The Searing

by John Coyne

Her body seemed out of her control ... her hips and pelvis jumped involuntarily, thrust forward, as the warm blood burst through her body ... Another shuddering. Another rage of thick pleasure ... And then, just as suddenly, it was over ... As their frequency and ferocity increased, the women of Renaissance Village became terrorized by these inexplicable "attacks." But even as the death toll mounted, who could expect that the key to stopping the assaults would be an eleven year old autistic girl?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction

264 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

John Coyne (born 1937) is an American writer. He is the author of more than twenty-five nonfiction and fiction books, including a number of horror novels, while his short stories have been collected in "best of" anthologies such as Modern Masters of Horror and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. A former Peace Corps Volunteer and a life-long lover of golf, Coyne has edited and written a number of books dealing with both subjects, the most recent two novels areThe Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan and "The Caddie Who Played With Hickory".

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a totally bat shit crazy book, easily venturing into the bizarro end of the spectrum. Our main protagonist is Sara, a research doctor on the brain. After a falling out with her lover, she moves to D.C. to take up a job in the NIH. She, along with several others, buy houses in a new development in Virginia on what used to be a farmer's field. The farmer and his wife have a child named Cindy who is autistic and always running around the new development.

One day, Sara just finishes a shower and is overcome by an intense orgasm; the next day, it happens again! She starts talking to the other women in the development and they all experienced the same big O at around the same time. Meanwhile, some of the kids are killed in the development by what appears to be a burning of parts of their brain. Then things start to get really crazy!

While I guess you could call this a horror novel, it is really more science fiction than anything else. Turns out some aliens have installed a 'data bank' in Cindy's brain some how and basically program her to do certain things. How Sara and others managed to sort this out it really an amazing leap of faith for the reader, but so be it. Are all autistic children basically programed by aliens to observe humanity? Coyne suggests that may be the case. Once they figure out Cindy's data bank deal, they hook her up via a computer to a giant computer in D.C. and find out her data bank is malfunctioning and they need to eradicate it to save her life. Good thing Sara has a bag full of psychotropics handy as they will do the trick! Coyne takes us jumping from one bizarre conclusion to the next over and over here! He even has the aliens firebombing the town from space! Bat shit crazy for sure! Coyne also drops in the 'facts' of Celts, Ancient Egyptians and others colonizing the Americas before the Native Americans and building mini Stonehenges everywhere and teaching some sort of ancient language and the Baal (or Bel) religion. I mean, it is like he is going for total broke here, tossing out things like this over and over!

This is a short novel and I finished it in one sitting. It is close to being so bad it is almost good, like Italian exploitation films of the 70s and 80s. Grady Hendrix's review is basically "orgasms from outer space" and that kinda sums it up nicely. To enjoy this, I think you need to suspend belief and just go with the flow. First published in 1980, this is definitely a paperback from hell. Lots of people making very dubious decisions based upon questionable motivations. I do not know what Coyne was smoking while writing this, but it must have been good. 3 bizarro stars!!

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spontaneous Orgasms from Outer Space.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't lie to you, this is an insanely cheesy book. Edgar Allan Poe this isn't, but then I dare you to read the synopsis and look at any of the covers for this book and tell me that you expected this to be anything other than a pulp horror novel. That's sort of the gist of this review: Coyne's horror is of the type that will never win any awards for scholastic merit, but is the type that any true lover of 80s cheese and sleaze horror will adore.

The plot point here is pretty interesting, I must admit. This a mixture of science fiction and horror, with more emphasis on the science fiction. It's a fun little slice of late 70s, early 1980 pop culture as well, as this brings in several elements from the time period that were all the rage back then. There's an emphasis on space, psychology, and of course, sex. That's really what drew me into this, the idea of a horror novel starting off with women spontaneously orgasming due to some supernatural force. It is played up a teeny bit, but by today's standards it's fairly tame.

Now the one thing to take into consideration is when this was written. By today's standards and trends, this book would be pretty heavily panned. Horror writers tend to take themselves and the works far more seriously than they used to, so every book usually contains levels upon levels, each author trying to write the next Ray Bradbury "Something Wicked This Way Comes".

The redeeming feature with this book is that it doesn't set out to do anything other than entertain. It does this, although I'll bluntly state that this is for fans of pulp horror only. If the idea of reading the paperback equivalent of a cheesy 80s horror movie doesn't appeal to you, you will want to skip this and perhaps check out some of Coyne's other work.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolute page turner by John Coyne. An autistic child is in the centre of terrible cases of murder in a new housing area. Great descriptions, fast paced, thrilling, eerie elements, even some science fiction and alternative science interwoven... gosh, what a rollercoaster ride of a read. You can't turn down this classic. Absolutely recommended!

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the most absurd thing i've ever read. i loved it.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

The era of Paperbacks from Hell brought us some weird concepts in science fiction and horror, but would you have ever thought that a story about killer orgasms would be a thing? No, nor would I.

Babies and children are being found mysteriously dead in a new McNeighborhood near Washington D.C. The coroner says they died of some kind of seizure that burns out the hypothalamus of the brain. Then the women of the town all start having the best thrill rides of their life without any help from Steely Dan. They almost immediately assume that some new weapon that targets the brain with invisible rays is responsible. Or that a mute girl with autism is using mental telepathy. Not because there was any evidence yet that these were good explanations, but because, well, this is paperback pulp logic. The same logic that goes into 1950s B-movies where a character can make a statement like "Hmm, that's a weird rock. Must be aliens," and be correct.

Not that their conclusions lead to any reasonable action. They realize that their friends don't seem to have a case of the sudden leg shivers when they go out of town, so that implies some force within the neighborhood is to blame. There is even an episodic pattern to the attacks, so they can predict when they occur better than your weather app can advise you on a good day to go to the beach. But do our victims skip town? You bet they don't. They describe these orgasms not as pleasurable, but as unwanted assaults. Then why don't they get the hell out of there, at least for a week or so, to see if the episodes stop? I think they doth protest too much.

Honestly, this book is about as cheesy as it gets. It seems to be a cash-in on every variety of suburban horror you can imagine from the Seventies, and marketed with the gimmick that young adults and lonely divorcés will get to read the details of housewives putting on their "O-face." Unfortunately for the teen and middle-aged newly-single readers, there isn't really any of the titillation or overt sexual sleaziness you may come to expect from novels of this caliber. Nor is there much over-the-top violence to speak of. There is a little bit of carnage candy, but if you like the horror genre for creative kills with lots of blood and guts, you will be overall disappointed. Does the story then make up for lack of schlock by creating a slow-burn thriller full of tension and excitement? Not really, no.

Rather, it's a surprisingly inoffensive and safe offering considering the subject matter. I'm not sure how that happened, but that's just how it turned it out. I'm not mad at it, though. I had overall a good time with it.

There is a fair amount of interesting psychiatry, which I appreciate, even if it is a bit dopey. Coyne dipped into the pop neuroscience journals of his day to get inspiration, but didn't quite know enough to be able to apply what he learned in a convincing speculative way, at least not for me. For example, it was quite clever to have characters defend themselves against their mental onslaughts by using sedatives, but he chose to have them use Demerol, which is an opiate and one of the worst offenders for causing delirium, so it would offer no neuronal protection against a force that produces seizures. But whatever.

The writing is quite serviceable. I wouldn't call Coyne a Nathaniel Hawthorne, but he wasn't overly simplistic either. The pacing is also nice--not so much clipping along like raging rapids, but flowing like a babbling brook so that you find yourself progressing much faster than you expect.

So "The Searing" may not give horror or science fiction fans an orgasm, but those of us who like to dine on the comfort food of vintage pulp will certainly enjoy the foreplay.

SCORE: 3/5

[Fred Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Women in a new development are simultaneously having sudden, painful orgasms that are threatening to kill them. That's enough of a premise to attract the attention of a male reader. It's not boring for most of the book, but it is pretty stupid, especially the explanation of why this is happening, and, when the story reaches that point, I felt like I was reading the transcript of a boring math/science lecture. Not recommended.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killer orgasms and a very strange and offensive take on autism.

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

A mysterious force is killing little girls in Renaissance Village. It's also giving the women in the area spontaneous orgasms. I'm not joking. That is actually the plot of this book.

It's a ridiculous exercise in kitchen-sink plotting, full of red herrings, wrong science, and a twist towards both ancient mysticism and sci-fi at the end. All of the characters are frustrating.

In the end, there's aliens. Seriously.

(This is excerpted from my old Amazon review from 2002, which several other reviewers hilariously called me out on in their own reviews of the book. After all these years, it's still the worst book I've ever read.)

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilariously '70s! Coyne's take on Lovecraftian dread from the lightless gulf between the stars. Bellbottomed horror that starts and ends with a whole village full of women miserable because of too much "Big O." Not to be missed if you long for a taste of the dim, dead Disco Era.

