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A review by chris1974
Baal by Robert R. McCammon
4.0
First published way back in 1978, this is McCammon's debut novel which launched his highly successful career, churning out some of the best works of horror of the 20th Century and beyond.
When you think about the time of its release, all the greats were just getting started too, I mean Carrie by Stephen King was only released four years prior. In 1977, Dean Koontz was getting traction, although at the time he was of course using the pen names K R Dwyer and Leigh Nicholls. Richard Laymon is another that comes to mind in 1980, Ramsey Campbell, Anne Rice and many more, I'm sure. This was the golden age of horror fiction when its popularity exploded like a neutron bomb.
Baal is the sixth book of McCammon's that I have read, and I have enjoyed them all so far - Boy's Life (still my favorite!), Swan Song, Blue World, Mine and Stinger.
So, what is the book about?
A woman is ravished...
and to her a child is born...
unleashing an unimaginable evil upon the world...
They call him BAAL in the orphanage where he leads the children on a rampage of violence...
In California, where he appears as the head of a deadly Manson-like cult...
In Kuwait, crazed millions heed his call to murder and orgy...
They call him BAAL in the Arctic's hellish wasteland, where he is tracked by the only three men with a will to stop him: Zark, the shaman; Virga, the aging professor of theology; and Michael, the powerful, mysterious stranger.
Very much like Mine, the novel opens with a violent scene, a rape scene resulting in the conception of Baal, the name of a Demon Prince he later gives himself.
From early childhood it's obvious that he is not like other children and drives his parents against each other before going into the care of an orphanage where his insidious power begins to amplify very quickly - you definitely get some Damien / Omen vibes here.
I think the Middle Eastern and Inuit customs and religions were very well researched and were quite authentic, given that the origin of Baal's namesake is heavily steeped in biblical mythology, and I liked the scope of the story being told across several continents.
You could tell that with this book, that McCammon was still finding his writer's voice and he has also mentioned the same thing himself in interviews over the years but for a debut novel it is written exceptionally well, and it had me pretty well unsettled for the most part and you wouldn't think that this was his first novel. In fact, he may have written a few trunk novels before this one - who knows?
I enjoyed the twist at the end, it was very well thought out and McCammon faithfully follows the rules about Good and Evil, how you can never eradicate true evil. Yes, you can overcome it but it's always there, watching and waiting.
Was it the best McCammon book I've read so far? No, I don't think so but it's still pretty solid and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try McCammon's work for the first time and subsequent books just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to read Mystery Walk next, I've been hanging out for that one and there are so many books in McCammon's backlist that I'm looking forward to, I just want to read them all!
When you think about the time of its release, all the greats were just getting started too, I mean Carrie by Stephen King was only released four years prior. In 1977, Dean Koontz was getting traction, although at the time he was of course using the pen names K R Dwyer and Leigh Nicholls. Richard Laymon is another that comes to mind in 1980, Ramsey Campbell, Anne Rice and many more, I'm sure. This was the golden age of horror fiction when its popularity exploded like a neutron bomb.
Baal is the sixth book of McCammon's that I have read, and I have enjoyed them all so far - Boy's Life (still my favorite!), Swan Song, Blue World, Mine and Stinger.
So, what is the book about?
A woman is ravished...
and to her a child is born...
unleashing an unimaginable evil upon the world...
They call him BAAL in the orphanage where he leads the children on a rampage of violence...
In California, where he appears as the head of a deadly Manson-like cult...
In Kuwait, crazed millions heed his call to murder and orgy...
They call him BAAL in the Arctic's hellish wasteland, where he is tracked by the only three men with a will to stop him: Zark, the shaman; Virga, the aging professor of theology; and Michael, the powerful, mysterious stranger.
Very much like Mine, the novel opens with a violent scene, a rape scene resulting in the conception of Baal, the name of a Demon Prince he later gives himself.
From early childhood it's obvious that he is not like other children and drives his parents against each other before going into the care of an orphanage where his insidious power begins to amplify very quickly - you definitely get some Damien / Omen vibes here.
I think the Middle Eastern and Inuit customs and religions were very well researched and were quite authentic, given that the origin of Baal's namesake is heavily steeped in biblical mythology, and I liked the scope of the story being told across several continents.
You could tell that with this book, that McCammon was still finding his writer's voice and he has also mentioned the same thing himself in interviews over the years but for a debut novel it is written exceptionally well, and it had me pretty well unsettled for the most part and you wouldn't think that this was his first novel. In fact, he may have written a few trunk novels before this one - who knows?
I enjoyed the twist at the end, it was very well thought out and McCammon faithfully follows the rules about Good and Evil, how you can never eradicate true evil. Yes, you can overcome it but it's always there, watching and waiting.
Was it the best McCammon book I've read so far? No, I don't think so but it's still pretty solid and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try McCammon's work for the first time and subsequent books just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to read Mystery Walk next, I've been hanging out for that one and there are so many books in McCammon's backlist that I'm looking forward to, I just want to read them all!