The Intruders, by Michael Marshall

(hb; 2007)

From the inside flap:

"For Jack Whalen, it all starts with a visit from a childhood friend, now a lawyer, who asks for his help on an odd case.  The family members of a scientist have been brutally murdered and the scientist - who may have had something to hide - is nowhere to be found.

"But Jack has more pressing matters on his mind.  His wife has told him that she's on a routine business trip to Seattle, yet she hasn't checked into her hotel.  Calls to her cell phone go unanswered, and when Jack travels to Seattle to investigate, she's vanished.

"And in Oregon a little girl goes missing.  She's found miles away, but it soon becomes clear that she's not an innocent victim, and is far from defenseless.

"Unusual events, all leading to the same place.  As a former patrol cop who left the force under difficult circumstances, Jack is determined to find some answers.  Yet the more he digs, the more the intrigue grows.  Searching into the dark secrets of a past that still haunts him, Jack discovers the truth has roots deeper and far more evil than he ever feared."


Review:

Intruders is a mostly solid, intimate conspiracy thriller - slick, (often) nuanced in its tone and insinuations, entertaining (in a mainstream way) and lots of plot-pertinent action in this one. 

What kept this novel from getting higher marks with me was that its action and plot points, for the most part, were predictable.  Also, its ending, while obvious, wasn't effectively foreshadowed (when compared to the nuanced tone of the rest of the book) - its last "twist" was clumsy at best, forced.  

Marshall is a talented genre writer, no doubt about that.  That said, check this one out from the library or pick it up for a few bucks (at most).

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The resulting BBC America television series, Intruders, began airing on August 23, 2014. 

John Simm played Jack Whalen.  Mira Sorvino played Amy Whalen.  Tory Kittles played Gary Fischer.  Millie Bobby Brown played Madison O'Donnell.  Sonya Salomaa played Allison O'Donnell.  

James Frain played Richard Shepherd.  Robert Forster played Frank Shepherd.  Daryl Shuttleworth played Detective Ron Blanchard.   Tom Butler played Brud Zimmerman.  Karin Konoval played Bobbi Zimmerman. 

Andrew Airlie played Todd Crane.  Shanae Tomasevich played Paige Crane.  David Dalmalchian played Oz Turner.  Alex Diakun played Marcus Fox.

Psycho by Robert Bloch

(pb; 1959: first book in the original Psycho trilogy)

From the back cover

"When the Bates Motel loomed up out of the storm, Mary Craine thought it was her salvation. The rooms were musty but clean, and the manager, Norman Bates, seemed like a nice enough fellow, if a little strange. . .

"Then Mary met Norman's mother. And the butcher knife.

"The nightmare had just begun. . ."


Review

Pulp-style writing, crisp prose, succinct characterizations, macabre puns and shocking violence form this familiar landmark work. This, easily, is one of the best pulp novels I've ever read.

Own it!

Followed by Psycho II.

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Psycho resulted in two film versions.

The first version was released stateside on August 25, 1960. Helmed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and scripted by Joseph Stefano, it starred Anthony Perkins in his career-defining role of Norman Bates.

Janet Leigh played Marion Crane (cinematic stand-in for Mary Craine). Vera Miles played Lila Craine. John Gavin played Sam Loomis. Martin Balsam played Milton Arbogast. Simon Oakland played Dr. Fred Richmond. Patricia "Pat" Hitchcock (daughter of Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville) played Caroline.

An uncredited Virginia Gregg played the voice-role of Norma Bates, Norman's mother.

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The second version, directed and produced by Gus Van Sant, was released stateside on December 4, 1998. Joseph Stefano's screenplay for the original version was used for this almost shot-for-shot remake.

Vince Vaughn played Norman Bates. Anne Heche played Marion Crane. Julianne Moore played Lila Crane. Viggo Mortensen played Samuel "Sam" Loomis. William H. Macy played Milton Arbogast. Robert Forster played Dr. Fred Richmond. Phillip Baker Hall played Sheriff Al Chambers. James Remar played "Patrolman". Rita Wilson played Caroline. James LeGros played "Charlie the Car Dealer".

Reflections in a Golden Eye, by Carson McCullers

(hb; 1941)

From the inside flap:

"... the story advances through the tangle of the emotional life of a Southern army post. The characters are strong and varied. Each is met in a revelatory moment: a captain safe only in impersonality; his golden, cruel wife; and a private mutely in love with her, watching the moonlight on her face as she sleeps, unaware of his presence."

Review:

The plot: An army Captain (cuckolded kleptomaniac Weldon Penderton), his wife ("feeble-minded" sensual Lenora), and their neighbors (Major Morris Langdon, Lenora's lover, and his sickly wife, Alison) are living in the social fishbowl of a military outpost, when a possibly-psychotic intensely-Xian Private L.G. Williams begins to stalk Lenora. In doing so, he helps bring about events that will ultimately shatter the fragile social structure that defines and restricts them all.

Bizarre, compact study of perversity, pettiness and antiseptic-toned cruelty, this: this is one of the most unique novels I've ever read; stylistically, it's incredibly different than McCullers's earlier novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which was a warm, rambly affair. It's difficult to believe that these tone- and theme-divergent novels sprang from the same mind.

This is also one of the most unsettling books I've read in a long while. Its brutality lies in taut-threatening-to-snap smiles, hissed comments and sudden, shocking acts of aggression.

The violent ending is flat and uninspired, after the creative displays of intimate cruelties that precede it. That said, Reflections in a Golden Eye a literary masterpiece, albeit a disturbing one.

Reflection in a Golden Eye, the film, was released stateside on October 13, 1967. Elizabeth Taylor played Lenora Penderton. Marlon Brando played Major Weldon Penderton. Brian Keith played Lt. Col. Morris Langdon. Julie Harris played Alison Langdon. Robert Forster played Pvt. L.G. Williams.

John Huston directed, from a script by Gladys Hill and Chapman Mortimer.