Strange Lovecratian horror mixed with Southern gothic, written in an almost-hallucinatory style that reminded me a bit of Faulkner’s Sanctuary.

agh, I gotta say pass on it.ĭagon - Fred Chappell (St. I’m an admirer of Campbell’s short stories and will give his other novels a try because I’ve read a couple that weren’t bad ( Face That Must Die is great, and Ancient Images was good), but this one. I attempted this book five or six times because I believed it was important to the horror genre, and finally only made it through out of sheer determination. The opening bit is great and the last 50 pages or so are a strong payoff, but the middle - though undeniably well-written - feels like torture.

And Campbell’s prose is too much of a good thing he comes up with brilliant, hallucinatory images, but at 372 pages it gets overwhelming and drowns the narrative flow it’s a good style for small bites but a feast of it will make you sick, and the book becomes tedious and reading it soon feels like a chore. There’s some very creepy stuff here and a lot of it is really effective, but there’s an awful lot that feels like padding, too. She soon realizes she’s been possessed and the intruder within her is growing stronger and demanding more control. Grace had apparently achieved some sort of immortality through rebirths, which scares Rose. She struggles to maintain a normal life with Bill, her husband and writing partner (they’re film critics), but the attacks of paranormal powers become more pervasive, and she begins to research them, finding out things about Adolph Hitler, Aleister Crowley, and an evil man named Peter Grace who mastered powers like the ones she’s exhibiting. As an adult, she starts exhibiting psychic powers, such as getting glimpses of the future and being able to leave her body and fly around. As a child, Rose is invaded by some soft, horrible thing in an abandoned house, while she and her friends are playing a séance game.

and this is a long novel, which seems even longer than it is. Ramsey Campbell is a master short story writer, turning out some classically creepy, nightmarish works, but his hallucinogenic style doesn't translate well to novels. The Parasite - Ramsey Campbell (Pocket Books, 1980)

Exorcism by Eth Natas