I did not grow up religious. Once in a while, when she could convince the feral girl I was to comb her hair and put on something nice, my grandmother would take me to a Unitarian church, where there was no talk of the devil or hell, no fire and brimstone. So why is it that when I think about the things that I am truly, deeply, morbidly afraid of, demons are always at the top of that list? And why do I keep watching movies and reading about them? Why do we as a culture revisit these stories over and over?
Maybe our fascination with demons and possession, with the idea that a dark entity could slip inside you and make you do terrible things, things beyond your control, stems from our own fascination and fears about our own inner darkness. Don’t we all have little inklings, little voices that whisper mean things about people, make us wish we could do something truly wicked now and then? Especially if there was someone —or something—else to blame.
I was a child of the late seventies. I grew up watching The Exorcist, The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby. Movies that taught me the nature of true evil and terror. While movies were the gateway to this terrifying genre, books go to deeper and darker places still. So light a candle, get out your crucifix, cast a ring of salt around your favorite reading chair and settle in.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Let’s begin at the beginning with the book that defined the genre: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I first read this when I was a teenager, not long after seeing the movie, and it was the first time I realized that the book is (almost!) always better than the movie. As iconic as the movie is with little Regan and her green vomit and spinning head, the book immerses you more deeply in the horror. The love Chris MacNeil feels for her daughter Regan is a powerful and palpable thing on the pages of this novel, which makes the helplessness and desperation she feels as she watches her daughter transform into someone (or something) she doesn’t know all the more terrifying. If you know the movie but haven’t read the book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy this spooky season. For an extra treat, listen to the audio version read by William Peter Blatty—highly recommended!
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Is there anything more terrifying than realizing that everyone in your life, everyone you love and trust—your spouse, your neighbors, your doctor—are conspiring, plotting against you, gaslighting you? Rosemary knows something is terribly wrong, tries again and again to get help, but Levin takes the way women’s concerns are so often dismissed and minimized to its most extreme and horrifying conclusion. She is lied to, manipulated, betrayed, raped by the devil himself. The novel does an exquisite job with the slow build of psychological terror, from Rosemary’s first hints that something isn’t right, all the way through to the chilling ending when Rosemary meets her baby (and yes, in the novel, we see what he looks like). Will she kill the child or be a mother to him? Which choice is more horrific?
The Omen by David Selzer
I learned recently that Selzer wrote this novel after he wrote the screenplay for the classic film. Selzer uses the novel to go deeper, to give us more insight into the characters, and thus propel the story forward in an even more unsettling way. There’s a wonderful scene with the journalist, Jennings, and a cooked chicken. The book is made all the more excruciating because we’ve seen the movie, right? We know what Damien is. We know what’s going to happen to his parents and Jennings. Reading about Jeremy Thorn’s denial, his refusal to see the truth about his son, had me twisted in knots. And then, later, when he understands, when he knows what needs to be done, this terrible thing, the worst thing a parent could ever conceive of doing to their child and you’re rooting for him to do it, but knowing how it’s going to go. Sometimes good doesn’t triumph over evil—sometimes evil in the form of a little boy born of the jackal and the devil wins—and that’s just one of the many reasons to love this novel.
Come Closer by Sara Gran
This book just celebrated its 20th anniversary! In my mind, Gran has written the best, most deeply unsettling possession novel ever. This book blew me away when I first read it and it blows me away still. As the story slowly and terribly unfolds, we watch Amanda, an architect with all the trappings of a good life, see and feel herself becoming something else. We’ve all got filters that stop us from doing and saying the evil and wrong little things that pop into our heads from time to time, but suddenly Amanda not only loses hers, but seems to be losing something even more—herself. Is she having a psychotic break? Or is there truly a demon inside her, one she’s known since her childhood? The true terror of this book is that we are right there with Amanda, in her point of view, experiencing what it feels like to lose yourself to something else.
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
This is a multi-layered literary horror novel that pays homage to the exorcism story genre and explores big questions about possession, mental illness and reality TV. The story follows Merry, at 23, sharing her recollections about her childhood with an author. When she was 8 and her sister Marjorie was 14, Marjorie… changed. Their parents were split on whether this was a mental health crisis, or the work of the devil. A local priest became involved, and soon, their family became the center of a reality show called The Possession. Was Marjorie actually possessed? Get sucked into this spellbinding story and see what you believe.
Seed by Ania Alborn
A subtle, atmospheric slow burn demon novel that is Southern Gothic storytelling at its best. When Jack Winter’s young daughter, Charlie, starts to change, he recognizes what’s happening right away. Because it happened to him, too, when he was a boy. Something dark and evil got inside him and now, all these years later, it seems it’s followed him (can you ever really run from a demon?) and has its sights set on his little girl. As a parent, nothing gets to me more than the idea of someone, or something, threatening my child. And if it’s something that’s my fault, something I carried with me—things get far, far worse. This is a truly creepy, keep you up all night with the lights on book. You’ve been warned!
A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans
Something is wrong with George Davies. It’s not just that he won’t hold his own baby. It’s far deeper than that. It goes back to when George was a boy who’d recently lost his father. Lonely and alienated, he met a secret friend. A secret friend who changed everything, George most of all. After years of suppressing memories, the adult George, with the encouragement of his psychiatrist, delves back into the horrors of his own past and begins writing them down. And horrors they are. But he has to face them if he has any hope of moving on and being a father to his son. A beautifully written literary page turner with true darkness at its heart. I love any story about childhood secrets long buried, especially if they involve a friend no one else can see who may or may not be a demon.
The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper
Professor David Ulman is an authority on demonic literature—his area of expertise is Paradise Lost. But he’s a non-believer. At least until a trip to Venice where he sees impossible and horrific things, including his beloved daughter Tess falling from the roof of the hotel into the Grand Canal after whispering, “Find me.” Is Tess really dead? Or has she been captured by a demon, and it’s now up to David, with all his extensive knowledge, to find her and rescue her. This is every parent’s worst nightmare amped up to the max, because this isn’t just any abductor we’re talking about here—this is a demon! This is a smart, page-turning thriller that will have you believing, too.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Can a possession novel be fun? This one is. And gruesome, and dark and full of angst and nostalgia all at once. Set in 1988, it tells the story of high school sophomores Abby and Gretchen, who have been best friends since fourth grade. But something’s happened to Gretchen. She’s not the same. She’s behaving strangely, and Abby soon realized why. Her best friend is possessed. But can Abby save her? The book is a fantastic portrayal of those first friendships that mean everything and change you for life. I was a teenager in the ’80s, so all the music and pop culture references felt like they were made for me. It’s a fast, fun read that brought me back to my angsty high school days and the friends I had then—dramatic enough, even without a demonic possession!
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