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Next After Lucifer #2
Adversary
The undead Guilhelm de Courdeval, living in present-day San Francisco, poses as a spiritual teacher for four young Americans seeking guidance
- GenresHorror
354 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2016
very intelligent supernatural story. All types of interconnected storylines with crazy twists and intriguing, well developed characters make this a very enjoyable book
February 13, 2025
Great slow burn with an insane and scary climax that doesn’t have a conclusion? Was there a third book planned that never happened?
June 5, 2026
It’s been too long since I read Daniel Rhodes’ first book, Next, After Lucifer, to remember the specifics, but I had it in my head that it was a more atmospheric and cerebral horror story than many of these pulp novels tend to be. It was a story about adults who made mistakes and was written with a solid sense of occult history and really stood out as something different.
So I was surprised when its sequel, Adversary, began with clunky teenage sex, a simplistic modern day setting, and felt more like a typical slasher than its predecessor. Instead of the complex characters of the first book, we get basic 1980s caricatures. There’s the single mom who works as a lawyer but only ever gives us the most superficial details of her job. There’s the married man who is cheating on his wife (who is fat and the book will remind you of this every single time she’s mentioned) with a young stripper and constantly doing copious amounts of blow. There’s even the privileged and vindictive woman who will make up stories about the men who have spurned her.
Midway through, however, the book does get back on track. Rhodes turns his focus more toward Valcourt, our villain and the embodiment of a medieval Templar Knight who worships satan. In a way, he’s not much different from the standard verbose, gothic villain, but his talk of the forces that we allow to shape our lives and his knowledge of power and history are some of the most fascinating parts of the book. Rhodes really does his best work when he’s able to explore history in this way. Plus, certain characters from the first book eventually come back, and they are more believable and grounded in a way the others aren’t.
Unfortunately, it kind of falls apart by the end. There is a buildup to a final showdown that really doesn’t happen. Instead, the book ends on a cliffhanger like the previous one did except, as far as I can tell, there is no follow up. So the story is simply over, which is, of course, disappointing and anticlimactic.
So I was surprised when its sequel, Adversary, began with clunky teenage sex, a simplistic modern day setting, and felt more like a typical slasher than its predecessor. Instead of the complex characters of the first book, we get basic 1980s caricatures. There’s the single mom who works as a lawyer but only ever gives us the most superficial details of her job. There’s the married man who is cheating on his wife (who is fat and the book will remind you of this every single time she’s mentioned) with a young stripper and constantly doing copious amounts of blow. There’s even the privileged and vindictive woman who will make up stories about the men who have spurned her.
Midway through, however, the book does get back on track. Rhodes turns his focus more toward Valcourt, our villain and the embodiment of a medieval Templar Knight who worships satan. In a way, he’s not much different from the standard verbose, gothic villain, but his talk of the forces that we allow to shape our lives and his knowledge of power and history are some of the most fascinating parts of the book. Rhodes really does his best work when he’s able to explore history in this way. Plus, certain characters from the first book eventually come back, and they are more believable and grounded in a way the others aren’t.
Unfortunately, it kind of falls apart by the end. There is a buildup to a final showdown that really doesn’t happen. Instead, the book ends on a cliffhanger like the previous one did except, as far as I can tell, there is no follow up. So the story is simply over, which is, of course, disappointing and anticlimactic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews