Jeffrey Konvitz - The Apocalypse

[franklinmarsh]

The Apocalypse - Jeffrey Konvitz NEL March 1979. Previously published in Great Britain by Martin Secker & Warburg, Ltd under the title Sentinel II, and before that in the USA by Bantam Books under the title The Guardian.

The shattering sequel to The Sentinel.

Design : Judd,Osborn,Smith, Illustration : McAllister

She was the Sentinel, the living guardian of the gates of hell.

She was the sole barrier between humanity and the forces of satanic evil pent up since the Fall from Grace. Hers was the most terrible penance of all; chosen for her sins, she had been committed to a living death, a blind nightmare in which the only reality was the reality of her demonic adversary, and the awful powers she had been endowed with to constrain Him.
Now her penance is nearly up. For Monsignor Franchino that means the resumption of the most dreadful task the Church has ever bestowed; once again he, and he alone, must find and commit a new victim for the guardianship ; knowing that at every step the powers of evil will battle to pervert the change-over.
For the Prince Of Darkness it means a final chance to unleash his minions on the world and begin at last His long awaited reign of evil.
For Mankind it means...The Apocalypse.

No it doesn't. Oh dear. I love the book and the film of The Sentinel, but not so much I want to read the same thing again, with the essential mystery of the first book removed by hindsight. Even the multiple name changes and three designers can't save it. Not only is it a jumbled retread, it shamefully pinches from other works. Even the cover seems to owe a debt to Armchair Thriller. It's not a complete write-off; there's a nasty (and pointless) Laymonesque bit of menace at the start, and if, like me, you're useless at guessing unguessable twists there's a couple of doozies toward the end (but much of the incoherence seems designed to cover them up, in hindsight) so if you're after a bit of daft , mindless, ridiculous horror, it's here, but it's not a patch on its predecessor.

[dem bones]

Had this one sulking on the shelf for some time now. Been saving it for when I turn up a copy of The Sentinel, but "a jumbled retread ... shamefully pinches from other works .... a nasty (and pointless) Laymonesque bit of menace at the start .... daft, mindless, ridiculous horror" - maybe it's time has come. Bob, one of the Zardoz dealers, explained to me once why The Apocalypse is quite hard to come by, but I was most likely blind drunk just for once and can't remember for the life of me what he was on about.