When I found myself without a book to read this week, I decided to go a little retro and dig through a box of paperbacks I haven't gotten around to reading. What I selected was an unfortunately stripped book, its front cover removed long before making its acquaintance with me. But what was on the outside was by no means the whole story with this wounded paperback. It was John Saul's "Comes the Blind Fury," originally published in 1980 and the one tragedy therein is that I didn't find the time to read it before this week.
"Comes the Blind Fury" is a simple take on the classic 'ghost story.' A New England family moves into a grandiose Victorian estate on the seashore, only to find that they got more than they bargained for. If my description sounds cliche, sue me. Because at its foundation, this story is just as jaded. But Saul's masterful prose kept the pages turning, even when I thought I knew what was going to happen next. In all honesty, I was right sometimes and wrong others; I didn't bother working out the right to wrong ratio, I just took the victories with the losses and continued reading.
Saul's characterization was hit or miss in this book- though I must say that he seemed to have captured exactly what he was aiming for. An important character, the father of the protagonist, started off as a truly enjoyable person to read... but before long he became an introverted and downright loathsome character that I would love to slap in the face, should I meet a living incarnation of him. I guess this is what defines great characterization, and I'm embittered by the fact that this character turned so surly when I wanted him to stay the Nice Guy supporting character he had originally been. His wife- the yin to his yang, as it were- was just the opposite. In the beginning I wasn't all that interested in what her character was bringing to the table. But by the time the plot had thickened, I saw that June Pendleton was an embodiment of the compassionate and understanding mother that we all wanted. A Joan Cleaver without the obnoxious sentiments.
The problem I have with "Comes the Blind Fury" should be an important one, as it involves the main character, Michelle, and the main conflict (that the ghost is making Michelle do terrible things which she is later blamed for). The problem I had was that Michelle, at times, seemed almost willing to perform these horrific murders- as if all she needed was a little infinitesimal nudge to do so. In fact, the only time she resisted the will of the specter, she successfully saved a life with very little trouble at all.
But this is a minor problem, against all odds, because Saul's narrative voice kept the story moving, even in parts that should have felt slow. And because his characterization was strong enough that these people seemed real to me- and never stepped out of character unless it was pivotal to the plot.
Overall, I'm rating John Saul's "Comes the Blind Fury" a 7 out of 10 for my first Retro Review. There was a little to leave desired- up to and including the dramatic, almost Shakespearean ending and modern horror B-movie epilogue- but what little I felt it lacked was inconsequential in the face of what it possessed. I will recommend this read heartily, though not to absolute horror connoisseurs. But how many of us are there really?
The P.S. Zone: I'm going to mention the dialog as a completely personal opinion... I felt myself shaking my head a little bit at the way the characters spoke to each other. Not because they talked in an unrealistic manner, but because the way Americans speak has changed so much in the last thirty years. While I know for a fact that Saul's dialog was spot-on in its time, reading it was like hearing Dennis the Menace saying, "Gee, Mr. Wilson, that sure is swell!" in the old TV shows. I haven't thought much about the current stage of our language's evolution, but I'm certainly going to be looking for more examples as poignant as in "Comes the Blind Fury."
Stay Scared.
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