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Shaitan
British white hunter Dennis Brooke is persuaded to return to India to try to capture a dreaded man-eating leopard whom the Hindus believe is possessed by the evil spirit of a holy man.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 7, 2020
An interesting read-- something like a Kipling adventure story set in India circa late 1920s. Our lead, Brooke, starts off the book living the good life in London. He served in the British army in WWI and then went to India. While in India, he got a reputation as the best hunter of 'man-eaters': tigers and leopards who develop a taste for humans. After a close shave with one leopard (and a triste with a (now crippled) friends wife), Brooke forswears ever returning to India.
Deep in U.P., however, a new man-eater has arisen, called Shaitan by the locals. Rumor has it that it is a reincarnated swami in a leopard's body out for vengeance on the town that killed him; in any case, he is leaving a huge trail of bodies. At the same time, Gandhi is emerging as a leader demanding independence from India and the Raj is on the ropes. Various levels of government, including the prince of England, plead for Brooke to go back to India to kill Shaitan. If the Raj cannot even protect villagers from a man-eater, what good are they after all? Finally (and this is rather drawn out imo) Brooke returns.
This is more a classic adventure story with a romance thrown in than horror, and if that is your bag, you should enjoy it. It does give a feel for India, albeit as I mentioned before, from a Kipling-like perspective (warts and all). The inclusion of Gandhi was interesting, as was the representation of him from England's perspective. For this, I will round 2.5 starts up to 3.
Deep in U.P., however, a new man-eater has arisen, called Shaitan by the locals. Rumor has it that it is a reincarnated swami in a leopard's body out for vengeance on the town that killed him; in any case, he is leaving a huge trail of bodies. At the same time, Gandhi is emerging as a leader demanding independence from India and the Raj is on the ropes. Various levels of government, including the prince of England, plead for Brooke to go back to India to kill Shaitan. If the Raj cannot even protect villagers from a man-eater, what good are they after all? Finally (and this is rather drawn out imo) Brooke returns.
This is more a classic adventure story with a romance thrown in than horror, and if that is your bag, you should enjoy it. It does give a feel for India, albeit as I mentioned before, from a Kipling-like perspective (warts and all). The inclusion of Gandhi was interesting, as was the representation of him from England's perspective. For this, I will round 2.5 starts up to 3.
March 5, 2015
Shaitan by Max Ehrlich
Shaitan is a real page burner. Lets get that out of the way to begin with. This novel is riviting. Fist off Shaitan means "devil, demon or evil spirit" in Hindustani. Shaitan is a man-eating leopard. He is 50% bigger than a normal leopard and also hunts both in the daylight and at night, unlike normal leopards.
The novel is seperated in 6 parts, the prologue anad then parts 1 through 5. In the prologue we find out what sets the rest of the tale in motion. We are introduced to the village of Chakrata. in 1921 a pilgrim arrived by the name of Ram Gwar who was a self-professed holy man or "sadhu". He was different from most holy men. He travelled alone, he wore a leopard skin pelt over his robe, and as the author puts it "The sadhu was a man of enormous girth; the fat rippled along his arms and legs, and his belly bulged over his waist. Yet, he was seen to eat little or nothing; he fasted frequently, or so it seemed, and the people of Chakrata thought this very strange."
Even more distressing was the fact that after he came to the village was the apparence of a man-eating leopard in the vicinity of the village. As the man-eater took more of the villagers they heard rumors of him from other places. It was said in every place he took up residence disasters happened. The breaking point came when a 14 year-old was killed and eaten by this man-eater. The villagers chased Ram Gwar and beat him until he died. Before he died he told them "I will come back, we will meet again".
In part one we come to the beginning of the story where the leopard Shaitan is introduced. He is stalking a deer, but decides to hunt for sweeter meat--human meat. We find out that his official kills stand atg 282 people. almost half of which were killed around Chakrata. They suspect that his actual kills number closer to 350.
In part two we meet "the great white hunter" Dennis Brooke, who is himself almost a demigod to the people of India for rescuing them from so many man-eaters. We find out that he is refusing to hunt Shaitan, and what his reasons are for doing this. THe pressure mounts on him to hunt the beast with the general public going from adoring him to a polite snubbing of him and in some instances even compempt.
In part 3 Dennis goes to India, and we find out more of the backstory of why he didn't want to return.
In part four Dennis sets out hunt the demon man-eater known as Shaitan.
In part five the "contest" heats up and brings us to the nerve wracking ending.
In my opinion this is proably one of the most thrilling books ever writen and it is the best hunting tale ever. To those who say that man is "The most dangerous game" I can only conjecture that they have never hear of Shaitan. Ahtough not explictley blood drenched and gory the authors prose gets the horror of what is happening acoss very clearly. Here is just a small example of of this and one reason this story has stuck with me since 1981.
”In the week Brooke had been in Scotland, Shaitan had taken two more victims.
A priest was caught one night on the pilgrim path outside of Bisalpur. He had been bound with a group of fellows for the shrines in Hardwar when he had fallen behind. The others had found a stout pilgrim shelter on the road, and then discovered their companion, one Pattu Lai, missing. They had been deep in meditation as they walked, and did not notice that he had lagged behind. Fearful of going back in the night to find him, because they knew Shaitan was in the vicinity, they waited till morning. All they found of Pattu Lai was a few torn and bloody remnants of his robe, and his walking staff.
The villagers of Bisalpur were called, and they began a hunt for the remains. They found them in an open field a mile away. All that remained was a skull and a few broken bones, and a sacred amulet that Pattu Lai always wore.
Three days later, a well-known Sikh big-game hunter from Amristar, Nanak by name, was caught and eaten by Shaitan outside of a village named Ramnagas, not far from Bisalpur. The Sikhs, like the Muslims, gave no credence to the Hindu belief that Shaitan was a reincarnation of the sadhu, Ram Gwar. The Sikhs were people of great courage, and a number of them had become accomplished hunters of man-eaters, though not in a class with the British army officers. The government had licensed the necessary weapons to a few who were qualified to hunt down and kill man-eaters. The body of Nanak, so named after the founding father of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was never found. All that was found, under a tree, was his belt buckle, his rifle, and scraps of his boots, all lying in a pool of blood. This in itself was enough to document the killing.
The Sikh hunter actually had volunteered to hunt down Shaitan for altruistic reasons. It was interesting to note that all the victims so far taken by Shaitan were Hindus. Not a single Moslem or Sikh in the area had been attacked
The newspapers reported, with some irritation, that Dennis Brooke was in Scotland shooting birds while all this was going on. The newspapers also reported that as of now, Shaitan had taken victim number 286."
Shaitan is a real page burner. Lets get that out of the way to begin with. This novel is riviting. Fist off Shaitan means "devil, demon or evil spirit" in Hindustani. Shaitan is a man-eating leopard. He is 50% bigger than a normal leopard and also hunts both in the daylight and at night, unlike normal leopards.
The novel is seperated in 6 parts, the prologue anad then parts 1 through 5. In the prologue we find out what sets the rest of the tale in motion. We are introduced to the village of Chakrata. in 1921 a pilgrim arrived by the name of Ram Gwar who was a self-professed holy man or "sadhu". He was different from most holy men. He travelled alone, he wore a leopard skin pelt over his robe, and as the author puts it "The sadhu was a man of enormous girth; the fat rippled along his arms and legs, and his belly bulged over his waist. Yet, he was seen to eat little or nothing; he fasted frequently, or so it seemed, and the people of Chakrata thought this very strange."
Even more distressing was the fact that after he came to the village was the apparence of a man-eating leopard in the vicinity of the village. As the man-eater took more of the villagers they heard rumors of him from other places. It was said in every place he took up residence disasters happened. The breaking point came when a 14 year-old was killed and eaten by this man-eater. The villagers chased Ram Gwar and beat him until he died. Before he died he told them "I will come back, we will meet again".
In part one we come to the beginning of the story where the leopard Shaitan is introduced. He is stalking a deer, but decides to hunt for sweeter meat--human meat. We find out that his official kills stand atg 282 people. almost half of which were killed around Chakrata. They suspect that his actual kills number closer to 350.
In part two we meet "the great white hunter" Dennis Brooke, who is himself almost a demigod to the people of India for rescuing them from so many man-eaters. We find out that he is refusing to hunt Shaitan, and what his reasons are for doing this. THe pressure mounts on him to hunt the beast with the general public going from adoring him to a polite snubbing of him and in some instances even compempt.
In part 3 Dennis goes to India, and we find out more of the backstory of why he didn't want to return.
In part four Dennis sets out hunt the demon man-eater known as Shaitan.
In part five the "contest" heats up and brings us to the nerve wracking ending.
In my opinion this is proably one of the most thrilling books ever writen and it is the best hunting tale ever. To those who say that man is "The most dangerous game" I can only conjecture that they have never hear of Shaitan. Ahtough not explictley blood drenched and gory the authors prose gets the horror of what is happening acoss very clearly. Here is just a small example of of this and one reason this story has stuck with me since 1981.
”In the week Brooke had been in Scotland, Shaitan had taken two more victims.
A priest was caught one night on the pilgrim path outside of Bisalpur. He had been bound with a group of fellows for the shrines in Hardwar when he had fallen behind. The others had found a stout pilgrim shelter on the road, and then discovered their companion, one Pattu Lai, missing. They had been deep in meditation as they walked, and did not notice that he had lagged behind. Fearful of going back in the night to find him, because they knew Shaitan was in the vicinity, they waited till morning. All they found of Pattu Lai was a few torn and bloody remnants of his robe, and his walking staff.
The villagers of Bisalpur were called, and they began a hunt for the remains. They found them in an open field a mile away. All that remained was a skull and a few broken bones, and a sacred amulet that Pattu Lai always wore.
Three days later, a well-known Sikh big-game hunter from Amristar, Nanak by name, was caught and eaten by Shaitan outside of a village named Ramnagas, not far from Bisalpur. The Sikhs, like the Muslims, gave no credence to the Hindu belief that Shaitan was a reincarnation of the sadhu, Ram Gwar. The Sikhs were people of great courage, and a number of them had become accomplished hunters of man-eaters, though not in a class with the British army officers. The government had licensed the necessary weapons to a few who were qualified to hunt down and kill man-eaters. The body of Nanak, so named after the founding father of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, was never found. All that was found, under a tree, was his belt buckle, his rifle, and scraps of his boots, all lying in a pool of blood. This in itself was enough to document the killing.
The Sikh hunter actually had volunteered to hunt down Shaitan for altruistic reasons. It was interesting to note that all the victims so far taken by Shaitan were Hindus. Not a single Moslem or Sikh in the area had been attacked
The newspapers reported, with some irritation, that Dennis Brooke was in Scotland shooting birds while all this was going on. The newspapers also reported that as of now, Shaitan had taken victim number 286."
April 30, 2016
When I was a kid, my grandfather read me THE MAN EATERS OF KUMEON, British hunter Jim Corbett's amazing memoirs of hunting man-eater tigers in India in the early 1900's. The JAWS-like sense of confrontation and Kipling setting fired my imagination. In SHAITAN, Max Ehrlich did a pretty magnificent job of turning that arena into an epic action adventure novel, while adding a whole sociological and political dimension to his man vs. beast tale. Written with superb attention to detail, my only qualm was the book has too much narrative foreplay; the jungle mano-a-mano between man's man English hunter Dennis Brooke and the genocidal titular leopard happens late in the novel and I wanted more scenes with them. That said, the action delivers the goods, making the book a unique and satisfying read.
April 9, 2020
Enjoyable, but this book has more in common with the 40s and 50s pulp adventure stories than it does with Jaws, so it's not much of a horror story. If you're a fan of adventure pulp though, there's plenty to enjoy here, it's just not for me.
June 22, 2023
Great pulpy story, grizzly deaths, but horror it was not. That being said, it was really hard to like our main character & his belly-aching the whole time. Want a quick cliff’s notes version that’s not too spoilery? The first half is nothing but “hundreds of people are being killed by this killer leopard but I don’t want to go do what I do best and hunt it because I’m traumatized” and “ok maybe I should cuz everyone is pressuring me to go do it.” Then 2 chapters of “the battle” that ends with our MC saying “oh no that didn’t go so well & I got people killed so now I’m going home to pout.” Then the rest of the book is “ok fine I’ll come back and fight it, again cuz I’m being pressured to and that’s really the only reason why.” Final battle, boomboom.
It was a more drawn out Moby Dick but on land. Notttt what I signed up for.
It was a more drawn out Moby Dick but on land. Notttt what I signed up for.
September 2, 2020
Would give 3.5, but goodreads won't let me.
A solid read. It's nothing deep, but it's not trying to be. My only real quibble is with the pacing. The book spends too much time getting to India and dealing with the politics of the time, spends the right amount of time on the various attempts at bagging Shaitan, and then very abruptly rushes to the climax and resolution near the very end of the book. I get that it would've been awkward to not mention Ghandi and his movement given the time period the book takes place in, but it's mostly irrelevant to the proceedings.
A solid read. It's nothing deep, but it's not trying to be. My only real quibble is with the pacing. The book spends too much time getting to India and dealing with the politics of the time, spends the right amount of time on the various attempts at bagging Shaitan, and then very abruptly rushes to the climax and resolution near the very end of the book. I get that it would've been awkward to not mention Ghandi and his movement given the time period the book takes place in, but it's mostly irrelevant to the proceedings.
June 1, 2024
A decent story but not nearly as much of "a novel of reincarnation" as the cover claims. Reincarnation is discussed, certainly, but making it spooky or creepy... making it eye-opening for the reader in some way... not much. A somewhat satisfying ending, but the narrative tends at times too much to the "telling" rather than the "showing." And the paperback edition I read was one of the most poorly proofread texts I've encountered in a professionally published book in some time.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews