The Fury by John Farris

Last year I read and posted a review for You Don’t Scare Me by John Farris and pretty much told everyone that the novel didn’t work for me. The story itself wasn’t really to blame, though I did find it difficult to accept two main characters falling in love so quickly. Instead it was the writing format that saw the novel switching back and forth between the two main characters in first person, and then, for reasons I can’t understand at all, into screenplay format. A big question of WHY entered my head at that and still hasn’t left. I just don’t get it. I don’t mind writers being creative in how they present a story, but hate it when that creativity messes up the flow of the story. It might sound ridiculous but when penning a story or novel a writer’s ultimate goal is usually to make a reader forget that they are actually reading. With You Don’t Scare Me I was reminded of the fact that I was reading over and over again, and that wasn’t any fun. As many of you may know, however, this didn’t deter me from reading more of John Farris, mostly because I had heard so many good things from him and wanted a similar experience. Not wanting a repeat of my first disappointed, I decided to get some guidance in what I went with next. One of the most common titles readers suggested was The Fury. Another was All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By followed by Fiends and Son of the Endless Night. I tried to get all of them, but The Fury and Fiends were the only two that managed to make it my way, the other suggested titles either being unavailable or way to expensive at the time to order online. Now, the big question, was my optimism in trying John Farris again worth the price I paid in having more titles sent to me, or was I once again disappointed in the work of an author that I really wanted to like?

The Fury is the tale of two children, twins really though not by blood, who posses special mental powers. One is named Gillian, the other Robin. Connected through passed life experiences and by their mental abilities, they each try to seek the other out. Robin is the only one of the two who understands this connection and quest from the beginning, however. Gillian thinks the dreams where she finds him are nothing more than mental fantasies, that is, until she starts to see things in people’s minds while in the hospital after an accident. At first she has no idea there is anything odd about what she is seeing, but then, once people inform her that she is seeing things no one else knows about, and some things that actually turn out to be futuristic, she starts to worry. Things get even more horrific for her when she starts realizing she may be responsible for killing people, her mental abilities so powerful that she can do this without really meaning too. This power, more than any of her others, is something a secret organization inside the military wants, and sets out to acquire by attempting to kidnap her. At this time Robin is already under their control, something that upsets his father Peter who once worked for this organization to the point where he is trying to do everything within his ability to rescue his son and prevent the organization from capturing Gillian. Such a task is not easy, not when this organization is so well funded and so good at what they do. The compound where they are holding Robin is also nearly impossible to penetrate, but of course this doesn’t stop Peter from trying. Nothing but an untimely death will do this, one that the secret organization would be happy to deliver if they could get the opportunity. Peter is one of the best they have ever trained, however, so the task is far from easy.

Unlike You Don’t Scare Me, The Fury was told in a straight forward novel style that didn’t distract one from the story, and thus allowed one to forget they were reading and become part of the tale. The only thing that did catch me off guard and confused me was that some chapters concerning Robin were dated before the chapters that came before it that detailed Gillian and Peter. Had those first chapters been dated as well, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but it was only the Robin chapters that had a date listed in the heading, so I didn’t pick up on what the fact that his story had occurred earlier. At one point I also felt like there were some needless scenes within the story, the biggest of which detailed a moment where Gillian meets a man who takes her home and wants him to painful whip him like a dominatrix until his butt is all bloody. Had the scene been important to the plot of the book I wouldn’t have had any problem with it, but it could have been cut out without any notice so I had to question why it was there to begin with. Aside from those two little issues, this was a fantastic read and one that I have to recommend to those who had never picked it up. I have a feeling many other novels by John Farris will fall into this category as well once I’m able to get a hold of them. And, of course, if there are any others people would like to suggest to me, please feel free. I love getting them and usually go about getting a hold of them fairly quickly.