THE MESMERIST

by Felice Picano ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1977

When strobe-eyed dentist Frederick Dinsmore lays on the double-whammy, the good folk of 1899 Center City assume it's only to yank teeth. But hypnosis has other uses. Deluding town magnate Henry Lane into suicide, for instance, and then ravishing his business enterprises, to say nothing of his lovely widow, Carrie. ""I went to his body as though it was the altar of a god,"" confesses the poor woman, ""and I spent all my time adoring at that altar, even seeking new ways by which I might titillate or gratify him."" Well, don't be too down on yourself, dear, though those ""false phalluses and the like"" do give one a turn. Half the town gets bollixed by this walking laser beam for one design or another, and Picano makes a palatable psycho-stew of it. Stalwart prosecutor James Orpheus Ransom and feisty physician Amasa Murcott add Paul Muni righteousness and supportingcast perkiness, and, though plodding in some spots and overblown in others (as when the bemused Carrie, testifying at Dinsmore's trial, has to hide behind veils and a partition to avoid being mesmerized on the witness stand), the mix of sex-shock and mind-shock and evil-in-us-all careens to its mandatory stock climax. A generous serving of hot-and-heavy air.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION