poptartsandhotfarts's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Considering it’s his first book it’s not bad at all. Like The Omen on steroids. Not one of his best works but well written if a tad slow at the start. Anyone who has read a lot of horror or is into the subject matter probably won’t get as much out of it as a newer genre reader.
chris1974's review against another edition
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!
nickhenderson515's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
benjaminpritchardreads's review against another edition
3.5
Underwhelming after finishing Swan Song. Started off really well then dwindled down
jonahbarnes's review against another edition
I’ll call it Christian fiction, but his view of the world as a battle between light and dark is way off. God is not fighting against Satan or Baal. God is God and everything else is created. God is not struggling.
Still an entertaining story though.
Still an entertaining story though.
kmt75's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.25
McCammon's first is just dreadful. Badly written, poorly plotted, overtly racist. Can't believe he hasn't taken this out of print.
aira_reads's review against another edition
5.0
This is an epic horror tale that spans on a global scale. The story jumps forward, focusing on Baal a la The Omen style and jumps again with a dark prophet and his own cult. The time jump takes a while to get used to and it’s not as detailed to show the setting etc. But the meat of the story is there and it’s delicious
myweereads's review against another edition
4.0
“Baal moved into the dark veil of forest and the others followed without a backward glance.”
This was Robert McCammon’s debut novel. It is telling the story of an unimaginable evil called Baal. After a women is terribly attacked she falls pregnant and gives birth to her son who comes to be known as Baal. In the orphanage where he grew up, he plays with brutal violence, from here he sets to become a leader and have his followers commit the worst acts.
Reading this with Laura has been fun. Whilst reading this I couldn’t help but have The Omen in mind and like Laura pointed out The Exorcist. Similar in some ways yet faithful to his style of writing is what makes this horror novel addictive to read. You could feel the presence of Baal from page to page. When he was in the forefront his evil was explicit and unnerving. Some of the brutal acts were quite detailed.
I love how the story evolved and how engaging the characters were. I was routing for a few and had no idea what was to happen. Even the ending was like a bang and has an impact on where you go from here.
I enjoyed reading this, I was curious because Baal was mentioned in some of his other novels so Im glad I finally read it to learn where the routes of this evil began.
This was Robert McCammon’s debut novel. It is telling the story of an unimaginable evil called Baal. After a women is terribly attacked she falls pregnant and gives birth to her son who comes to be known as Baal. In the orphanage where he grew up, he plays with brutal violence, from here he sets to become a leader and have his followers commit the worst acts.
Reading this with Laura has been fun. Whilst reading this I couldn’t help but have The Omen in mind and like Laura pointed out The Exorcist. Similar in some ways yet faithful to his style of writing is what makes this horror novel addictive to read. You could feel the presence of Baal from page to page. When he was in the forefront his evil was explicit and unnerving. Some of the brutal acts were quite detailed.
I love how the story evolved and how engaging the characters were. I was routing for a few and had no idea what was to happen. Even the ending was like a bang and has an impact on where you go from here.
I enjoyed reading this, I was curious because Baal was mentioned in some of his other novels so Im glad I finally read it to learn where the routes of this evil began.
ctk0224's review against another edition
4.0
Wow! What a great debut novel. McCammon certainly surpassed my expectations with Baal. I honestly wasn’t excited about reading this one, but it had my attention all the way through.