Book Review: "The Fearing: Book Three - Air and Dust" (2019)
Here we are in the third serial of John F.D. Taff’s masterful ride, The Fearing (Book 1 review here, Book 2 review here). You’ve had time to settle in and meet the survivors. You’ve seen some pretty awful shit already from the absurd (flying monkeys!) to the horrific (cannibal clans! vampires!) to the truly apocalyptic (literal Revelations!). It’s asking a great deal of you to face your collective fears and continue further with this nightmarish lot, but if you’re feeling the way I am then you’ll tear through The Fearing: Book Three - Air and Dust in record time. Frankly, the only thing that’s kept me from writing this review (admittedly more of a love letter) has been severe time constraints and a screw-up with the mail.
I didn’t want to have to stop halfway through, you see. I needed to read it in one sitting. That’s what happens to you at this point in the proceedings. Like the survivors, you’re powerless to stop it from doing what it does.
Adam Sigel and his whipping boy, Jelnik, are now being drawn to a meeting with a fate they don’t fully understand. Meanwhile, Reverend Mark Hubert and his group (including the Mother Abigail-esque Monday) are starting to feel the pull as well, though they must survive a series of truly dreadful events at an Army base where a large gathering of refugees has set up shop. Following the heartbreaking events at the end of the end of the cannibal encounter, Kyle and Carli run headlong into Rich and his luxury coach of senior citizens. We see snapshots of the horror befalling other people; these things will haunt you for the foreseeable future. They’re all trying to outrun what my brain can’t help but think of as The Nothing (apologies to The Neverending Story). A reckoning is coming. In the meantime, shit just keeps getting worse and worse.
There’s so much to chew on in the revelatory third installation of this series that’s sure to be a new classic, but the most entrancing is watching Adam starting to come to an understanding of what he is. Even more so than that, there’s a deliciously cringe-worthy fun in Jelnik’s realization that he’s one of the bad guys. The developing relationship between these two Horsemen of the Apocalypse surprises you with the realization that they are, in many ways, victims just like the rest. They simply fill a different, necessary role in the cleansing of our world. At the other end of that spectrum is Monday, a mystery more frightening than even Adam.
Those who really “got off” (as I did) on the side stories in Stephen King’s masterpiece, The Stand, will revel in Chapter 25 (All Over the World. Tonight.) It’s the reality behind the nightmare and a reminder that humans are unlike any other creature on Earth in both their capacity for love and evil. The tale of little Wyatt, lost in the flood, will tear your heart out and step on it while you nod in agreement. It’s some of the most powerful stuff I’ve read in years. It also perfectly illustrates why they call Taff “The King of Pain”. You’re a very sick man, sir, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
Religious overtones come through strongly here in a way that is reminiscent of TV’s greatest show, LOST. Taff isn’t preaching to you, but he shows you that we’re all at the mercy of something bigger at the end of the day. The question is asked: are you a person of science or a person of faith? There’s answers to be found for both, and therein lies the sheer, unadulterated awesomeness of The Fearing. Each book begins with the famous T.S. Eliot line from The Waste Land / Burial of the Dead, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”
Perfection, that.
The bus full of elderly folks, with its new injection of youth and mysteriously combat-ready driver, are rapidly becoming the stars. It’s a lovely touch that they’re essentially archetypes of what we all need in life and society, a group of characters that make a great foundation to stand on.
Then there’s the arrival of that nutty Tim Jacoby and his army of followers. Every apocalypse needs a mad messiah, and Book Three closes with the promise of an absolutely batshit crazy finish that will no doubt be filled with surprising humanity and harrowing drama…and, of course, plenty of stuff to scare the shit out of you.
It’s really nice to have something to read that knows how to truly produce fear and get to the soft meat you try so hard to protect. Much like Dr. Frank-N-Furter, I’m shivering with antici…………………..pation!
Amazon Link:
