LEGION by William Peter Blatty

 Finished Tu 9/29/20

This is one of my ancient paperbacks (released in 1983) and there is notation when I bought it or if it has been read. The book is a sequel to THE EXORCIST. 

I was surprised to learn that there have been five movies in the 'Exorcist Franchise'. 

A young black mute paperboy is brutally murdered. The killing looks like it was done by The Gemini Killer, but this man was murdered twelve years before. The kid was crucified on rowing oars.

A  priest is decapitated and another priest is murdered.

Lt. Kinderman is the detective in charge. He distinctly Jewish, near retirement and given to posing questions about the nature of reality and why does God act the way he does. 

The best parts of the novel are the philosophical discussions that Kinderman (A kinder man?) has with the other characters.

There is an eye-opening quote from Charles Darwin in which he says that he believes in a creator.

An Interesting Point of View:

"Let There Be Light" might actually mean "Let There Be Reality".

I guess that the novel makes the case that the murders have been committed by an angel who was mad at the original exorcism. 

From a review at 'deadendfollies.com':

"...it's not REALLY a horror novel and not REALLY a mystery either. It's a literary novel that tries to address the possibility of religious dogma being true in the most realistic possible way. I supposed you can say it's a novel about demonology? It may seem austere and maybe it is a little, but I thought it was a lot more convincing than the flying demon/battling angel type of supernatural horror."

I liked the book and would read more by Blatty.

I noticed that the film, 'EXORCIST 3' was available on Amazon Prime and I made it today's Morning Movie:

Although Blatty wrote the screenplay the ending is radically different from the novel. Kinderman has a 'Exorcism Struggle' with the man in the padded cell who claims to be Kinderman's friend, the priest. This exorcism seemed very tacked-on, and according to one of the YouTube video reviews, it was. The bit about the carp living in his bathtub is still in the film and one of the highlights; George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, and a very small role for a very young Kevin Corrigan.