The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

You've seen the film, surely? Possibly one of the most notorious pieces ever committed to celluloid. Similarly, the novel which inspired the film had so great an influence on the horror genre that it surely must sit with the work of M.R. James, Shelley, Stoker and others as a classic and defining piece of literature.

A summary of the plot is almost redundant. Regan MacNeil, eleven year old daughter of actress Chris, is possessed by a devil. The Catholic Church, in the form of Father Damien Karras, attempts to deal with the matter. When he fails the big guns, Father Lankester Merrin, the exorcist of the title, is sent in. Simple.

Or not. After a slow build in the strangeness around the MacNeil house, culminating in the terrifying final appearance of the demon, the ambiguity of the plot makes itself truly apparent. After the recent death of his mother, Karras finds himself with increasing doubts about his faith. Coupled with his training in psychology, this lends him towards and increasingly rationalist view of the situation. Citing adrenaline-drenched feats of strength, stigmata, suggestion, and more, it is a long time before he will remotely consider that possibility that the demon is real.

It is here that the magic of the novel lies. Regan is the product of a split-marriage, and much of the blame for her condition is placed at that door. In turn, the novel veers between a novel of the supernatural, and one of domestic tragedy, and the effects of upbringing on a small child. Is the 'demon' a product of suggestion, perhaps inspired by the fanatically religious babysitter? The possibility remains a real one, throughout the novel. It is this emphasis on reality that carries the story away with such style. The premise of a demonic possession is a fantastical one, as the reader can appreciate. However, when every single character in the novel also appreciates this, and denies that it can be true, the world of the story merges seamlessly with our own, and becomes a horror too personal to deny.

Humanity is represented with an aching tenderness in these pages. From the grief-stricken Chris MacNeil, to the wretchedly doubting Karras. Even Merrin himself, elevated to heroic status by the time he appears toward the end of the story, proves fundamentally flawed and human.

Soul-searching aside, the novel delivers terror in spades. After a creeping beginning, the novel flies through horrors obscene and unbearable. Everything is there from the movie, but enhanced wildly without the appeasement of a censor to worry over.

'The Exorcist' was one of the literary twirls which opened the door for King and his cronies to usher in the Eighties horror boom. A classic piece of literature, profound in its understanding of character, tearfully painful in its conclusion, this ambiguous masterpiece should be on your shelf already. If it isn't, buy it right now.