THE HAUNTING OF SUZANNA BLACKWELL

by Richard Setlowe ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 1984

Real ghosts and a horror show--drive-in style--with slabs of athletic sex, yukky corpses, and squads of specters, plus a brace of well-meaning spooks with love on their ectoplasmic minds. In 1958, twelve-year-old Suzanna Blackwell went to the funeral of her alcoholic mother Grace, who night after night would sip bourbon and play the Sinatra/Dorsey record of ""I'll Be Seeing You."" Now, in 1976, just-divorced Suzanna becomes hostess for her father, Captain John Blackwell, new C.O. of the naval base and shipyard, Mare Island, in San Francisco Bay. At a reception Suzanna meets veteran newscaster Ed Riley, an often-soused ""Voice"" with an admiring protÉgÉ in young producer Michael Lowenstein. But then Riley is found dead, mysteriously burned in the Bay--soon after narrating a story about old WW II ships. And, while jumpy young Michael grievingly pursues the strange manner of Riley's death, Suzanna--who has chatted with her mother's ghost through the years--has some visitations at her father's empty mansion: a stranger-spirit who thumps at her bedroom door and throws things. What is that very masculine scent that wafts about and why did It write out the lyrics of ""I'll Be Seeing You""? Meanwhile, there are also ghostly doings down at the pier--involving a mouldering ship, the Santa Cruz, once captained by John Blackwell. (The body of a grizzled officer will be discovered, boiled like Riley's.) Michael and Suzanna soon hop in the sack together, exchanging spooky histories; on a pleasure-boat jaunt, Suzanna will be rescued from drowning by a strangely familiar young officer who floats up from nowhere; on Riley's tape, Michael discovers ""ghosts"" that defy scientific explanation. And, before Michael and Suzanna make their dashin-the-stretch, pursued by a hideous spectral boatload, the terrible secret of the Curse of the Santa Cruz will be explained (as will Michael's jumpiness)--while Suzanna levitates with a sexy ghost. A house-and-boatful of hauntings, loud and fast. . . and subtle as a blast from a ship's whistle.

Pub Date: May 7, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION