Legion

What a stunning waste of time, effort, and trees. Just inside the front cover of this novel, there is a statement that reads, Legion transcends The Exorcist in terror, suspense and intensity. On the basis of that statement alone, I should be able to demand my money back. It's a completely untruthful statement.

Blatty's M.O. seems to be to just write whatever comes into his head for the first three-quarters of a novel, then finally get down to what we came for in the last few pages. It's no different here. We are subjected to Lt. Kinderman, returning from his role in The Exorcist , in a particularly philosophically contemplative mood. This is a kind way for me to say that it felt like Blatty was just filling pages with his dense, show more off-topic mode of speaking, as well as pages and pages of dense ruminations on God, evil, and nature.

In my 250-page paperback edition, the story literally did not kick into gear until a few pages past 200. And in the final 50 pages, Blatty let the always-evasive possessing entity actually provide all the information needed to understand exactly what had happened off-screen throughout the novel. Clumsy, lazy storytelling.

What a steaming pile of crap this novel was. If he hadn't made so many waves with The Exorcist, I doubt this travesty would ever have seen the light of day. show less

“We have every indication that he died of fright.”

As a coincidence, I finally re-read The Exorcist after more than 15 years in December. I followed this up in January with a re-read (been more than 10 years) of Legion, the sequel that inspired the third flick. Strangely William Peter Blatty took his last breath three days later. RIP for the author, he dished out some chilling stories.

We all remember the bizarre and relentless Lieutenant Kinderman from the original story. He kept up his friendship with a priest who was a close friend of Damien Karras and who the lieutenant walked off with when that story closed its horrors. Suddenly entrenched in a bizarre series of truly nauseating deaths, he finds that the blueprints are linked show more to the Zodiac killer who was executed years ago. As he follows the crime, he runs into a truly unsettling shock.

It's funny that the strength of philosophy in Kinderman's character and the storyline both upped and downed it. Playing off its strengths to continue intellectual pondering when introducing something so flighty as possession, but it was overdone to where it lost its luster and gave some downright dull moments. Still Kinderman is an intriguing detective and we do get some emotional scenes. Part of me greatly enjoyed his strange ponderings, but sometimes it grew too much to where I wanted to skim a few dialogue exchanges and weird mental philosophies. Obviously Blatty would work religion into this book.

There's a sad death here to hated to hear about, and the poor soul was offed in a horrible way. The book doesn't hold back on the violence level seen after the fact. The movie is actually much creepier, and I do wish the author would have done a particular reveal earlier on, but the pacing was still strong and hard to put down. The book takes forever to get to its twist with the cell inmate, while the movie smartly started earlier in the mystery.

Bleak and grim, it was easy to lose myself in the story. Blatty's writing style was more personal than the original Exorcist. Unfortunately the story is a little cheesy in some ways, and the Exorcist is more original (in its time), but this was a worthy follow-up that deserves a read.

Oh, and love the stepback show less

I think enjoyment of Legion really depends on what you liked most about The Exorcist. For me, Kinderman was one of my favorite characters from the first book, so I loved spending more time with his witty, philosophical ramblings here. The story does start extremely slow, and in terms of major plot developments it doesn’t really pick up until the last third. It’s also clear Blatty was working through his own beliefs in this novel, which I personally find fascinating, though I can see how that might be a turn-off for some readers. Still, the mystery itself is such a cool and unique idea that it kept me hooked. I used to go back and forth on whether I prefer this to The Exorcist (same with the films), but I’ve finally settled that show more while The Exorcist may be the stronger story overall, I’ll always love Legion just a little more for my own personal reasons. show less

Prefacing this with the fact that I haven't actually read The Exorcist and I think this may have been more disappointing by comparison had I done so.
This is an odd one. Ostensibly a slow burn detective story framing a horror story, its ultimately unclear whether we're talking about demons or ghosts or a psychological phenomena. And in fact I think that's sort of the point. A *lot* of the book is given over to internal and external philosophizing by our main character, Detective Kinderman. If you're buying in and on board for the ride, that's fine, but just a rough estimate here...at least half the novel is theological speculating rather story telling and that's going to fall flat for a lot of readers.
I enjoyed it, both the dialogue and show more the internal monologue almost felt mamet-like in their pacing, sometimes it feels like Kinderman is doing a caricature of himself. Characterization as a whole is handled well, and the the relationships, especially the clear love between our male protagonists, is beautifully portrayed.
Ultimately, it does feel like Blatty was trying to work out some of his own thoughts and feelings regarding the afterlife, supernatural, god, and the meaning of life though, and the maybe that should have been saved for a separate dedicated work. show less

While still interesting and full of the punchy writing & dialogue that made The Exorcist so good, Legion falls short of equaling the predecessor. The audio narration in particular has nothing on Blatty's own reading of Exorcist, and pales in comparison to George C Scott's performance in the movie version. While that adaptation has problems it really needed a powerful reading to do justice to the dialogue, which instead falls flat on the monotone delivery without the proper inflection for what's being said.
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Reread 2023.
This whole book is barely about the horror, but rather continues meditating on faith, life and death. The friendship between Kinderman and Dyer is one of the best written dynamics I've encountered and it's funny that show more it's in this book. show less

"And he asked him: What is thy name? And he saith to him: My name is Legion, for we are many." Mark 5:9

In 1971, William Peter Blatty was a relatively unknown author who had written a few books -- mainly humorous -- based on his own experiences. I'd read "Which Way to Mecca, Jack?" -- based on his adventures in the USAID in his ancestral home of Lebanon -- in high school, so I actually read with some anticipation ... and then left the llights on in my apartment for a month. I saw the film and got pissed off because William Friedkin simply blew it in my opinion. I was so disappointed that the visceral fear I'd felt when I read the book was traded for a couple pints of split pea soup.

We flash forward twenty years. Blatty is a successful show more writer. He comes back to his bestseller and creates another book that made me leave the lights on.

Instead of focusing on a famous film star and her little girl, the main character is the wonderful William Kinderman, the police officer who investigated the original crimes. He's investigating a series of grisly murders that appear to be religiously related. In the process, he ...

Well, I'm not going to say anything more. I want you to read the book, after all. And If you think you can get away with only seeing the film, think again. No matter how fine the late George C. Scott is as Kinderman, and how glorious the acting is, the book is, of course, better.

If you like to be scared; if you like to consider the deep questions posed by religion; and especially if you have ever questioned your personal faith, Legion is a book you should read. It is Blatty at his finest and will make you appreciate the fact that the world contains very few chances of you ever running into one demon let along a legion of them. show less

Legion is a sequel to The Exorcist. Detective William Kinderman finds himself investigating the horrific murders of a 12 year old boy found crucified in a boat shed and a priest decapitated in his confessional. The murders bear the calling cards of a serial killer known as the Gemini Killer, but this individual is known to have been killed several years earlier. Are the new, and increasingly gruesome killings, a copycat or is something else at work?
This was OK I suppose. The plot was basically decent, but it was something of a slow burn. Knowing that this was a sequel to The Exorcist I expected something more blatantly supernatural/demonic from an early stage, but for at least the first half it was a basic police procedural story. The show more central character is Kinderman (the detective from The Exorcist), who is just plain irritating. He is a good detective- incredibly observant, intelligent and hard-nosed. Unfortunately he engages in endless, unnecessary dialogue about the nature of good and evil, random facts and pretentious philosophising and all for no particular reason. His colleagues seem to accept this as normal, when clearly the man is as mad as a hatter. His ramblings get in the way of the story. Generally an underwhelming read. show less