The Holy [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Somewhere in here he managed to write BEYOND CIVILIZATION, which didn't break any new ground since it was in fact a collection of essays and articles.

He changed his "modus operandi" a bit in his next thought-provoking book "AFTER DACHAU", but the results were not as impressive as in the initial three books about saving the world. Nevertheless, it's an excellent read.

And finally here it is. His finest book yet, THE HOLY, tells the story of ancient Gods and what happens when you start looking for them. All his other books were pretty streamlined storywise, but this is far more complicated as we follow the fates of several rather interesting characthers - husband who can't stand his life anymore, his wife determined to bring him back, and their son who teams up with an old jew P.I., who's already on a different case to find "why the ancient pagan gods were more attractive than God who liberated the Israelities from Egypt", given to him by another rich old Jew whose motives are not easy to guess untill the very end (and you'll be surprised no matter what).

Same ideas of saving the world and our planet Earth are present here as well as in all his earlier books, but the emphasis here is on the characters and story telling. Someone wrote before that in all Quinn's books "idea supersedes the story". That may be right, but his ideas had rights to supersede the story - since all his books are more than books - they are an early blueprint for saving the world from destruction by "our culture".

In THE HOLY, he's misleading you (the reader) and getting you back on track at will - and just when you think you've got it - Quinn will pull the rug under you. His skill is growing and his ideas and beliefs are as strong as ever. You won't be able to put this down untill you've read it all the way through.

And finally...

WARNING TO ALL MEMOIDS!

This deals, among other issues, with cults and Satanism in such a way you'll find your deepest beliefs and convictions shattered and yourself deeply offended! DON'T READ THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU HAVE AN OPEN MIND!

I've read all his books, most of them several times, and I can tell you that in THE HOLY he outdoes himself--and everyone else around. It's in a class of its own. The only book that comes close is John Fowles' THE MAGUS, and I personally think THE HOLY is a better, deeper, and more enthralling novel.

In my opinion, the thematic heart of Quinn's novels is not Saving the World (as many might say) but rather The Quest. Quinn's heroes aren't looking for love, happiness, or wealth. They want THE ANSWER--to the profound questions that trouble us all in a world that seems to be going mad. But not all his heroes are asking the same questions (or getting the same answers). Two seemingly unrelated quests drive THE HOLY--both strange, both even a little mad--but they ultimately converge in a maelstrom of passion, violence, death, and transfiguration that is unmatched in any book I've ever read.

This isn't just Quinn's best. I honestly can't name a novel that I'd rank above it.

In this regard (and this only), The Holy is similar to The Exorcist, another book by an author who wasn't kidding (it was based on the true story of a child's demonic possession in the 1940s). People reacted powerfully to The Exorcist, both as a book and as a film, because they perceived clearly that William Peter Blatty wasn't just giving them a fright they would later laugh about. (I've always believed The Exorcist probably brought more people to the Roman Catholic Church than The Song of Bernadette did.) Even if you aren't a believer, reading or seeing The Exorcist can make you teeter in your disbelief.

Quinn's book will have the same effect on you. It will have the same effect, because you'll recognize that the supernatural realm he's exploring is not one he just made up to give you a scare. It's a realm that humans have acknowledged and taken seriously for as long as there have been humans, a realm familiar to shamans in every land, a realm discussed in the scriptures of every religion (including the Bible), a realm that was alive and thriving before the first humans walked the earth and will be alive and thriving when we're gone. The jacket notes describe the inhabitants of the realm this way: "They knew us before we began to walk upright. Shamans called them guardians, myth-makers called them tricksters, pagans called them gods, churchmen called them demons, folklorists called them shape-shifters. They've obligingly taken any role we've assigned them, and, while needing nothing from us, have accepted whatever we thought was their due--love, hate, fear, worship, condemnation, neglect, oblivion."

The publisher describes this as a metaphysical thriller, and it is. But it's also much more. Like any really great book, it's one you'll definitely want to read more than once.