THE ABYSS

by Jere Cunningham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 14, 1981

Somewhat less offensive and more suspenseful than The Visitor (1978), this occult hogwash centers on a Tennessee coal mine with distinctly bad vibes. It's mine M-19--closed since digging proved strangely dangerous there 50 years ago. But now new diggings are under way--and they cause an eruption of something very much like blood in the water table: blood flows from the town's taps and showers! So widow Crystal, who runs the local clinic, gets suspicious--especially when the populace begins to suffer from concupiscence and paranoia, wild dogs roam the hills, cats go mad, rashes break out. . . and the area is invaded by an incredibly rapid growth of thorn bushes. Furthermore: huge fly-swarms, sulfurous muck, oozing blood, thorns, and stink keep blocking the drilling--while weird phantoms blow about the cave. Could it be--as stoned cosmologist Bobby Simmons argues--that Hell itself is down in that there mine? Yes indeed. And so there'll be a climactic outbreak of ghouls and demons and such, not to mention a deranged Russian missile satellite in the purple, polluted sky above the town. A few effective descriptions of the ghastlies, a modicum of tension while waiting for the Hellfire to commence--but mostly just lurid nonsense for highly suggestible readers only.

Pub Date: Jan. 14, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Wyndham/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1981

Categories: FICTION