# ID this horror novel while I still have hair! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-horror-novel-while-i-still-have-hair/300820 "2005-04-24T01:27:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-horror-novel-while-i-still-have-hair/300820/1 "2005-04-24T01:27:29Z")
I’ve been idly searching off-and-on for this book for years. I don’t knows its title, or the author’s name. I do know I read it in 1986, so it can’t have been published later than that. I believe it was a new paperback (for that time), if that helps, and not likely to have been a reprint of an older novel. The details, however sketchy, that I remember (and not in any particular order): a guy, now possessed by a or the devil, follows his girlfriend (after they fought?) up to some resort, calls her out onto the terrace of the restaurant there, and bashes her head repeatedly (with a tire iron?) in front of the restaurant’s patrons. A weird Satanic cult is secretly operating in (the town). Someone investigates their house and is nearly run over by a deer (or a similar animal, and in the house). There’s some kind of preacher or evangelist, and his wife has lots of energy (described as tireless, I believe). I believe these two may even get around the country in a large truck or RV. A strange female member of the cult seduces a policeman, he keeps his gunbelt on during the act (so she can fondle his gun), and he later is sucked painfully into the toilet. A 12-year-old girl is possessed, and passes the demon into the tire-iron guy (or is it the other way around?) through a ritual involving sex with the girl. The devil in question (residing in tire-iron guy, and after the murder of his girlfriend) wants, IIRC, his day in court in order to prove that Satan is real to the world-at-large. Not remembering the title or the author, or even what the cover looks like, I have come up empty time and time again. Someone please reassure me that it wasn’t some fever dream born of some weird pizza combination! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-horror-novel-while-i-still-have-hair/300820/2 "2005-04-24T02:25:05Z")
Three people on the Shocklines board say it’s Son of the Endless Night by John Farris. I’ve read it, but all I remember is a scene with a horse. Do you remember a horse? ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-horror-novel-while-i-still-have-hair/300820/3 "2005-04-24T03:22:20Z")
Wow. I’ve seen other folks get answers like this in short order, but I’ve been frustrated in my search for so long that I couldn’t really believe I would ever find this book again. John Farris, _Son of the Endless Night_. Yep, that’s the book. First Google hit confirmed it for me. Thanks, **AuntiePam** , to you and the folks over at **Shocklines**. I can’t remember the exact animal in question, but your memory of a horse might well be the animal that charged the culthouse snoopers. I am in the process of ordering the book from a dealer; I’ll let you know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-horror-novel-while-i-still-have-hair/300820/4 "2005-04-24T14:33:11Z")
You’re welcome. We hit it lucky this time, because that book is a favorite of the moderator. It’s a good horror board, by the way – you’re welcome to join. Some writers post regularly – Brian Keene, Doug Clegg, Rick Hautala, F. Paul Wilson, Ray Garton, Elizabeth Massie, Sephera Giron, Kealon Patrick Burke, Tom Picirrilli, Ellen Datlow.