Jere Cunningham - The Visitor

[dem bones]

"The unforgettable experience in total horror that combines the suspense of ROSEMARY'S BABY with the terror of THE EXORCIST in a novel of unequalled in sheer nightmare intensity."

And;

"Please do not read it alone in a strange house."

This should be pretty good!

Jere Cunningham - The Visitor (Coronet, 1980)

Photo: Ray Moller

Blurb:
It escapes, screaming, from the tortured souls caged in the exclusive sanatorium where Frank Merritt works. It glides like a shadow from Hell through the glass walls of Ginny Merritt's new home, chilling her with the touch of an evil unspeakable. It goes to Bobby's room. It loves children.

A five month trial separation has taught Frank and Ginny Merritt that they still love one another, time to reunite their young family and face life's struggles as one. Frank, an upwardly mobile young psychotherapist has agreed never again to interfere in Ginny's aspiring artistic career, she's agreed they'll finally quit their Tennessee roots and begin again in Chicago where he's just landed a dream position at the former Rosewood Sanatorium, now simply "Rosewood." As to the kids, well, Belinda is bright, cheerful, and set on becoming a ballerina when she grows up. Bobby is more ... difficult. He rarely talks and sees ghosts. There's no shortage of 'school's token weird kid' potential about Bobby.

Frank Merritt's first day in his new job. It's completely different to what he's used to, as Rosewood only accepts a certain type of patient, and the regime is relaxed to the point of negligence. Bald, decidedly politically incorrect Dr. Holtzman of the terrifying comb-over (trust me, that woman's hair deserves it's own straitjacket) spells it out to him: "Their leavening factor is their ability to afford our special care. Rosewood is definitely not a non-profit institution. We do not enforce conformity." In other words, "curing" these cash cows of their vices is counter-productive to Rosewood's aims. Just let them do the rich do their thing and they'll treat it as a favourite holiday resort.

So what type of patient can Frank look forward to working with? Dr. Holtzman assigns him three who've yet to "integrate". Laura Shea, the fabulously beautiful, world famous young actress and alcoholic: Pulitzer-prize-winning author Martin Stapler, whose obnoxious personality masks a life of torment over child sexual abuse, and the frighteningly fucked up heiress, Kathleen 'Kitty' Ownett, whose brother blew his brains out after shooting dead their mother.

Meanwhile, as the Merritts adapt to their new life, the brilliant, if disgraced, Dr. R. D. Beck races home from his jaunt with the Jivaro's in Ecuador, hoping beyond hope that he has aquired enough psychic weaponry to combat ..... her. The thing that killed his wife. The thing that scorches flesh from bone with just a touch ....

[To be continued ...]

[Jojo Lapin X]

"A tidal wave of drivel, sometimes luridly fascinating, nearly always offensive in its vile view of human nature, mental illness, and even astral travel."---Kirkus Reviews.

[dem bones]

Jul 21, 2015 10:28:55 GMT Jojo Lapin X said:

"A tidal wave of drivel, sometimes luridly fascinating, nearly always offensive in its vile view of human nature, mental illness, and even astral travel."---Kirkus Reviews.

It was that review decided me to grab The Visitor from the shelf. On the evidence of the first 100 pages, "its vile view of human nature" is no exaggeration. I'm enjoying it immensely.

[dem bones]

So much for getting the marriage back on track.

It only seems like five minutes have passed since Frank swore eternal support for his wife's creative endeavours, but that was before her agent arranged a Virginia Merritt exhibition in New York. No sooner has an ecstatic Ginny informed him of her big breakthrough than the sulky shrink lets her have it with both barrels: she's a lousy wife and even worse mother, she neglects their children in pursuit of her own pleasures and supposed "career", etc. Worst of it is, this tantrum falls on the eve of the "Staff-mixers" party at Rosewood, where the Merritt's are to be formally introduced to Frank's colleagues (Rosewood has done away with uniforms, so Frank's had a difficult time telling employee and patient apart). Hostilities continue throughout the big event. Turns out that Frank's long-lost best buddy, Dr. Al Greenbaum, the world's most brilliant mind, is a fellow Rosewood employee. Frank's grumpiness knows no bounds when Al praises Ginny's paintings and shares a line of coke with her. It's a painful evening enough, but the appalling murder of a security guard makes matters worse. Initially, the paramedic suspects death is due to a combination of frostbite and fast-acting gangrene, but that can't be right! Fortunately, Dr. Beulah Holtzman has the matter hushed up in next to no time, but still it rankles that this should happen on her watch. Heads will roll!

In other news, Bobby grows increasingly withdrawn and downright strange with every passing day. "The boy is normal. Minimal behavioural fluctuation" according to his father.

As a result of her latest face-destroying attack, Dr. Rob Beck realises he's been trying to kill the wrong woman all along! But if it wasn't Laura Shea who incinerated his wife, who could it be?

We really need Dr. Proof to take a look at this novel.

[dem bones]

Events have conspired to bring Dr. Beck, to the Merritt's home where a delighted Frank cordially invites him to stay as their guest for as long as he wishes (at the time Beck is all cut up and battered after a run-in with her, and his "minor car accident" explanation fools no-one). Fortunately, Beck has Frank down as a smug, opportunist toady from the moment he sets eyes upon him, but Ginny is another matter, so too that strange little kid (Belinda is conveniently away at ballet camp). Beck intuitively knows the mad entity has been visiting this house. He knows that Ginny knows this too, but her husband is too stupid and self-interested to even realise there is something diabolical going on all around him.

That which possesses Kitty is turning Bobby against his mother.

Beck and Ginny confide in one another. Frank suspects they are having an affair but that's great! Maybe he can blackmail Beck into take him on as co-partner in a lucrative private practice. Wait 'til Al finds out. He'll be green!

Now that he's only one patient to attend, Frank devotes all his attention to Kitty, who is now prone to lengthy episodes of what Rosewood's top medical brains take to be catalepsy. How about administering a truth drug to unearth what really happened on the night of the infamous family murder? Holtzan insists on storing the resulting tapes in a safe place marked 'secret cabinet of sinful secrets for later use', and urges Merritt and Al to continue the treatment just so long as nothing goes wrong. Trouble is, whatever it is possessing Kitty takes to the astral mid-session to visit her new friend, Bobby, and struggles to get back into the patient's body. A bloody struggle ensues, leaving a nurse shredded and Al minus two fingers. Kitty dies (oh, does she die! I'm still scrubbing all the blood, urine and shit off me) and still plenty of novel to go. What further horrors can the Visitor have in store for the Merritt's and their illustrious guest?

Finished this a few nights back and can't help but think that the Kirkus review is harsh even if it is accurate. The Visitor is indeed lurid and compelling. It's not a particularly flattering portrayal of the private mental health industry, but you could say the same about any number of horror novels and films, and who cares anyway? The author wasn't paid to write a PR brochure. The vast majority of the characters are loathsome - Frank Merritt convincingly rotten, Dr. Holtzan (a predatory swinger and a blackmailer on top of everything else), so cartoon evil she might have been transplanted direct from the sleaziest of shudder pulps. Ginny is at least intended as a sympathetic character, but it's the all-action shrink, Dr. Beck, lets the side down, remaining likeable throughout.