Molecular Methods in Plant Pathology

Sequel to both of Powers's previous novels, Last Call (1992) with its gambling, serial immortality, and Fisher King, and Expiration Date(1996), with its ghosts, magic, and psychiatry. The current Fisher King of the American West, Scott Crane, has been murdered by Janis Cordelia Plumtree. Either Janis is possessed by several powerful and malevolent ghosts, or - as analyst and pervert Dr. Richard Paul Armentrout of Rosencrans Medical Center would have it - she's a victim of multiple personality disorder that can be treated with electroshock therapy and a magical Tarot deck. But an earthquake allows Janis to escape Armentrout's clutches, and she heads for the ghostproof and magicproof Solville apartment complex, where teenager Kootie Sullivan bears the Fisher King's unhealing wound while he and his adoptive parents guard the lifeless but uncorrupted body of Crane. If Kootie becomes the next Fisher King, his reign will be brief, troubled, and inconsequential. But how might Crane himself be restored to life? Either way, only the true Fisher King can save the land from destruction. What with the clangorous, hypercomplicated backdrop (the foregoing is but a brief outline), even readers of the two prior books will find this one difficult, if not impenetrable, with plenty of labyrinthine twiddling but very little plot. Coagulated and unengaging. (Kirkus Reviews)