Book Review: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

This is the book which started it all – the controversial book which led to the making of “The Exorcist” (1973), one of the best horror movies of all time. Partly based on the true story of a child’s demonic possession in 1949.

Regan MacNeil, twelve year old daughter of famous actress, Chris MacNeil, starts playing with a Ouija board and talking to a mysterious “Captain Howdy”, whom everyone believes is just her imaginary friend. But it turns out to be a demon named Pazuzu who eventually possesses her.

The MacNeils live in a quaint house in Washington, DC and have three workers – the Angtrums are a foreign married couple who cook & clean and Sharon is Regan’s tutor and does various tasks for Chris.

After the possession, which waxes and wanes, Chris MacNeil, an atheist, has to deal with her beliefs and the unbelievable stress and pains of not being able to do anything about it. She seeks religious council with Father Damien Karas, a priest with his own doubts about God. Father Merrin is brought in to perform an exorcism on Regan.

Meanwhile, Lt. William Kinderman is investigating the death of a friend of Chris MacNeil on the long flight of stairs below Regan’s bedroom window. Also, someone’s desecrating churches and Kinderman believes it’s a “black Mass” ceremony.

Almost everyone in this novel has life-changing struggles and all are affected by their inner demons while confronting tangible ones.

The atmosphere is rather clinical at times. I constantly had the image of a plain white doctor’s office. Little description of the settings and surroundings so I was faced with a blank image. There’s no sense of rushing or impending doom which I felt were needed to clearly show the seriousness of the situation. Also, there’s very few different locations used; it mostly in the MacNeil household.

Now, there are times when the atmosphere is a bit scary – when we see and hear Regan in her bedroom while she’s possessed. I suppose the crudeness and vulgarity while doing sacrilegious things just felt wrong. The actions themselves did but they were necessary to the story.

There’s not that many characters to keep track of and even fewer of crucial characters. Really, the characters with the most depth to them are Chris MacNeil and Father Karas. Lt. Kinderman and Carl are fairly descriptive. But the rest are rather cardboard.

Regan MacNeil is the innocent little girl who becomes possessed by the demon. We don’t really see much of her while not possessed so we don’t get to feel for her as much as possible. I wish we did get to see more of her because it would’ve added to the horror.

Chris MacNeil is a rising movie actress and the mother of Regan and the character we see the most of. We get to see a very in-depth view of her and we feel all of her pains, anxiety, and anguish.

Father Damien Karas is the priest / psychologist who is enlisted by Chris MacNeil to help her daughter, Regan, and takes part in the exorcism. We delve into his struggle with his faith.

Lt. William Kinderman is the detective investigating the possible murder of Chris’ director and friend. His character seemed absent-minded and unkempt like Columbo.

Sharon is Regan’s tutor and Chris’ assistant around the house.

Carl & Willy Angstrum are Chris’ European immigrant caretakers.

Father Dyer is Damien Karas’ friend and confidante. He later becomes friends with Lt. William Kinderman.

The pace of events is rather laid back without a rush. There are frequent pauses to go on diatribes of philosophical discussions about life and evil. They are interesting but some horror fans might feel that this distracts from the horror aspects of the story. But they do add great depth to the characters and shows us how evil affects us. The pace of writing is great though. It’s an easy and interesting read.

The basic story is written cleanly but then a few characters have their own battles to fight

I liked this book a lot but didn’t love it. It must be separated into three subjects: the horror of the demon possessing Regan, the characters struggling with their beliefs about God, religion, life, and the universe, and a clinical analysis of disorders of the mind.

The clinical analysis is interesting but got a bit repetitious. It’s not for everyone.

The demon possession is of second-most importance. The parts where Regan is saying and doing sacreligious things is very vulgar and obscene but it’s necessary to portray the demon. But , if not for these scenes, the book isn’t very scary. It’s more disturbing than scary. Instead of feeling Regan’s pains, which we do see, we feel the more second-hand pains of those around her.

The characters struggling with their beliefs about God, religion, life, and the universe is the true focus of this novel. We see the stress of an actress, the priest trying to rekindle his religious beliefs, the love of a man for his child, the detective who knows more than he’s letting on, and more. This is very well done and forces you to look at your own beliefs, I know I did.

This novel is great if you like philosophical discussions and investigating the validity of possession vs. mental illness. But, if you expect a fast-paced, physically terrifying and gory story, this isn’t for you. Don’t get me wrong, this has some good horrific scenes but, overall, it’s more psychological. The movie works better horror-wise because the horror is visual, which I found ten times more terrifying than just reading descriptions of it.

A definite read for horror fans! 3.5/5