The Exorcist

For today’s countdown to Halloween's post, a new reading suggestion: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. The book that inspired the film, inspired (allegedly) by a true story of demonic possession and “the most terrifying novel ever written” according to its front cover. Well fear being something subjective and personal notwithstanding I disagree with this claim. It is good enough and gives a few pleasant chills, but the prose is rather journalistic and the story is sometimes dull (at nearly 400 pages, keeping the tensions high gets sometimes difficult). I found the movie far more efficient and frightening (and it gets rid of a secondary plot that serves no purpose whatsoever). In the novel I can’t help but feel that the demonic possession is a mixture of early signs of puberty and a case of gastroenteritis from Hell. Just keep Regan hydrated and send away the Catholic priests! They are useless anyway. I’d be tempted to say stick to the movie (or even its third sequel which had its moments), but it’s still an easy and pleasant enough read and it’s an interesting mixture of a modern setting and old religious rituals. Apparently the current pope is reintroducing exorcism so the novel might actually become trendy again.