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One reason it's taken a while is because by this time Levin was such a consummate master of his craft.
His books are so beautifully and smoothly constructed, and make for such effortless reading, that there's a danger of underestimating their brilliance.
Published in 1997, Son of Rosemary is the final novel Ira Levin wrote — it's a great shame that he only ever gave us seven.
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(I should say at this point that if you haven't read Rosemary's Baby you should go away and do that before continuing here — this post is full of spoilers.)
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Except in this case the older woman is Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby and the young man is her demonic son, now grown to manhood.
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At that instant, and still on the first page of the novel, we cut to Rosemary awakening from a coma in a long-term care hospital.
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The (fantastic and hilarious) ending of the first novel featured Rosemary coming to terms with this situation and turning into a doting mother of Andy, the devil's spawn.
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This makes for a fantastically arresting and ingenious beginning for the sequel, with Rosemary's dawning horror as she realises how long she's been asleep.
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It's all beautifully and succinctly conveyed as Rosemary discovers that Andy has become a "charismatic leader and a great communicator."
Indeed, he's founded a kind of world religion. Andy seems kindly, compassionate, a bringer of peace...
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Which causes Rosemary to reflect that, "Either she'd done a really super job of mothering during Andy's early years — or the coven had found a really super disguise for the son of Satan."
As the ferociously slick and streamlined story progresses, Andy reveals that he is not a good guy — and to her credit, Rosemary has been sceptical all along.
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The suspense, and the horror, grow until we reach the final sequence, Chapter 18 — or "6+6+6" as it is headed in the book — where the devil himself makes an appearance, sitting with his feet up and "eating caviar out of a pound tin with a spoon."
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The book is beautifully, economically, vividly written even its smallest details. Here's the description of champagne being poured into a glass: "the foam fizzed down into pale gold wine."
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This is a habit which of course proved tragically fatal for Lennon, and there's a scene in the book where Rosemary visits Lennon's memorial garden in Central Park — although I had no idea this is what it was until I read an explanation online.
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I have to confess that I couldn't crack it. I ended up using the computer, and then kicked myself. I'd urge you to try and solve it without cheating...
The solution proves to be a brilliant metaphor for the dizzying ending of this unstoppably fabulous book.
(Image credits: a good selection of covers, some of them breathtakingly irrelevant, from Good Reads.)
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