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The Amulet
Her life indelibly tainted by murders that took place almost sixty years before, Anna lives a dead-end existence that threatens to become far too exciting when she learns about the murders and their connection to a strange amulet
- GenresHorror
388 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
A.R. Morlan
70 books8 followersA. R. Morlan is the pseudonym of Ana Morlan. Other pseudonyms she used are Karl Rene Moore and Renee M. Charles.
Her fiction—both under her own name and her hard-core erotica-only Renee pen name—has either appeared in or is scheduled to appear in over 130 magazines and anthologies, including BEST AMERICAN EROTICA, THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY & HORROR 1991, 1993 & 1994, F&SF, FULL SPECTRUM IV, THE ULTIMATE ZOMBIE, THE HOT BLOOD SERIES, LOVE IN VEIN, GRUE, 2 AM, TWILIGHT ZONE MAGAZINE and many, many others. Her non-fiction has appeared in OMNI, SPACE & TIME, WRITER'S DIGEST, CEMETERY DANCE, TWILIGHT ZONE and THE HORROR SHOW. Her erotic short stories have appeared previously in several Circlet Press anthologies. She also has two novels published by Bantam Books and reprinted by Borgo Press, THE AMULET and DARK JOURNEY.
She lived in the Midwest, with a houseful (literally) of cats, some of whom have appeared in her novels and short fiction.
She died in January 2016, prior to the 8th.
Her fiction—both under her own name and her hard-core erotica-only Renee pen name—has either appeared in or is scheduled to appear in over 130 magazines and anthologies, including BEST AMERICAN EROTICA, THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY & HORROR 1991, 1993 & 1994, F&SF, FULL SPECTRUM IV, THE ULTIMATE ZOMBIE, THE HOT BLOOD SERIES, LOVE IN VEIN, GRUE, 2 AM, TWILIGHT ZONE MAGAZINE and many, many others. Her non-fiction has appeared in OMNI, SPACE & TIME, WRITER'S DIGEST, CEMETERY DANCE, TWILIGHT ZONE and THE HORROR SHOW. Her erotic short stories have appeared previously in several Circlet Press anthologies. She also has two novels published by Bantam Books and reprinted by Borgo Press, THE AMULET and DARK JOURNEY.
She lived in the Midwest, with a houseful (literally) of cats, some of whom have appeared in her novels and short fiction.
She died in January 2016, prior to the 8th.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 9, 2025
This is a really creepy book on a number of levels, set in Morlan's 'Ewertonverse', e.g., the small Wisconsin town of Ewerton where several of her short stories and the novel Dark Journey took place, and several of the characters from Dark Journey play some cameo roles here. Our main protagonist, Anna, resides in Ewerton, moving back to her mother's place after finishing college. She, and her mother, work menial cleaning jobs in town and have made an art of dumpster diving to secure their daily bread. Anna's strange grandma also lives in town and in fact, all three lived together until Anna's mom had enough of the old lady and moved to their present local.
Where to start with the creep? We know early on some of the backstory of Anna's family. When Lucy (Anna's grandma) was a little girl (age 7 or so), she lived with her parents and her grandma in Ewerton. Lucy loved her grandma, her 'baba', but baba was one strange kettle of fish. Anyway, one day (for reasons revealed much later), Lucy's dad was found wandering around town clad in pajamas with a bloody axe in his hand. When authorities arrived at their house, they found Lucy's mom chopped to bits and one of the the grandmother's lower arms and hand; try as they might, they never found the rest of the body (the grandmother had died that day and was laying in wake).
So, when little Anna was growing up, the other children teased her mercilessly about that horrible event, always asking her 'Where's grandma?'. They did the same thing to Lucy and I take it Anna's mother. Small town and all that, with the locals having long memories. This, however, is especially creepy if you know anything about the author's personal life. Her own mother 'disappeared' several years before Morlan's suicide in 2016 and Morlan keep cashing her social security checks; the story was her mother just picked up and left, but there were suspicions that Morlan did her in and 'lost' the body somewhere. The Amulet was first published in 1991, so it almost foreshadows events in Morlan's own life.
Another creep factor: Anna's best friends were her two cats in the novel, and another main character was a classical 'crazy cat lady', who had a house full of cats and dogs and eschewed contact with people; she was also Anna's competition in dumpster diving. Morlan's house, upon her death, had something like 200 dead cats plus a few dozen live ones running around among heaps of trash and refuse. If I did not know anything about Morlan's life, this story may not have had the impact it did, but it at least doubled the creep factor. The almost sexual relationship Anna had with her cats was also disturbing )
I will not go into the plot much here to avoid spoilers, but will expound on some of the characters. The entire story takes place in just a few weeks toward the end of October 1987. Anna's mom, who had been 'taking care' of the repulsive Lucy (her mom) finally just split one day (leaving the message "I'm Fucking Gone!!!" squirted on the kitchen cabinets in catsup) and now Anna starts taking care of her grandma. Lucy is a real piece of work. After her 'incident' when she was a child, two spinster aunts came to take care of her, and Lucy never made any friends. Further, she always seemed old, in mannerisms and appearance from a young age. Lucy got pregnant at an early age, dropping out of school and shortly thereafter one of the aunts got tucked away in the loonie bin; the other held on until her daughter could start taking care of her. Now, aged 63 or so, she is truly repulsive, having a rank odor like rotting meat, he skin always oily and dirty, wearing the same outfits day after day. Lucy never leaves home, having first her daughter and now Anna do the shopping and everything else (Lucy was left a trust fund after her aunt's demise). Morlan does a fantastic job in constructing Lucy; it is hard to imagine a nastier person. Besides her person, her house is full of trash (she never throws anything away) and filthy. She nagged Anna's mom to death and starts doing the same to Anna; a complete control freak, she tries to keep track of Anna all the time, requiring frequent 'phone ins' and such.
The story starts to move when the Chief of police in town one day offers Anna a job as a police matron and file clerk. Anna likes the job, but her grandma hates it, as it takes Anna outside of her direct control. The interpersonal interactions also turned creep factor up to 11. When people start dying in down in strange ways, the story hits full stride. The Amulet starts creepy and just keeps building and building. Morlan pulls the reader forcefully into Ewerton and makes the town and people so real it hurts. That this may contain some autobiographical inspiration serves to add even more to the creep.
Morlan, however, makes you work as a reader. The writing style is sometimes cumbersome, and oh my does she like to use italics in dialogue. Consider exchange between Anna and Lucy as typical:
Morlan creates an unpitying examination of Ewerton, with its cliques, the drunks, Lucy the harriden, poor Anna and a wide range of other characters you either emphasize with or despise. Morlan immerses you in the slimy world of Ewerton to say the least and you will want to take many showers as the plot unfolds, especially after some harrowing sexual abuse scenes. This is more of an experience than a read, but a really creepy experience, especially given Morlan's own backstory. 4.5 disturbing stars!!
Where to start with the creep? We know early on some of the backstory of Anna's family. When Lucy (Anna's grandma) was a little girl (age 7 or so), she lived with her parents and her grandma in Ewerton. Lucy loved her grandma, her 'baba', but baba was one strange kettle of fish. Anyway, one day (for reasons revealed much later), Lucy's dad was found wandering around town clad in pajamas with a bloody axe in his hand. When authorities arrived at their house, they found Lucy's mom chopped to bits and one of the the grandmother's lower arms and hand; try as they might, they never found the rest of the body (the grandmother had died that day and was laying in wake).
So, when little Anna was growing up, the other children teased her mercilessly about that horrible event, always asking her 'Where's grandma?'. They did the same thing to Lucy and I take it Anna's mother. Small town and all that, with the locals having long memories. This, however, is especially creepy if you know anything about the author's personal life. Her own mother 'disappeared' several years before Morlan's suicide in 2016 and Morlan keep cashing her social security checks; the story was her mother just picked up and left, but there were suspicions that Morlan did her in and 'lost' the body somewhere. The Amulet was first published in 1991, so it almost foreshadows events in Morlan's own life.
