrie"......and this one scared the shit out of me when I saw it in the theaters! Amy Irving, Andrew Stevens, and Kirk Douglas were flawless in this tale of psychic "twins" two 14 year old kids who were born on the same day at the same exact time.....and both happened to be Psychic terrors! Though this fact was not of their own doings, it was from the abuse that they were subjected to from a group of messed of psychiatrists and doctors. The book still has some of the most disturbing scenes of graphic horror and sex ever written in horror fiction.....and IMO is still author John Farris best work, though the book had two sequels neither were as good as this first one.
Peter Sandza is told that his kidnapped son; Robin is dead.....and he knows that this is not correct, and he must find him. In the meantime 14 year old Gillian Bellaver, daughter of rich New York parents, is being held against her will at the Paragon Institute because she is told they are studying her for ability to 'Bleed' complete strangers when she gets angry. What the hell!? As the story unfolds you are drawn into a world that we had not really experienced then or still have not to this day......this is a Horror CLASSIC! And if you ever saw and loved the DePalma film, you MUST read the book that it was based on. Get ready for a story that is similar but very disturbing! Highly recommended, but WARNING: It has scenes of EXTREME sexual rape of a 14 year old boy, almost well NOT almost......but there is pedophelia to the maxx! See, Robin has the sex organ that is almost 10 inches and he is extremely sexually active. So, go into this with an open mind.
4 stars WAY up!
January 26, 2021
Between 1.5 and 2 This book just was all over the place for me.
March 16, 2021
Heard about this one in Paperbacks From Hell. It was good but not one I'll read again.
May 21, 2019
More often than not, on Friday nights I can be found over at fellow reviewer ZigZag's house having dinner and enjoying movies. We watch a variety of films, but mainly of the horror and/or cult genre, and rarely something within the past five years. Sometimes the movies are great, sometimes not, but it's always fun and recently one of the film choices was The Fury, starring Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, and Amy Irving. I had seen this many, many years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it holds up really well. So naturally I jumped at the opportunity to read John Farris' novel of the same name, upon which the movie is based, because not only did I not realize the book was a thing, we all know that the written counterparts to movies are almost always better. Almost being the operative word.
The Fury is a tough book to read, and it's going to be even more difficult to review. While it more-or-less follows the same theme of the motion picture, they are two very different beasts (think about how different The ShiningThe Shining book and film are and you get the idea). The last comparison I'll give of the two is where the book fleshes more of players involved out (as it should), all of the…gross parts of the novel are removed for the film.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
The Fury is a tough book to read, and it's going to be even more difficult to review. While it more-or-less follows the same theme of the motion picture, they are two very different beasts (think about how different The ShiningThe Shining book and film are and you get the idea). The last comparison I'll give of the two is where the book fleshes more of players involved out (as it should), all of the…gross parts of the novel are removed for the film.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
April 28, 2018
I wanted to really like this book, the synopsis was really intriguing but the story was not. It took me weeks to finish this book, rather than the assumed two days since it was only 341 pages - that says a lot I feel.
You followed two children who are spiritual twins, posessing psychic energy that is considered extreamly dangerous, but I'm not entierly sure why. There was limitless potential for the children (Robin and Gillian) to do untold destruction but the bit about the story that irked me was that it was established early in the book that the children had been reborn, surely if they had this connection and ability for lifetimes worth there would be a modicrum of control?
There never felt like there was any real conclusion to the story, that in the end, due to how it finished everything prior, was a complete waste of time. All the scheming and plotting was pointless, nothing was achieved and everything was ended.
Well written for all that, flowed beautifully, despite hopping back and forth between character point of views and at one point the year, although there was a pointless amount of characters that kept getting introduced, some only to die within three pages of said introduction. With intriguing characters and interesting plotlines, the issue was, was that it just never went anywhere.
You followed two children who are spiritual twins, posessing psychic energy that is considered extreamly dangerous, but I'm not entierly sure why. There was limitless potential for the children (Robin and Gillian) to do untold destruction but the bit about the story that irked me was that it was established early in the book that the children had been reborn, surely if they had this connection and ability for lifetimes worth there would be a modicrum of control?
There never felt like there was any real conclusion to the story, that in the end, due to how it finished everything prior, was a complete waste of time. All the scheming and plotting was pointless, nothing was achieved and everything was ended.
Well written for all that, flowed beautifully, despite hopping back and forth between character point of views and at one point the year, although there was a pointless amount of characters that kept getting introduced, some only to die within three pages of said introduction. With intriguing characters and interesting plotlines, the issue was, was that it just never went anywhere.
February 18, 2011
I think this book may have been a really new twist on the horror genre when it was first released. However, since that was over 30 years ago- I don't think it has held up well with the test of time.
