Book Review: "The Fearing: Blood and Brimstone" by John F.D. Taff (2020)
The mark of a great story well told is when you clamor for more of the stories of the characters that aren’t the main attraction throughout the tale. When you can create a world that’s rich in experiences and possibility (not to mention things so black and hideous that even magically created darkness looks pale in comparison), you’ve tapped into a spring that could prove fruitful for a long time.
The part of the multiverse that contains the world of John F.D. Taff’s The Fearing (reviews for Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and Book 4) is absolutely bloated with stories yet to be told. Taff’s newest installment, The Fearing: Blood and Brimstone, takes us back a bit in the chronology of the apocalypse to lay bare the rise of insurance agent turned Machiavellian messiah, Tim Jacoby, and his faithful number two, Tam Washington.
Tim Jacoby sells insurance outside of Baltimore. He’s a deeply unhappy man. His ex-wife took him to the cleaners, and he genuinely cares nothing for anyone around him. He’s smart, though, and a damn good businessman. Tim has a knack for getting things done and a single-minded approach to handling people. He’s pragmatic and cunning. When he sees the mushroom cloud over Washington, D.C., he knows that time that he always knew was coming has finally arrived. He’s not freaking out; quite the opposite, in fact. He’s ready. Jacoby is a prepper. He’s been planning for this, and by a stroke of good luck he picks up a new friend on the way to one of his bug-out shelters. Tam Washington is a hairdresser in the same strip mall where Tim sold insurance until the Bowl of Fear overflowed and spilled out across the land. She’s a lot like Tim Jacoby- practical, efficient, and ruthless when necessary. She’s also in need of an anchor in al the insanity. They make a suitably odd pair, but the click is almost audible. As they search for survivors and answers, Jacoby and Tam attract a following that grows and grows. Lessons must be learned and hard decisions made, and it’s during this time that Jacoby realizes it’s up to him to restart the world. Tam realizes that he’s all she has left. She also realizes that she is all-in on this crazy train, so much so that it’s no longer a “crazy train”; it’s now the only way that makes any sense to Tam.
The beauty of the world of The Fearing is that it takes all the classic types of conflict- Man vs Man, Man vs Nature, Man vs Self, Man vs Society, and Man vs Supernatural/Fate- and rolls them all up into one batshit stew of fear, pain, and strife. The Fearing: Blood and Brimstone picks up smoothly from the source material and fills in the gaps on one of the most realistic Donald Trump characterizations that I’ve ever seen. Tim Jacoby is that guy who’s not really any smarter or more gifted than anyone else, but his approach to handling people and his intuitive grasp of universal psychology is devastating.
Many times while reading I was reminded of a man I used to work for back in the long ago days when my daughter/Mini-Me was was a literal infant. His name was Terry, and he was a piece of shit who had the gift of gab equal to his average daily bullshit level. He gave me management advice once and said, “It’s all about knowing how to talk down to what people really want to hear. You lead them to what you want while making them think it’s not only necessary but also their idea! When you can do that, Stu, you’ll be able to fuck another man’s wife and he’ll thank you for it.”
I feel like Tim Jacoby and Terry would’ve gotten along swimmingly.
For all his Trumpian psychology and the lovingly twisted way that Taff gives you the blow-by-blow of Jacoby’s thought processes, it’s Tam that makes The Fearing: Blood and Brimstone an almost achingly human story. Jacoby makes it shred and tear, but Tam makes it hum and pulsate. She’s no different than any of us, but life has clearly honed her survival instinct a little more. There are, after all, millions of Tams out there right now following the leader because he talks big and promises bigger- it’s the same old story. She gives you something you can almost believe in because you know almost instinctually that she probably wouldn’t be crazy about Jacoby under normal circumstances, but in a world ruled by fear made manifest she’s abandoned her principles. That duality enriches the relationship between the two and makes it the emotional centerpiece of the story.
While emotions are nice, don’t be lulled into believing that Taff goes easy on you. He’s not known as “The King of Pain” for no reason. The horrors that Jacoby, Tam, and their growing group encounter are the definition of next level. In a wonderful touch (that frankly not enough books employ), there’s some breathtaking and evil artwork throughout that takes the major set-pieces and gives them a life that you might wish you’d never seen. I never want to even think about the phrase “free hugs” ever again. Then there’s the story of the soldiers at the motel; I can’t remember the last time I read something that visualized so sharply and begged to be put on the screen. I’m also not going to give one more second of thought to the Pied Piper of Pedophilia.
Fuck that.
The pacing, in typical Taff fashion, is so lean and mean that you’ll wonder what you did to piss him off….and that’s all before he hits you with the finale at the Rainbow Lake Volcano. That vision of Hell and the denizens of The Pit, from the collective minds of the extremely devout, is what would happen if Hieronymus Bosch ate a triple dose of Liquid Jesus on some sugar cubes and watched Brian Yuzna’s Society a few too many times. It’s page after page of vicious prose and descriptions of nightmares that break new ground in demon horror. I was expecting a “This…is…SPARTA!” moment there and got so much more. The Fearing Mythos is a fucked up place.
The Fearing: Blood and Brimstone is a book that flies through a uniquely awful vision of the apocalypse while asking you to bond with a pair of protagonists with suspect motivations but an iron will and unshakable resolve. That’s a heavy combination, but in the sadistic hands of “The King of Pain” it’s a trip that’ll have you shouting, “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”
John F.D. Taff’s newest tale in The Fearing Mythos is now live on Kickstarter at this address:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saturdaymorning/the-fearing-blood-and-brimstone-by-john-fd-taff
