The Manitou

Manitou #1

by Graham Masterton

It only grows at night. Karen Tandy was a sweet and unassuming girl until she discovers the mysterious lump growing underneath her skin. As the doctors and specialists are puzzling over the growth, Karen`s personality is beginning to drastically change. The doctors decide there is only one thing to do, cut out the lump. But then it moved. Now a chain reaction has begun and everyone who comes in contact with Karen Tandy understands the very depths of terror. Her body and soul are being taken over by a black spirit over four centuries old. He is the remembrance of the evils the white man has bestowed on the Indian people and the vengeance that has waited four hundred years to surface. He is the Manitou.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Audiobook, Supernatural, Thriller

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.

At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.

Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.

Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.

He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.

Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.

He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, this is a real modern horror classic! Harry Erskine, a mystic and fortune teller, comes across a very strange case. Kate, one of his clients, is having a strange tumor at the neck. Dr Hughes doesn't have any clues how to get rid of it. Then we have an eerie Indian shaman trying to be born again and seeking revenge upon white people. Can Singing Rock, another medicine man, defeat Misquamacus? In the hospital Kate is treated he's conjuring up The Great Old One (always had to think about Lovecraft), a frightening demon... what an uncanny and sinister story. Absolutely loved this first novel by master of horror Graham Masterton. If you want to read a real blast from the past, a spinetingler, please have a look here. Highly recommended! Must read for every horror fan!

[Zain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh! The Manglin’

Graham Masterton wrote this book many years ago. I believe it was in the 80’s or the 90’s. My boyfriend saw a movie about it. My brother says he has, too. I would love to see the movie about it.

The book is excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m trying to talk my boyfriend into reading it, but he doesn’t like to read the book if he’s already watched the movie about it. I don’t care. I want to see it. Sounds like it would be so scary.

A young lady named Karen Tandy, visits her aunt’s clairvoyant, to have her recurring dream translated. The man is named Harry Erskine, and of course he doesn’t have any psychic abilities. Though he can read tarot cards.

He picks up on trouble with her dreams and tries to help her find a solution. But the trouble turns out to be more than he thought. Than anyone thinks. Forget about a solution.

A Native American horror story, which turns out to be pretty scary. Definitely recommended.

Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨

[Jonathan Janz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. Brisk, wacky, unique. It's the first time I've read Masterton, and now I can see why folks dig his stuff so much. He's great with pace and characterization; his protagonist in this one was particularly likable.

I'll definitely be reading more Masterton soon. Any suggestions?

[Latasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that was fun! This is my first Graham Masterton read. I enjoyed it. The story was engaging from the very start and kept me interested through the whole book which made it a quick read. I would read more by this author and I would recommend this book.

[Addy · Rating 2 out of 5]

What to say? This book was a bit of a disappointment. It started out fairly good, but then went completely ridiculous. I can understand that the movie is prob far more comical than intended. The characters were dry and I didn't care about them. The book went into detail about Indian legend and what this manitou could do, what it could summon, how to defeat it, etc. Just boring. I realize that this is a first novel, so I'm willing to try this author again. I do not recommend starting with this book. The ending was silly. Spoilers here....so the evil Great One was destroyed by a computer's manitou? By technology? This seems far fetched but I guess I would have to do some research. Still, very silly ending. There was hardly any gore or any sense of dread in this novel. It felt very much like I was reading someone's research paper. I really hope his other novels are better because I have a crap load of them! So, 2 stars for me.

[Γιώργος Δάμτσιος · Rating 4 out of 5]

Δεύτερη ανάγνωση, λογικά 15 χρόνια μετά την πρώτη. Αναμενόμενα μου άρεσε λιγότερο, καθώς έκτοτε έχω διαβάσει πιο "σύγχρονα " βιβλία τρόμου, αλλά όταν αναλογίζομαι πότε γράφτηκε βγάζω το καπέλο στον συγγραφέα. Μπορεί να μοιάζει πια σαν b movie, αλλά το κατατασσω στις καλές! Παίρνει ένα εντελώς τίμιο 7/10 από μένα.

[Sportyrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Mysterious, historical theme, current sentiments, high tension.

An early dilemma: the clairvoyant’s latest customer wonders if she will survive the surgery, the doctors are freaking out and have run out of options. But is the clairvoyant the real deal? Who can deal with the abnormal growth of all growths? And how? It sounds dramatic. Exactly.

