First published back in September of 1982, Gordon McGill’s novel ‘Omen IV: Armageddon 2000’ formed the fourth instalment into the Omen series, concluding with one final book – ‘Omen V: The Abomination’ (1985).
DLS Synopsis:
The birth was far from a normal one for Kathleen Reynolds. After being stalked by Thorn’s disciples, Reynolds finally gave birth to Damien Thorn’s offspring. A child who was conceived through the same way as he will be born. Reynolds would not survive the birth. But the child would. An abomination is born.
Seventeen years later and it’s the year 2000. Paul Buher is now the chairman and majority stockholder of the Thorn Corporation. Buher’s seventieth birthday has arrived as he reflects upon the significance of the date. Three score and ten. He knows that it’s time for him to step down.
Meanwhile, there are things in the air that are changing. The Arab and Israeli negotiations are failing. Everything appears to be coming to a head. And Buher knows why. Together with a handful of others including the Foreign Secretary, Peter Stevenson, they know the true cause of the changes. The unrest.
The reason sits quietly in the stately mansion of the Pereford Estate. Receiving regular reports from Buher, he has been patiently waiting – preparing for his eventual rise to power. He is now seventeen years old. Finally a man in his own rights. And he harbours all the hatred and vengeance that had smouldered in his father – Damien Thorn.
And in this hour of change, Mary Lamont, the woman who had been the midwife to the boy, comes to him to seek a last blessing. She has been in constant pain from the arthritis in her hands since the boy was born and can no longer stand the pain. But before she takes her own life, she needs to see the boy she helped into this world; the boy she has done so much to preserve; the boy who will soon become the darkest power on Earth.
She had hoped she would be the one to slay the Christ child. But she failed. And now every day, the boy who was born an abomination is aware of the Christ child’s influence on the world. And he snarls this reasoning for her pain at her. She is being punished. Punished for her failure to his dead father.
Sent away from Pereford Estate under the wrath of the Abomination, Mary Lamont decides to seek salvation for her sins elsewhere. And so the grief-stricken woman hurriedly pens a letter to Father De Carlo, confessing everything, including the birth of the abomination.
Her final act for redemption is not in vain. De Carlo receives the letter and understands what he must do next. And with that, Lamont is given what she wants. Under the crushing weight of a statue of Christ, Mary Lamont’s life is brought to an end.
Knowing the importance of what Lamont detailed in her letter to him, Father De Carlo sends one of his monks to speak with the US Ambassador to the Court of St James, Philip Brennan, in order to warn him of the pending rise of the abomination. However, even with one of the daggers of Megiddo in his possession, Brennan can’t take any of what he is being told seriously.
Meanwhile, twenty-two-year-old reporter Carol Wyatt is beginning her research for her story on the article ‘A Tragic Dynasty: The Curse Of The Thorn Family’. And what she is about to walk into has been written of in warnings since the time of Christ. An abomination has been biding his time and has now finally come of age.
It is time for the Abomination to finally reveal his true destiny. It is time for the world to wake to the ancient evil that has been festering away behind closed doors. It is time for the Abomination to rise up and fulfil his dark prophecy…
DLS Review:
After knocking out the novelisation of ‘Omen III: The Final Conflict’ (1980), author Gordon McGill once again takes up his pen, following up with a fourth instalment – the first of which to have a storyline which hasn’t been dictated by a film.
From the very first page McGill launches straight into a textbook Omen vibe, with the blasphemous birth of the Abomination child and then the run-of-the-mill ‘Thorn empire shenanigans’. Without having to cover the exact events portrayed in a screenplay, McGill is able to crank up the overall pace, seemingly flying through the early establishing of the basic premise, so that the tale can get underway with the real juicy horror it has in store for us.
And horror it most certainly is. Now that Damien is out of the picture, our attention is instead drawn to Damien’s offspring – the boy referred to only as the ‘Abomination’. Now seventeen-years-old, the Abomination is finally coming to the age where he will commence his rise to power. These first steps are filled with a global unrest, with the usual predications and references to ancient biblical scripture consolidating the rising dark threat.
With all the principal characters of the tale established and their respective places within the grand scheme of things firmly established, McGill begins his campaign of creeping darkness – instigating the usual brutal ‘Omen’ deaths and getting the Satanic threat level rising by the page.
Father De Carlo is back again, bringing with him a determination to rid the world of the dark one once and for all. However, De Carlo and his loyal sidekick – the monk Facchetti – have a pretty tough time convincing America’s Secretary of State, Philip Brennan, about the existence of the Abomination. But when they do finally get Brennan on side, the ‘Good vs Evil’ battle to follow becomes an addictive page-turner that keeps the momentum escalating to the final showdown.
Ending-wise, McGill cops out somewhat with an overly contrived excuse for correcting outcomes with the previous books. To be blunt it feels like McGill’s clutching at straws with his quite over-stretched reasoning – but luckily this doesn’t really destroy what is essentially a very enjoyable and fast-paced Satanic thrill-fest of a read.
The novel runs for a total of 216 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Omen’ instalments:
- ‘The Omen’ (1976)
- ‘Damien: Omen II’ (1978)
- ‘Omen III: The Final Conflict’ (1980)
- ‘Omen IV: Armageddon 2000’ (1983)
- ‘Omen V: Abomination’ (1985)
