Book Review: Reborn (Adversary Cycle#2) by F.Paul Wilson

Reborn by F.Paul Wilson (Adversary Cycle#2)

**** 368 pages Tor

Coming twenty years after the events of The Keep (book one) Reborn is directly a sequel. The Tomb (Book #3) and the Touch (Book #4) don’t seem to be direct sequels. The Tomb of course starts another thread to the secret history of the world that becomes the Repairman Jack books. On the surface reborn might seem to be a Rosemary’s baby/Omen type horror novel. It’s similar in plot but it is the execution and it’s place in the larger scope of Wilson’s saga that separates this novel.

Reborn is a perfect read in between Repairman Jack books Five and Six. The events take place in the timeline of story around 1968, around 30 years before the events of the Jack books. Trust me that is when you want to read them.

Reborn is the story of Jim Stevens a Long island man who was adopted and always interested in the mystery of where he came from. That mystery is solved when he is in the will of a very rich and famous scientist. Is he the man’s son? They surely look alike, but when looks into it further he discovers he has no mother, and he is not his son, but his clone.

At the same time, a group of fanatical Christians begin to believe that Jim Stevens is the anti-christ. His wife Carol and old family friend Father Bill Ryan try to help him. Jim begins to suspect something is deeply wrong, perhaps even evil about himself. Jim’s life is put in danger by the fanatics who think he is evil and it is all amplified by Carol discovering she is pregnant.

If Jim is evil? What is his child?

The novel is a excellent and original spin on a story already done before in horror. It would be impossible not to compare it to the Omen or Rosemary’s Baby. That said Wilson has presented an original take on the concepts. Where Reborn separates it’s self is in the surprising and brutal final act. The book takes two serious surprise turns that set up the need for sequel. That happens in Adversary cycle #5 Reprisal.

This book is not the horror classic that The Keep is, but it is a strong entry in the timeline that expands over two series. The power of this story only grows as you read on into the Secret History of the World. Another great F.Paul Wilson must read.