I went to bed one night having read parts of this book only to have an awful nightmare about someone sneaking up on me and carving the back half of my head off with a circular saw. The ones used for autopsies. It felt so real. I could hear and smell the burning bone. This book gave me the creeps.

Not only did I get a dose of blood n gore (a small dose), I got some brain food. Not once was I left rolling my eyes at anything unrealistic. Any time I went to get the red pen out, I had to to re-lid it immediately. I also appreciated the mixing of the historical theme (no spoilers) with the reaction to it in current times. It cleverly calls out previous biases in our history. Who exactly is the bad guy? And why are certain groups benevolent to the ones they ruined under different circumstances?

I enjoyed the plot, the pace, the characters, the atmosphere, getting the spooks, the thinking between reads, the everything.

It’s on the basic side of writing, but I think it works for the story. The solution phase feels like a relay at times, but I was happy with it to the end. Worth reading more from this author.

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving birth; a joyful occasion! Unless it's some ancient ghoulish Indian medicine man trying to make a blistering comeback. They came up with some bizarre stuff in the seventies.. Not very impressed with Masterton's plotting, way too convenient, but at the same time it's crazy (someone gets turned inside out..) and gory (inside out!) enough to not be bothered by that. Not much anyway. I liked Erskine; a swindler, but with a winning attitude and a couple of good one-liners too. A little bit of humor and a whole lot of supernatural madness; not bad.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy funny 70's "Exorcist"-rip-off! 2/3 fast-paced and very absorbing, totally improbable, odd dialogue, roller-coaster ride of fun followed by 1/3 absolutely ridiculous explanations and endgame.

A young girl approaches a self-proclaimed phony fortune-teller, Harry Erskine, with a disturbing dream which he can connect to her aunt, who she lives with and who is his client. The dream follows a medical condition - an apparent tumor on the neck, which grows incredibly fast. When complications arise during the planned surgery, Erskine finds himself in a very real supernatural circumstance. Together with the girls surgeon, they seek very unconventional help and time is extremely short...

Sadly, like many books from the time, also this contains a few ugly prejudices rearing their ugly heads and making you grind your teeth. I'm not comfortable with this, but do remind myself that all are children of our time and it's easy to cast judgment with the benefit of hindsight. Not an excuse, but an explanation. I find most books are read-worthy if you are aware of those things and recognize, but ignore them.

Other things that makes it obvious that the book was written in another time is that professors and top surgeons are of the advanced age of like 31 and the elderly client described by the fortune-teller as looking a bit worse-for-wear than Tutankhamen upon his exhumation is an ancient 75(!)

Another little era giveaway that made me smile is that when Harry E is asked to identify himself and realizes that "My driver's license was at home, and so were my credit cards" :)

Plays very much like a b-horror movie (and I believe it was made into one). Absolutely hilarious and be prepared not to suspend disbelief, but to chuck it right out the window.

[Cody | CodysBookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

quick, fun, and cheesy ‘70s horror of the highest order: my first book by graham masterton certainly didn’t disappoint! what some might, justifiably, called an exorcist rip-off is scary as hell in its own right—my phone began ringing during the story’s climax, and i nearly came out of my skin.

because this book was written in the mid-70s, certain trademarks of that era in horror abound: weird/borderline-offensive characterizations of women and minorities, mostly, but it’s certainly not as bad here as it is in other popular horror novels of the day.

i am docking a star for this book’s slightly deflating ending—it seems obvious masterton was setting things up for a sequel, and that he did. i think there exists now something like six books in the manitou series. no, thanks. one is enough.

[Sonja Arlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this author’s latest book on Netgalley and was contemplating applying for it when in a flash I remembered THIS book I read at the tender age of 13 (thanks mom for the unsupervised library access)

I don’t remember the details of the storyline, but I do remember that is scared the living daylights out of me. Even now, 31 years later when I think of this book it sends shivers down my spine.

[ItzSmashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

One of my favourites masterton books so far. I found this one really easy to read and was gripped throughout. Likeable characters and suspense left me intrigued. And the end was satisfying for what had been set up. Would definately reccomend this one

[Olga Kowalska (WielkiBuk) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indiański szaman z XVI wieku odradza się na Manhattanie lat 70., by siać swoją zemstę w „Manitou” Grahama Mastertona.

Kiedy kilka lat temu recenzowałam „Panikę” i spisałam prozę Grahama Mastertona na straty, jednak wtedy jeszcze lektura horrorów klasy B nie sprawiała mi przyjemności. Dzisiaj, po latach, wszystko się zmieniło i doceniam tę prostotę, doceniam lekkość i beztroskę z jaką bohaterowie wpadają w sidła potworów, nic sobie z tego go końca nie robiąc i dalej zachowując siły na dialogi pełne sprzeczności. Taka lektura to sama radocha, kiedy wiadomo już czego oczekiwać i teraz, sięgając po kolejne tomy serii o „Manitou” już wiem, że nie będzie tu ani grama strachu. Szczypta Lovecrafta na wesoło? Czemu nie?

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand the 3.5 average rating for this book. I thought it was terrible. I enjoyed the characterization but found the plot so preposterous that I barely finished it. It started out promising but just went off the rails about 2/3 the way through it.

And although I realize it's dated, and am not an advocate of updating any book to modernize, the constant references to "Red Indians" was a bit much.

I will read more Graham Masterton -- I will not, however, read any more books in the Manitou series.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo recordaba de otra manera, pero me ha gustado este reencuentro.

Una historia con muchos matices. Es entretenida, tiene una trama más que llamativa, con una extraña enfermedad, posesiones, magia, lucha, terror y mucha acción.
Una loca mezcla que atrapa por su particularidad.

[Бранимир Събев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ърскин е нюйоркски ясновидец, който се препитава, лъжейки възрастни жени - гледа им на карти таро, заблуждава ги че е медиум и предава съобщения от покойните им съпрузи и т.н. Внезапно при него идва младата Карин Тенди - леля й е редовен клиент на Ърскин и го препоръчва. Момичето разказва кошмарите си на шарлатанина и после отива в болницата, където трябва да я оперират - отзад на шията й внезапно се е появил тумор, който за броени дни е нарастнал ужасяващо. Лекарите правят рентгенови снимки и се опулват невярващо - всъщност това на врата й не е тумор, а зародиш на човешко бебе... Най-великият и зловещ индиански шаман се е завърнал от мъртвите, за да си отмъсти на белия човек и всички трябва да го спрат - Ърскин, докторите, полицията и друг шаман. В стремежа си злият шаман ще призове ужасяващи демони, които да потопят света в морета от кръв - Гущерът от Дървото, Звездния Звяр, Великият Старец и др. Феновете на Лъвкрафт ще останат доволни. Единственото, за което можем да съжаляваме е, че останалите книги от поредицата не са издавани на български.

[Vasilis Manias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Σπλάτερ λογοτεχνία 1.01, με ινδιάνους μάγους, μανιτού των βράχων και μοχθηρά πνεύματα από άλλους κόσμους σε ένα αιματοβαμμένο βιβλίο γεμάτο απόκοσμους ήχους, κραυγές από το επέκεινα και φώτα που τρεμοπαίζουν. Διασκεδαστικότατο.

[Jim Dooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE MANITOU is my second Graham Masterton horror novel ... and the title of his that I've heard about the most. I know that a film with the same name was made of it, and it is one that I want to see (even though I can't imagine it coming close to what is in the book).

The first Masterton book I read was FEAST, and that one was extremely unsettling. In a way, I think of Masterton as an early manifestation of Clive Barker, although THE MANITOU relies more on horrific descriptions rather than creating a strong sense of dread. It also somewhat presents a First Tribes version of THE EXORCIST, and I'm curious to know how Readers from that culture felt about the book.

The dialogue is often a bit too much on-the-nose for my taste, and the characters don't have a lot of dimension. Yet, at the same time, THE MANITOU was a brisk read and quite compelling. I very much wanted to know how it would resolve.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read this book 20+ years ago I enjoyed it but felt slightly underwhelmed and I remember thinking it was pretty cheezy. This time I had a much better experience and I think I was better able to separate the cheezy fun movie version of the story from the pulpy but surprisingly nuanced novel.
3.75/5

[Cliff's Dark Gems · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crazy, pulpy fun read but not as good as many of his later works. Still, just 70s, silly, horror fun.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast-paced story with some good creepiness and gore. It’s a bit dated, and I stumbled over some of the language used like “red indian” that’s used throughout the story, among others. Still a good story and we’ll worth a read.

[Chantelle Messier · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel was riddled with stark illogic, bad pseudoscience, and a weird combo of low-key racism and white guilt. Even trying to explain the plot to my partner, I was in tears laughing.

I think I've found the granddaddy of all "white people writing bad horror fiction about Native American culture." In Masterton's world, all Native American nations share a single, mangled mishmash of religious belief. The entire plot revolves around the "Magical Native" trope. The painfully obvious moral of "white people bad, Native people good" is bungled horrendously. It becomes an opportunity for the all-white (besides the Native medicine man) cast of characters to signal their virtue by repeating how sad they are about historical exploitation of Natives (sorry, "Red Indians," as the book calls them). "Red Indian" magic is constantly used to hand-wave major plot problems. Meanwhile, the horror in the plot relies on casting Native culture as parasitic, disgusting, inscrutably alien, evil, and (surprise, surprise) a threat to the innocent body of a white woman. Oh dear.

Before this devolves into an essay, I'll just list a few more low points:

** MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW**

- Absolutely everyone the hero meets is super easily-convinced. Even though he's a fake psychic, and literally just met the victim yesterday. The worst offenders are the patient's doctor, her PARENTS, and a professor of Native American anthropology. All of them hear his insane theory (which is basically held together with spit and encyclopedia entries) and are like "Sir, I'm offended that you'd even expect me to believe such nonsense! You have no expertise and what you're saying goes against my whole conception of reality. Buuut I don't have a better answer and you did see a picture in a library book one time. So...dammit, I guess I'll immediately and completely trust you."

- Within two days of meeting the hero, the woman's doctor gives up on all medical interventions and lets her continue dying while this random dude tries to fix her with magic. No one even tries to ask for her consent for this super insane medical decision.

- Doctor explaining that they don't X-ray pregnant patients because the X-rays destroy cells, which is no big deal in an adult because adults are big, but babies have so few cells that if you X-ray them it might zap off a toe or finger or something. This is ACTUALLY HOW IT THEN WORKS in the novel.
Because they X-rayed the tumor he was growing from, the bad guy comes out with no shins. Just no shins. The radiation apparently kills cells in a really specific, orderly fashion.

-X-rays would have solved the entire plot by killing the bad guy before he could finish forming inside the woman's tumor. Despite realizing this, the characters never attempt it.)

- According to [generic "Red Indian" magical lore], everything has a spirit. Okay. Even manmade stuff has spirits. Okay. A police supercomputer would have a super powerful spirit aligned with Christianity and law. Oookaaaaaay... BUT ONLY A WHITE DUDE (our hero, of course) can invoke and use that spirit's awesome power to save the day. Because supercomputer spirits are...racist?

- The bad guy's defeat by a computer spirit is basically explained as "white man's magic is just more powerful than Native magic and that's why white people will always win."

I don't have the energy to list any more of the many problems with this book. It's funny, I'll give it that. Just not intentionally so.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1976 debut of famed horror author Graham Masterton certainly feels like a first novel from a young author for young adults. It has a linear "and then" structure and incredibly childlike logic reminiscent of the old "Three Investigators" mysteries I used to read as a kid. It's full of children's literature descriptions, like when the cordless phone "bleeps" and the doorbell goes "ding-donggg". But damn if it isn't entertaining!

The saucy main character is like Doctor Who with tarot cards, a charming and hypomanic smartass who imbeds himself in a medical mystery of one of his recent clients. He is a charlatan clairvoyant, and is approached by a woman who seeks help for vivid dreams. But that's the least of her problems, as it seems she has the fetus of a 300-year-old medicine man growing out of her neck!

This is a bizarre combination of tones. As I said, it's written as if it were intended for an audience of 11 to 15-year-olds. But the characters are all middle-aged adults and old people who are constantly smoking and drinking. Even the hospital doctor keeps bourbon and cigarettes in their office. And when the horror content really kicks in, Masterton delivers one of the goriest and most over-the-top third acts of the paperbacks-from-hell era.

It also is far funnier than I expected it to be. It is genuinely hilarious, evoking many out-loud chuckles from me. I think Masterton was trying to mimic the style of William Peter Batty, the humor writer who also happened to pen a little horror hit we know as "The Exorcist". In fact, Masterton even goes so far as to have one of his characters state that, compared to the occult spirit in this story, Pa-zuzu is no more than a "mongrel dog". And clearly, this story is an interesting twist on the possession subgenre, but between the intentional jokes and unintentional goofiness, this is by far the most comedic of Masterton's novels that I've read.

Under most circumstances, I would find this whole thing to be too juvenile for my taste. But in this case, it really works! Also, the story poses a very mature and interesting dilemma that, at least for a moment, will leave you thinking seriously about the founding of the American experiment on the ancestral lands of a far older nation.

I tore through the first half in no time at all, and I really enjoyed the main character and his rag-tag team trying to stop an ancient evil. I've been critical of Masterton's later works, but "The Manitou" proves that he shares my sense of humor and creepy fun, making this an absolute joy.

I know that this will not be for everyone, but for me, it scratched the right itch. I can see why it was made into a movie and spawned several paperback sequels.

SCORE: 4 "boots" out of 5

[AbyssTiger69 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Exorcist : Native American edition 🙃
For a quite short book there was enough story to keep going with alongside some vaguely comedic writing. It did play out like The Exorcist to a small degree (it even mentioned The Exorcist a couple of times lol) but through use of some smatterings of folklore and historical aspects the build of tension was done well into it’s epic climax. I did like the odd brief scenes of gooey gore too! It did strike me as odd that pretty much everyone puffed away on cigarettes and slammed back bourbon haha and also were extremely accommodating of the very bizarre events going on almost without question 🤣🤣

[Jarek "the Mistborn" Dąbrowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it:) A fast simple read. Although its clear this was his first novel and it feels kinda rushed is till liked the feeling it gave me and Harry is a great character. Nice indian folklor with all the ghosts demons and what not. I will go for the second book in this series for sure. 4 stars:)

[Edward Erdelac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recognize that this a first novel (it's the first novel I've ever read by Masterton actually). I recognize that there are minor slip ups about American culture by a British writer (just little turns of phrase that don't ring true - can't even think of one now they were so few - the constant usage of 'Red Indians' for one), and some major generalizations about Native American culture. I recognize that

(SPOILER) it's a bit ridiculous and maybe a little racist that the white spirit of a police computer system can trump the most powerful, evillest Native American god there is (END SPOILER),

but dangit if this doesn't read like something Masterton really enjoyed writing. And dangit if I didn't enjoy reading the thing too for all it's faults. I giggled a bit at some of the more eye rolling moments (the aforementioned, and how, as other readers have pointed out, police detectives and doctors tended to shrug and go along with all the extreme weirdness despite their affirmed rationality). But believe me, when Misquamacus throws down, there are some very interesting, entertaining moments in this book. The 'birth' (or 'rebirth') scene is particularly gross and well done.

I'll hunt down the rest of the series eventually. I'm a Misquamacus fan from wayy back.

[Sam Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early in the book, I expected to see a story populated with caricatures, but I think this might be some of Graham Masterton's charm. He probably knows you are expecting tropes, and in fact, I bet he is counting on it. You see familiar character types walk on stage, but then they start fleshing out in a way that causes the reader to think, "This is exactly how real people would act if they were in these roles."

This is an archetypal horror story. Masterton draws from some of the best terrifying real estate -- The Exorcist and Lovecraft -- but never lets readers feel like they have been here before.

[James Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it starts well and is a really interesting idea, but it swiftly becomes poorer and just daft. Furthermore, Masterson's use of racial slurs and offensive language has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I understand that the book was written in the 70s and it hasn't aged well, but the story and how it's been written isn't enough to justify some of the language; referring to a black lady as a 'negress' and constantly using the terms 'red skin' and 'medicine man' when discussing native Americans and native American magic just doesn't sit right with me.

I'll probably try more modern work by Masterson, but so far I've read two and not been that impressed.

[Gé Fier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read The Manitou, and thought it was GREAT! - It was actually the very first "adult" horror-novel I read (besides my HUGE collection of children's and young-adult horror-books by writers as R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, and Darren Shan ;) ), and to be honest; it's the only (of the over a 1000 adult-horror-books I have here) one I've actually finished so far.

So I don't have much "comparison-material" currently, but it was definitely one of the best books I've read; really suspenseful, terrifying, stunning and very thrilling...

Definitely worth a read!

[Stephen McQuiggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Karen's got a lump on her neck. She goes to see a tumor specialist. Turns out it's a 400 year old pissed off Medicine Man growing in there. You find that hard to take seriously? Evidently, so did the author and therein lies the problem. The tone jars throughout. It's spot on in the third person prelude, but then Erskine's first person narrative kicks in and the novel turns into a jokey curate's egg. An enjoyable enough battle between old magic and modern technology, but I was expecting something with a harder edge.