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Scapegoats
266 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
George Mandel
20 books3 followersGeorge Mandel (born February 11, 1920) is an American novelist and short story writer. A native of New York City, Mandel was educated at the Pratt Institute, The Art Students League of New York and The New School. His first novel, Flee the Angry Strangers (1952), was one of the first Beat novels.
His subsequent novels include The Breakwater, Into the Woods of the World, and The Wax Boom (1962). His short story "The Beckoning Sea" was included in the anthology Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men, and he also wrote a short story, "Adjustments" (1956), which appeared in an Alfred Hitchcock horror anthology. He also wrote Crocodile Blood, a novel about a Native American Seminole girl, and Scapegoats (1970) as well as two cartoon books, Beatville U.S.A. and Borderline Cases, and the Saturday Evening Post short story "The Day the Time Changed".
His subsequent novels include The Breakwater, Into the Woods of the World, and The Wax Boom (1962). His short story "The Beckoning Sea" was included in the anthology Protest: The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men, and he also wrote a short story, "Adjustments" (1956), which appeared in an Alfred Hitchcock horror anthology. He also wrote Crocodile Blood, a novel about a Native American Seminole girl, and Scapegoats (1970) as well as two cartoon books, Beatville U.S.A. and Borderline Cases, and the Saturday Evening Post short story "The Day the Time Changed".
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 17, 2026
Wow I'm the only review on here. Bought this for a buck in a basement book sale of an indie movie theater in Hudson, NY (shoutout Time & Space Limited.) The description seemed salacious and it was a plain black cover, not the one shown here.
Scapegoats plays in the muck of racial anxiety, toying with savage, lascivious Black man tropes and the sullying of white womanhood. Add to that the stratification of academia and, at the very end, the encroachment of gentrification. Make no mistake, this is a thriller that luxuriates in the tension between captor and captive, through both violence and sex, lest you think it is a quiet meditation on all the topics I've mentioned.
Mandel's pen is vicious, and honestly the craft elevates what could otherwise be a trashy novel. Fay's foray into the hood to search for Clifford at the end feels like a Fox News fever dream as she navigates the run-down apartment building, dodging the pawing hands of Latinos and mistrusting eyes of elderly Black men.
References to Black radicals on campus firmly lodge this story in its time (published in 1970, the Panthers in full swing) while also being very prescient.
Scapegoats plays in the muck of racial anxiety, toying with savage, lascivious Black man tropes and the sullying of white womanhood. Add to that the stratification of academia and, at the very end, the encroachment of gentrification. Make no mistake, this is a thriller that luxuriates in the tension between captor and captive, through both violence and sex, lest you think it is a quiet meditation on all the topics I've mentioned.
Mandel's pen is vicious, and honestly the craft elevates what could otherwise be a trashy novel. Fay's foray into the hood to search for Clifford at the end feels like a Fox News fever dream as she navigates the run-down apartment building, dodging the pawing hands of Latinos and mistrusting eyes of elderly Black men.
References to Black radicals on campus firmly lodge this story in its time (published in 1970, the Panthers in full swing) while also being very prescient.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review