[Crystal Staley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much a product of its time in regards to the language and ideas about autism. Those parts were very, very bad. But other bits were kinda interesting and the ending was like…what???

**multiple use of the r-word

[Circa Girl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Violently intense and mysterious orgasms of a supernatural origin plaguing the women of a small community sounds interesting in theory but I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters or the rushed plotting.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting one for me, similar to something I've read by Stephen king (although I suppose technically his work is similar to this).

That concept that there is someone or something else out there has been around forever. An interesting concept, linking the supernatural/aliens with a fairly common phenomena like autism.

Reasonably well written, didn't feel as though I really liked the characters though. Found them a little unbelievable and more than a little incompatible.

Overall not bad, probably wouldn't recommend it unless your really into this sort of thing.

[Married Bibliophile Raider · Rating 3 out of 5]

What the fuck did I just read…So, this was my second Coyne novel. I LOVED The Piercing and thought that this book would turn out better because of the higher ratings here on Goodreads. However that was definitely not the case. The Searing started out pretty good and had me entertained but the last 100 pages of this book just had me saying “ok let’s get this over…” Not a bad book by any means but not what I was hoping for. Not a fan of the characters in this one. 3 stars and ended up being just an ok little book about the sun god (ET’s) spying on earth.

[Eric Madeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm brand new to the Occult Horror genre so I came to John Coyne's novel "The Searing" with fresh eyes. The novel begins on a realist footing and the description and dialogue and pacing are conveyed in a voice lively, fresh and sure. The characters are upper-echelon residents of a new development an hour commute to D.C., The District, where they're employed in a variety of occupations which later feed into the narrative. An autistic almost feral girl hovers on the fringes of the plot as baby girls are being killed mysteriously leaving us wondering who's doing it. Then women in the community of Renaissance Village are having spontaneous sexless orgasms. That fiction writers should follow the maxim to exceed reader expectation to achieve narrative drive rings true from the very beginning the novel when the fan, ready for the cr*p, is pounded or jack-hammered with it until the chaotic end. This accomplished writer John Coyne has been blessed with imaginary powers that take us out of the stratosphere of the real and in a way that shows he has done his research in medicine, neurolinguistics, astronomy, chemistry, police work, reportage, etc. to con us along, since empathic arts are just that, a kind of con, and even though the reader -- this reader! -- was back footed, always playing catch up, I was so conned into the fictional reality that I sat spellbound, nailed to my screen and the story despite a bladder that very much begged to be evacuated. We're told early on that mind control is, needless to say, possible and has happened throughout history and that "Some people can dictate our behavior." As examples we're given power figures such as hypnotists, doctors, teachers, priests, and obliquely mention of how autistic children being able to radiate an intense beam of concentration. As foreshadowing for what I assume is already out there as a sequel, note this quote from Sara, the medical doctor who grounds the novel: "Cindy is an autistic savant, not a space cadet!" Dig on this haunting work by a master of the genre while I search out the sequel ... after I evacuate.:)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Coyne's The Searing, the description refers to the burning of parts of the brain during energy attacks on women by aliens in a distant galaxy. The women lose control of their bodies, experiencing orgasmic throes that become painful. This really is not critical to the basic plot but does capture attention of potential readers. Roger Corman would have produced a film.

In 1980, stories like this often relied on sensational and provocative hooks to get readers and the cover arts reflects 3 attractive women during an "attack." the story is like a cheesy XFiles episode with the main character, Sara, an MD wanting a child, living outside DC and meeting a handsome rebellious journalist named Tom.

In a development tract (see Poltergeist) home area built upon an ancient Celtic (!) ruin hosting a telescope to the stars (Stargate), a young beautiful 12ish autistic girl becomes the focal point of several deaths. The girl, Cindy, is a computer node/weapon the aliens use to probe the Earth especially during late summer and early fall and the equinox. we don't learn how the aliens programmed Cindy or why.

The ending has Sara adopting Cindy and moving in with Tom after the village is destroyed by a meteorite attack. there is even an evil CIA agent spying on locals with satellite technology but he is a McGuffin. I thought he was more involved than he is, much like the "smoking man".

There are better novels of this era that involve salacious plots, attractive women, monsters or aliens, like Rosemary's Baby, Exorcist, The Entity, etc. but this story might have really inspired Chis Carter, at least with some of the XFiles invasion motif. the dozen or so episodes involving rural families, bizarre events, ancient artifacts and lights in the sky may have roots in this novel.

Despite its often sophomoric writing, Searing is part of the foundation, intentionally or not,, of the greater sci-fi and horror mythology. Recommend.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rather silly book, but John Coyne is actually quite a good writer, so that makes it readable. The description on the paperback plays up the "orgasm" aspect of the attacks on the women of the village (in an obvious attempt to reel in those looking for a more salacious read), but the reality once you read the book is very different. There is no sexual component to the attacks other than the part of the brain that is being targeted by an electrical force that keeps getting more violent and deadly.

I found this book to be frustrating because of the extreme unlikability of the two main characters. The vile and loathsome Cindy, and the wimpy Sara, who has so much concern for the well-being of the evil killer but doesn't spare a thought for the people and animals that have been tortured and killed by the depraved creature.

[Jill Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose it held my interest mostly until they started to “figure things out”.

As a horror lover, especially these 80’s paperbacks, I was excited to read a good number of mysterious and interesting deaths early on. When the spontaneous orgasms started however, I was amused but my interest began lacking. When they finally started to solve the “whys” of the cases, I was giggling. I’m not opposed to a little ridiculousness but, within the book, among the poor relationships and weak characters (I read “she liked being told what to do” many times in this) Coyne loses a lot of points with me as a potential fan. Maybe I’ll try some books with mostly male characters, but this book and it’s misogyny was enough to have me walk away from Coyne.

[Luchito Luconi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es la primera novela que leo de John Coyne, la verdad me ha dejado con un buen sabor de boca, una novela bastante atrapante claramente del tópico niños malvados, que incluso se la ha comparado con el bebé de Rosemary, en mi opinión no son comparables ya que sus traman son diferentes.
Cindy la niña de esta historia Coyne la describe como muy delgada y rubia con una mirada fría y perdida. Tiene descripciones y muertes bastante fuertes, me recordó un poco a la temática de John Saúl. Un libro de terror/suspenso que tiene un final el cual no me esperaba pero que me ha gustado. La recomiendo mucho.

[John Ulrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some authors have a style where you can't wait until you get to the next page. John Coyne has always been that way for me. It almost feels like he's telling the story face to face. I love horror that doesn't always rely on a boogeyman. Sometimes boogeymen make great novels but it's also great when somebody chooses to invoke fear through a different angle. The ending is definitely not where I thought this would go, but I couldn't put it down! One of his shorter books so if you want something enjoyable and you're in a rut give it a try!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I’m giving this one 4 stars because when I saw this book at a thrift shop for $1 the cover totally screamed at me cheesy 80s ghost rape horror flick. And at first I totally thought I was right and I think because I went into this book expecting tacky, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it! Even if the “attacks” were very lackluster, but then they turn into something else entirely. And I really like the way he finished this story. To like this book you definitely have to like that cheesy 80s flick genre I suppose as it apparently has a pretty low rating haha.

[Jason Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story kind of played out in three stages, for me. Not acts, per se.
1. Crazy stuff going down, really interesting.
2. Why aren’t people just getting the hell out of this place?
3. Lots of lots of explaining just what has been happening.
It’s definitely worth a read, but does lack any sense of humor. The dialogue is, let’s say, passable.
An ambitiously strong premise that somewhat manages to play itself out satisfactorily.

[Jessica Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grady Hendrix calling this 'orgasms from outer space' really does describe this book in one sentence. It's an absolutely insane ride, and some of the historical claims are so bad that they're funny, but if you're into trash pulp novels of old, I think you'll be entertained by this. It helps that this is a relatively short book. My copy was under 200 pages.

[Selenem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a product of its time. A silly premise that devolves and gets REALLY silly by the end. The depiction of women (including a hot doctor who never seems to wear clothes) is eye rolling, and the autistic character borders on offensive. It's a trash read, so don't expect too much!

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The horror parts of this book are silly fun

The bits about autism are probably the most offensive and incredibly and genuinely ignorant comments about autism that you will ever read. They are so ignorant and uninformed that they are even more far-fetched than the rest of the book

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1981. Horror novel about an autistic child who causes multiple horrors in a Washington suburb. Coyne writes consistently scary books.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasted Weekend cheese fest

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a dumb piece of shit. I don’t know which part is worse: the orgasms, the representation of autistic people, or the writing. It reads like a first draft that went straight to the printer.

[Simon Mendoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting, liked this book as a teenager