F. Paul Wilson – Reprisal (New English Library, 1991) [hardback]
Blurb:
F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep created a timeless evil. Reborn brought that evil back to us in the shape of an unborn child. Reprisal, Wilson’s darkest, most terrifying novel yet, reveals the Adversary twenty years later, in a nightmarish tale of violence, eroticism and fear.
Will Ryerson, a man with a mysterious past, thinks he’s found a new life at Darnell University in North Carolina. He thinks he’s safe from the horrors that once pursued him. And apart from disturbing phone calls, his life is one of tranquillity and near-solitude. Until the horror seeks him out.
Drawn into the net of corruption and malignity are others: Lisl, low in self-esteem and good looks, in love and only slightly disturbed by the pleasure she feels in a sadomasochistic sex life; Ev, recovering alcoholic and Lisl’s rival in the maths department; Renny, a New York cop still obsessed by the five-year-old brutal slaying of a child. And Veilleur, the Adversary’s age-old foe, who must now gather his forces for the apocalyptic battle between good and evil.