Chariot: Book Thre of the Millenia Quartet

One horseman shy of a full apocalypse, Grant's Millennium Quartet strides majestically through its third installment. Following the pattern established in Symphony and In the Mood, Grant foregrounds a tale of personal supernatural experience against a broad backdrop pregnant with portents of biblical doom--this time, plague. Trey Falkirk is a reluctant gambler with a magic touch that can coax money from slot machines. He has never thought much about his uncommon luck, his extraordinary ability to survive serious injury or his ability to elude the smallpox epidemic that is devastating all of America but for Las Vegas, his current home. Then Trey meets the enigmatic Sir John Harp, an aristocratic elder who awakens him to his wild talents and inevitable destiny (which will include characters from the first two novels). Hovering on the fringes of Trey's life are an evangelical gospel singer, a pair of spunky preteen girls and an assortment of emotionally and physically crippled neighbors, any of whom might be allied with the evil influence that tries to manipulate Trey's good fortune for ill. As is often the case in Grant's work, there are a number of mysteries that the author neglects to resolve completely, but the mythic aspects of Trey's adventures--his noble benefactor, his engagement with the Vegas Casino strip that he dubs ""the dragon"" and so on--give this tale vital coherence and power. Notwithstanding an overwrought finale, this novel bests its predecessors and sets a dramatic stage for the resolution of a provocative dark fantasy series. (Nov.)