Lasher

This is the second book in Rice's Mayfair Witches trilogy, and I have to confess that while I find the witches fascinating, the title character leaves me a little cold.
In the first book in the series we learned that the Mayfairs had been subtly manipulated for thirteen generations by a spirit named Lasher, so that they could fulfill a prophecy that would give Lasher physical form. As this book opens Lasher has effectively won, and the Mayfairs have to try to put the genie back in the bottle.
In some ways, this book reminded me of Star Trek VI; both asking the question of “what do you do when the defining grand narrative of your life has ended?” This was understandably on the minds of many Americans as the Cold War came to an end, and it's interesting to see how different genres framed (and answered) the question.