The thrills and chills that it presents are not organized very well. At times I felt it was difficult to follow because characters were abruptly introduced. In current times- there is always the inevitable "twist" for stories that everyone expects and I fell into the trap for this one when of coarse there wasn't anything I could really consider a twist in the plot.
There are a few moments throughout the book that were right on par with what makes a good story but those were too few to consider this a great read. The one last thing that bothered me - was that the storyline itself was a bit lackluster- I just never made a connection with any of the characters. I am giving it three stars because it didn't have a tidy "Hollywood Ending" and that always gets a kudos from me.
It wasn't a horrible read but I still wouldn't really recommend unless you are into psychological fiction and have little else on your wish-list to read.
The thrills and chills that it presents are not organized very well. At times I felt it was difficult to follow because characters were abruptly introduced. In current times- there is always the inevitable "twist" for stories that everyone expects and I fell into the trap for this one when of coarse there wasn't anything I could really consider a twist in the plot.
There are a few moments throughout the book that were right on par with what makes a good story but those were too few to consider this a great read. The one last thing that bothered me - was that the storyline itself was a bit lackluster- I just never made a connection with any of the characters. I am giving it three stars because it didn't have a tidy "Hollywood Ending" and that always gets a kudos from me.
It wasn't a horrible read but I still wouldn't really recommend unless you are into psychological fiction and have little else on your wish-list to read.
December 7, 2017
The Fury is a tough book to read, and it's going to be even more difficult to review. While it more-or-less follows the same theme of the motion picture, they are two very different beasts (think about how different The Shining book and film are and you get the idea). The last comparison I'll give of the two is where the book fleshes more of players involved out (as it should), all of the…gross parts of the novel are removed for the film.
Peter, an assassin by trade, is desperately trying to find his son, Robin, who has some wicked psychic powers. Through lies and deceit, Robin is convinced by a secret government branch (think The Shop from Firestarter) and of course they start weaponizing the boy. Oh, and there's also Gillian, a young girl born on the same day and time as Robin who has super powers as well. Naturally, they want her too. While the overall plot is simple, it does get overly dramatic and a bit convoluted at times for its own good. But that's not its problem.
You can read my full review right here at HorrorTalk.com.
Peter, an assassin by trade, is desperately trying to find his son, Robin, who has some wicked psychic powers. Through lies and deceit, Robin is convinced by a secret government branch (think The Shop from Firestarter) and of course they start weaponizing the boy. Oh, and there's also Gillian, a young girl born on the same day and time as Robin who has super powers as well. Naturally, they want her too. While the overall plot is simple, it does get overly dramatic and a bit convoluted at times for its own good. But that's not its problem.
You can read my full review right here at HorrorTalk.com.
August 21, 2014
I saw the movie first, I then read the book which I didn't know was available/written. This is my second time re-reading it. I found it quite difficult in that my mind kept wandering, but once it got to the part about Gillian slowly unraveling....I became hooked again. It's dated as far as books of today go, but it's pretty hard for me not to enjoy a book I've read before and enjoyed then, not to find it interesting once more...just not as much. It should never have been made into a movie, the plot is quite out there with the astral plane traveling and all.
I understand there are two more books and that, I do so look forward too.
Gillian and Robin are physic twins, having been together in some other forms of relationships in other past lives. But they are deadly to others and themselves....unfortunately a secret Government Agency wants them for devious reasons and only one will live thru it.
I understand there are two more books and that, I do so look forward too.
Gillian and Robin are physic twins, having been together in some other forms of relationships in other past lives. But they are deadly to others and themselves....unfortunately a secret Government Agency wants them for devious reasons and only one will live thru it.
November 15, 2017
Interesting book, but one thing that I do warn about when reading this is not to take a break from reading it for long periods of time. I definitely forgot some of the events that was going on. I spent most of the book confused, so it is book that you do want to finish right away. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on and how everything fit together. It did have some interesting twists with Robin and Peter's relationship (I won't go into detail for spoilers' sake).
The thing that really bothered me the most, and I don't think that it has anything to do with me taking a long break to finish the book, is how jumpy it was. I appreciate what the author was trying to do for a shock factor, but it got confusing at chunks of the book since it jumped from character to character, but for me it got lost in translation. The last 100 pages of the book really had everything come into place for me.
The thing that really bothered me the most, and I don't think that it has anything to do with me taking a long break to finish the book, is how jumpy it was. I appreciate what the author was trying to do for a shock factor, but it got confusing at chunks of the book since it jumped from character to character, but for me it got lost in translation. The last 100 pages of the book really had everything come into place for me.
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