His horror novels are among the best. In this book he drops all supernatural elements and goes for the horror of real people. This is a terrific read about a new mother chasing the kidnapper of her baby. It never lets up and will keep you glued to the end.
Mary Terrell was a member of the 60′s-70′s radical group Storm Front. They ran rampant across the country killing police and any civilians that got in their way. All in the name of changing the world for the better. Mary was known as Mary Terror.
She was crazy about the group’s leader who called himself Lord Jack. It all came to an end one night in Linden, New Jersey. The police found them in a house and it turned into a massive shootout. A number of group members were killed and several police. Mary got away but not before shooting an FBI agent.
Mary was pregnant with Jack’s baby. Due to her injuries the baby was born dead when Mary went to a gas station bathroom. Many years have passed and Mary now calls herself Ginger Coles and works in an Atlanta Burger King. At six feet and a hundred eighty-four pounds she’s hard to miss.
She’s obsessed with giving Jack a baby son. She’s into a fantsay world that drives her to purchase plastic baby dolls. She always ends up destroying them and tossing them into a box in her closet. Her elderly neighbor keeps knocking on the wall telling her to shut up whenever she yells at her “baby” to stop screaming and crying.
In another part of town lives Laura and Doug Clayborne. She’s a society reporter for a newspaper. Ever since she saw a woman on a rooftop holding a gun to a baby’s head and then watched them both die she knew she couldn’t handle hard news any longer.
Her husband Doug is a stockbroker who does well enough to keep them in BMW’s and Mercedes. He also has a girlfriend. Laura is pregnant and close to her delivery date when an anonymous tip confirms her suspicions about Doug’s side action.
She waits for him outside his girlfriend’s apartment. She sees him. She can’t do anything as the baby is on its way and she must go to the hospital. After giving birth her parents and Doug are in the hospital room. She tells Doug they’re over and her mother is overbearing.
A couple days later a nurse comes in and says she has to weigh the baby and takes it out of the room. It’s Mary. That’s the start of a fast paced chase that never lets up. Mary is heading for California to try and find Jack and present him with the baby she’s convinced is theirs. Laura is in hot pursuit.
A number of characters are presented including some remnants of the Storm Front. If you find it in your favorite book store and like an exciting read grab it.
Robert R. McCammon
Reblogged this on Stephen C. Ormsby and commented:
A great book by a great writer. If you see it, read this novel.