I picked up this book on the basis of a recommendation from Edward Lee in the forward to his The Haunter of the Threshold so I was curious, as I find Lee's work sort of a guilty pleasure, but hesitantly, since Lee is far from a wordsmith himself.
So, this is really and outstanding book for what it is. It's a short, fast paced, intense, and surprisingly well written little horror story about a young woman getting hit on all sides by forces beyond her control. This book is very much a novel of the 70's and its heroine Marcia is very much a 70's style young woman. She's a former hippie turned dissatisfied housewife married to a drunk whose on the verge of midlife crisis in a small town that the women's lib movement hasn't quite reached yet. So, in her side job as a "newspaperwoman" she has a hard time convincing people to take her seriously as a reporter. She stumbles upon a story after tripping over a brutally murdered hermit, killed by some kind of a monster as we learn in the novel's opening, and she quickly learns that she is an integral part of her own story. Her daughter, fathered while she was in a drug induced orgy at a hippie commune years earlier, is also involved. So is a Manson Family-ish cult that recently popped up in town.
Mcnaughton, in a broad sort of a way, reminds me of Stephen King. His writing is very descriptive and not overly indulgent when it comes to the horror stuff. His character feel real and fully formed, a true rarity in horror fiction, and his story is suitably engrossing and dark. Overall, for horror fans starved for content in a market comprised almost entirely of stories about vampires and zombies, this a truly worthwile read.
Also, for anyone wondering about this book's checkered past, the author was hired to write a knockoff of the recent blockbuster The Omen. He wrote his own story and was then told by his publisher that they need more sex, hardcore, porn style sex. He reluctantly added this and the novel was published as Satan's Love Child. Gemini Rising removes those extraneous scenes so, depending on your personal inclinations, read one or the other. But do read it because this a really solid lost novel.
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