Another creep factor: Anna's best friends were her two cats in the novel, and another main character was a classical 'crazy cat lady', who had a house full of cats and dogs and eschewed contact with people; she was also Anna's competition in dumpster diving. Morlan's house, upon her death, had something like 200 dead cats plus a few dozen live ones running around among heaps of trash and refuse. If I did not know anything about Morlan's life, this story may not have had the impact it did, but it at least doubled the creep factor. The almost sexual relationship Anna had with her cats was also disturbing )
I will not go into the plot much here to avoid spoilers, but will expound on some of the characters. The entire story takes place in just a few weeks toward the end of October 1987. Anna's mom, who had been 'taking care' of the repulsive Lucy (her mom) finally just split one day (leaving the message "I'm Fucking Gone!!!" squirted on the kitchen cabinets in catsup) and now Anna starts taking care of her grandma. Lucy is a real piece of work. After her 'incident' when she was a child, two spinster aunts came to take care of her, and Lucy never made any friends. Further, she always seemed old, in mannerisms and appearance from a young age. Lucy got pregnant at an early age, dropping out of school and shortly thereafter one of the aunts got tucked away in the loonie bin; the other held on until her daughter could start taking care of her. Now, aged 63 or so, she is truly repulsive, having a rank odor like rotting meat, he skin always oily and dirty, wearing the same outfits day after day. Lucy never leaves home, having first her daughter and now Anna do the shopping and everything else (Lucy was left a trust fund after her aunt's demise). Morlan does a fantastic job in constructing Lucy; it is hard to imagine a nastier person. Besides her person, her house is full of trash (she never throws anything away) and filthy. She nagged Anna's mom to death and starts doing the same to Anna; a complete control freak, she tries to keep track of Anna all the time, requiring frequent 'phone ins' and such.
The story starts to move when the Chief of police in town one day offers Anna a job as a police matron and file clerk. Anna likes the job, but her grandma hates it, as it takes Anna outside of her direct control. The interpersonal interactions also turned creep factor up to 11. When people start dying in down in strange ways, the story hits full stride. The Amulet starts creepy and just keeps building and building. Morlan pulls the reader forcefully into Ewerton and makes the town and people so real it hurts. That this may contain some autobiographical inspiration serves to add even more to the creep.
Morlan, however, makes you work as a reader. The writing style is sometimes cumbersome, and oh my does she like to use italics in dialogue. Consider exchange between Anna and Lucy as typical:
"No, I didn't hear it on the radio about Wally Inglass... I was there..."
"You where there?" came the old lady's tremulous hiss, and Anna kept her voice down as she replied "I had to accompany the suspect back to the jail. Stu Sawyer didn't want her coming back later on an claiming they'd molested her out there, the girl is only--"
"A juvinile," the old lady said with her usual overemphasis of the first syllable, her trademark way of showing people how well she spoke, how smart Lucy Miner was.
Morlan creates an unpitying examination of Ewerton, with its cliques, the drunks, Lucy the harriden, poor Anna and a wide range of other characters you either emphasize with or despise. Morlan immerses you in the slimy world of Ewerton to say the least and you will want to take many showers as the plot unfolds, especially after some harrowing sexual abuse scenes. This is more of an experience than a read, but a really creepy experience, especially given Morlan's own backstory. 4.5 disturbing stars!!
May 27, 2019
I would actually give this 4 stars but this is a book that could have been a tighter plot and faster paced if about 75 to 100 pages were edited out.
It's a slow burn and takes its time (really takes its time) to let you know what the hell is going on. The first chapter and prologue just give you a taste of what happened then you have to finish to the end to know exactly what it is. I beleive this was A.R. Morlan's first novel and it is good for a first book, but I felt she was trying to copy Stephen King's style a bit with all the extra wordiness and large cast of characters in a small town. I do have to say there is good character development here, and some eerie scenes involving weird creatures and weird creepy old ladies. Where did the amulet come from? Why is Gramma hiding it, and what has it done to this family??? Is there something hiding in Gramma's attic?
It's a slow burn and takes its time (really takes its time) to let you know what the hell is going on. The first chapter and prologue just give you a taste of what happened then you have to finish to the end to know exactly what it is. I beleive this was A.R. Morlan's first novel and it is good for a first book, but I felt she was trying to copy Stephen King's style a bit with all the extra wordiness and large cast of characters in a small town. I do have to say there is good character development here, and some eerie scenes involving weird creatures and weird creepy old ladies. Where did the amulet come from? Why is Gramma hiding it, and what has it done to this family??? Is there something hiding in Gramma's attic?
March 27, 2023
It was a struggle to continue with this not my style didn't like it it's a no from me
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews