NIGHT VISION

by Frank King ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 1979

A surprisingly intelligent, sometimes gripping, but ultimately foolish and unsatisfying novel about psychotics and demonic possession--as a strange vegetation god springs from buffed guilt and invades the sane via the insane. Years ago, as a trainee analyst, Dr. Paul Stanislas either seduced or was seduced by his trainer analyst, the somewhat older Dr. Helene Roth. And when Stanislas married someone else and vowed never to see his lady analyst again, Helene began brewing a manic hate/jealousy. The years go by, and now Helene has retired from private practice and is caring for psychotics in a hospital for the criminally insane. She may have read too much Laing, since she has committed the serious error of ""going over to the other side""--she's been seduced into joining the psychotics. One of her patients is a child-rapist-murderer named Ligur who's catatonic and fixed in a dreamy myth about a horrific green giant who is his god. Helene is sexually obsessed by Ligur and gives him a lot of sexual relief, more or less joining him on the other side during their acts (he rarely notices them). Then Ligur's green god turns out to be real, and psychotic, and Helene finds that she can direct him to enter Stanislas, take over his mind, and get him to recommit Ligur's crimes, including rape. Few readers will be happy with the ending; King himself seems to be distressed with it, as he tacks on scene after scene, looking for a crisp resolution that forever evades him. But fanciers of morbid, erotic psycho-fantasy will find much to leer at here--and there's enough craft to suggest that King, author of the even grislier Down and Dirty, might do quite well if he could shake off his dank hang-ups.

Pub Date: June 28, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Richard Marek--dist. by Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION