Son of the Endless Night

Welcome to 1985. A time of cigarettes, payphones, the golden age of pro wrestling and a high water mark for Satanic Panic hysteria. Into this environment a book was released that could have been just another everyday tale of demon possession, but then rapidly embarked along a completely bonkers path reaching across multiple continents, alternate dimensions, and several variations on human bodily functions.

A teenage girl named Polly is in trouble, possibly kidnapped, probably a ghost. But somewhat over-earnest Yale student Richard Devon becomes obsessed with rescuing her while on a ski vacation with his girlfriend in Vermont. This rescue mission does not go as planned. Polly, it seems, is in the clutches of a mysterious Satanic cult and Rich falls victim to a nefarious plot involving depraved sex and gruesome violence, a plot that lands Rich in jail for murder. It turns out Rich has become host to an ancient demon and only his half brother, Conor, an ex-priest and current pro wrestler, has the guts to find proof that Rich is not guilty due to demonic possession. Easier said than done.

Son of the Endless Night arrived amidst an explosion in popularity of paperback horror, though John Farris was already known for his novel The Fury and his subsequent screenplay for the Brian De Palma film adaptation. Here, he constructs a tale that shows how cracks in social class, religion, the criminal justice system, and individual human psyches can be exposed as gaping rifts when preconceived belief systems are broken and the unbelievable becomes reality.

Is it a stretch to think of this novel as a metaphor for the most over-the-top backstory ever concocted for a professional wrestling match? Not if you consider the outrageous peril that Conor and the crew he enlists must go through to help his brother. This is technicolor day glow horror. There are haunted houses, creepy cars, holy roller heroics, the living dead! But there is also legitimate discourse on the nature of good and evil and familial bonds. These characters are drawn with intricacy, and so the stakes are high as the courtroom becomes the ring for a match that will be an eschatological showdown between the forces of good and evil, with nothing less than a title belt for the future of humanity on the line.