The Possessors

Despite some flaws, I enjoyed this book. I am not typically a horror genre fan, but this book is closer to psychological horror. The characters are more caricatures, but in this case it works well. Reminds me of old British murder mysteries (Agatha Christie?) - a group of people stranded together must deal with their own and each others idiosyncrasies in order to survive. Very creepy, but not too much in terms of blood and guts.

I cd've been as young as 10 or 11 when I read this. I was in an SF bk club & this is one of the bks I got thru that. It was probably pretty adult for me at the time. Looking at it now it seems more like a mystery or horror bk but I've filed it under SF. Christopher's an English writer, maybe this is close to some Ballard. Page 200:

""Men have recorded the abnormalities of themselves and their fellow humans since they learned how to scratch signs on papyrus. I don't know of anything that's anything like what's been happening here. That's why I called it unprecedented. We're faced with something that seems to use human intelligences, but is not human. If it had existed before on the earth, men would have encountered it."

"Elizabeth said, show more "Intelligence doesn't arise out of nothing. Are you saying that snow and ice have somehow acquired consciousness?""

All I remember of this, if one can even call it remembering, is a vague feeling of eerie foreboding - probably what the author was aiming for & something most likely to be effectual w/ an inexperienced young mind such as my own at the time. show less

I first read this book in August, 1980 and I really enjoyed rereading it now. It takes place at an Alpine Skiing chalet, an isolated hotel run by an English couple. An avalanche cuts the chalet off from the surrounding world and the completely isolated guests must endure a nightmare. One by one they become something inhuman and menacing.

I've read a lot of his books and I'm a big fan, but boy was this one terrible book. The characters just sit around making stupid decisions and slugging down drink after drink, which probably the exact same things Christopher was doing when he wrote this.

Nogle gæster på et skisportssted udsættes for etellerandet rumvæsen, der telepatisk kan overtage og kontrollere dem en efter en. De isoleres midlertidigt af en lavine og de normale forsøger at forsvare sig mens de drikker lystigt.

Sært foruroligende bog men ikke specielt god