Malsum

by Gerald John O'Hara

A snowbound town is stalked by an Indian sorcerer.

Genres: Horror

309 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1981

Reviews

[Liquid R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an absolute dud of a book this was. From the front and back cover you would think you were in for some early '80s genre nastiness in line with many of the titles released by Avon at the time - an evil wizard possessing a giant, vicious stag and embarking on a murderous rampage across a small upstate, NY, community? Cool, right? Not quite.

In lieu of a story focused on a killer animal and Native American superstitions and lore, what you instead get is roughly 250/309 pages focused on plodding familial drama set in the aforementioned smalltown, USA, community during the 1950s, featuring the most unlikeable characters you've encountered in many a book. After introducing literally dozens of people over the course of the first few chapters, the story settles into a primary focus on the family helmed by Zeb Simpson, an abusive alcoholic who presumably has some hidden nobility due to his heroic past in the military. Living with Zeb is his wife Pearl, who goes between arguing with him one sentence and doing an about-face the next, all charmed by his roguish ways in what is typical of bipolar behavior and reactions of all characters throughout the book. Also on hand is Zeb's younger brother Pete, an upstanding financial advisor harboring inner demons and an attraction to Pearl that is in part reciprocated, along with Chucky, Zeb and Pearl's son who largely serves no purpose in the narrative until he finds a young hart (deer) and adopts it, at which point he starts to figure more prominently, because suddenly his teacher Nora Cleary also starts figuring prominently due to her romantic past with Pete and the fact that she also had a one-night stand with Zeb and she's concerned about Chucky's grades and OH MY GOD, WHEN DO WE GET TO THE KILLER DEER STUFF ALREADY??!??!??

Sadly, the killer deer (named Shaman and referenced as such throughout the book, such that the titular "Malsum" only comes into play for the first 50 pages and again over the last 15 or so) only does his thing over the course of maybe 12 total pages or so, and of his handful of kills, even half of those happen "off-page"; he'll appear from out of some trees to confront a character, then the next paragraph a search party is finding the body. Because come on, the author has more important things to get to, like Pete and Nora going Christmas shopping in Buffalo or Pearl chastising Zeb about his drinking problem before hopping into bed with him for a quick romp.

Avoid this stinker unless you somehow enjoy literary pain.

[Mspattie Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Read this Book years ago and was so intrigued with the story and would definitely like to read it again my recall was that this book was very realistic and suspenseful and filled with many details of family life in a small town .
Also the strong spirit of this native Indian that it took its revenge through the animal spirit a deer

[DesertByrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think some people like to hear themselves wax poetic within their negative reviews, and I also think they spew their negative rants with narcissistic flare: it’s more about them than the book they reviewed. Humans.
I’m comfortable averring that the author didn’t intend for us to snuggle up close to some of these characters with their all-too-human flaws. Remember: if an author succeeds at making us ‘feel anything at all’ about their characters and storyline, be it love, lust, hatred or disgust, then they, wait for it…succeeded. This book was well-written, and like many literary works, reflected humans and their ideals of the time. We can pick it apart all we want, but the author succeeded at creating a book that affected the way people feel—for better or worse. Nicely done, and a fun read.

[A. Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

No thanks. Unfortunately there is too much of the family's backstory and not enough of the Native American perspective. The plot is pretty cut and dry: an imprisoned Delaware native finally is released after 50 years and goes back to the town where his sons were murdered to avenge them by placing his spirit in the body of a hulking and elusive stag that the town has come to call Shaman. I wish there was more about the peoples and of the myths and legends behind their beliefs. I don't quite understand the purpose of the main character aside from his small journey to believing that the stag is possessed and not just a statistical phenomenon. Zeb is crass, an alcoholic, and standoffish. He is a terrible main character and in my opinion he is more or less unbearable throughout the entire book. I feel that the focus should have been more on his son Chucky and his Seneca friend Tommy. The new generation solving the problem with mild help from the older generation that remembers the time Malsum was exiled/imprisoned. The middle "parent" generation is about as useless as anything to the story. I did come to care for Pete as a character, but it is still lost on me how it pertains to the plot at all. I didn't enjoy the parts about Pearl's (Zeb's wife) nipples (especially from the perspective of her 6th grade-aged son) or the other weird sexual stuff that was added in. The story only loosely follows the main plot until the latter half of part two (p.117) and part three (p.200), and even then it can get off track but with all of that being said, I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't well written. I'm still glad I read this book. I would recommend it but don't expect anything too special. The book is old and it reflects the time it was written during (1981) and about (1950s). I bought it for $1.49 at the thrift store. Don't buy it for $30 listing price.