William Peter Blatty (1928–2017)

Re-read 2023:
This time I took care to approach this book on its own, rather than mentally comparing to the movie and looking specifically for the fun horror elements. I was much more interested in the Father Karras story, of a priest who had lost his faith after the years of seeing the worst and weakest of mankind and longing for a material sign of god's existence and love, who carried the guilt of being unable to help others, even the mother left behind in squalor and isolation.

Upgraded the rating to 5 stars.

Original from 2013:
I came to this first by way of the movie, which is one of the few horror movies which has consistently scared the living shit out of me from childhood through adulthood. Even now, with dated and transparent special effects, having seen it a bazillion times, it has the power to make me uneasy unless all the lights in the house are left blazing and the radio on top volume for a few hours afterwards. Loving horror novels as I do, I approached the audiobook with all the gleeful anticipation of a gorgeously gross-out scare-fest. I confess myself disappointed.

The story has power, and Mr. Blatty brings a wonderfully evocative, gravelly voice to the audiobook narration, but my God the storyline drags in places. The build up is so painfully slow that if I didn't know what was coming I might have abandoned. Once the possession is in high gear, though, the story clips right along. It's hard to rate the scare-factor, given my history with the movie and familiarity with the story-line, but the second half of this relatively short book makes up for slogging through the first half.… (mehr)