Summary

This thrilling sequel to Rosemary’s Baby shows Levin’s brilliance in leaping over or rather yet erasing 27 years in Rosemary’s life.

The story starts when Rosemary awakes from a coma, unaware of the fact that she has been unconscious for nearly a third of a century.

Her son, Andy, in the meantime, had grown to full maturity, with a face that resembled Jesus Christ, the Son of God, thus tricking multitudes into believing that there was some relation to the Holy Trinity. Andy has set up an enormous organization called God’s Children, with which he wants to lead the world into the 21^st Century.

When he is reunited with his mother, he presents himself to her as son ignorant of her existence. He is also the goodness itself with his Light-a-candle-for-the-new-Millennium program to unite the world. His devilish yellow eyes and horns are hidden through great will power, so as to present a proper-looking good person to the world.

But in the dark recesses of his multi-million corporation lurks the true force behind his fame. That force comes out at the right time, striking down all that opposes it, including Andy. Rosemary is awe and fear stricken about a future that might not have come yet.

Characterization

Rosemary. She is still a flat character, as she was in Rosemary’s Baby, characterized by love; the love she has for her son, which has kept her alive during her comatose condition; the love she uses to draw all the lies out of Andy’s devilish half; the love that may be the reason why the whole incident has not happened yet and Rosemary is tossed back to 1965, still happily married to Guy and with their lives still intact.

Andrew. A partly schizophrenic, half human, half devil, son to Rosemary. Andy is willfully controlled by his darker side until Rosemary reappears in his life. From then on he lies and cheats to hide his bad side. He confuses himself and Rosemary by coming onto her, a conduct unworthy of a son, a sign Rosemary should have understood and placed in the right context, were it not that she was still overwhelmed by the fact that she had found her son again. Andy is a round character who fights off his bad side, with the tragic consequence that he is crucified for his disobedience.

Joe Maffia. As the name undoubtedly suggests, the unknown evil, or the devil or Satan itself. Disguised as Andy’s friend and close companion, and later Rosemary’s boyfriend, Joe is always around to keep a watchful eye over his son and pupil, aware that his human side might make him soft. A true angel of light, he presents himself as a good soul, tying Rosemary to his judgment and cutting off all her other lines for help. In the end, he is himself again when he says that he always lies. Joe is flat.

Themes

Love: Rosemary’s infinite love for her son, despite his many, obvious mistakes, even the ones she has obviously missed during her 27-year coma, is still a powerful theme that causes the devil to back off, way back to 1965, when he again tries to lure her into his web by offering her an apartment in Dakota (not the state), the Bramford building, this time, attractively offering the apartment without the prospect of having to pay rent.

Deception: Andy’s life is one of deception, which he uses to attract people to the final stand: handing them over to the demons of hell. He even deceives his mother into believing that his closed gatherings on the top floor with his staff are not witchcraft, nor that his staff is a witches’ coven.

Setting

The story takes place at the dawn of the new millennium in 1999 across the United States of America.