The Witching

by Chet Hagan

The old man had been brutally murdered. That much was clear. But when Sheriff Stauffer began his straightforward, by-the-book investigation, he never imagined that the case would lead into the strange and twisting byways of the supernatural.

Murder follows murder, until terror engulfs the picturesque Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. Shock by shock, the nightmare practices of hexerei come to light, still wielding their ancient powers of death and destruction...

Genres: Horror

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting premise, but ultimately, a bit of a fail in execution. Our main protagonist, Sheriff Stauffer, starts his Thanksgiving day with a murder. Stauffer presides over a county in Pennsylvania Dutch area and murders are pretty rare. The victim, however, was also a 'pow-wow' doctor. I have read other books that feature pow-wow, a set of beliefs of 'cures' and such that goes back to the early 19th century. One could call pow-wow doctors witches as they can cast spells to 'hex' someone, or to have spells removed.

When the sheriff starts digging into this murder, the pow-wow connections quickly emerge. He places some locals at the scene, but they were there before the murder took place. The Witching reads more like a mystery thriller than a horror novel, despite the awesome cover art, with some pow-wow tossed in. While the sheriff does not believe in pow-wow, some strange events leave him rethinking his prior beliefs...

So, why is this a fail? Hagan's armature prose and erratic pacing leave a lot to be desired to say the least, but the plot is perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back. For most of the novel, the mystery/story unfolded decently, but it really broke down at the end. If this had a more satisfying conclusion, I might have bumped it to three stars, but so it goes. I liked how pow-wow was discussed and Hagan did his homework here. Nonetheless, a good mystery needs a good plot and that was lacking here. 2 hexes!

[Jacinta Sousa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pennsylvania Dutch Witchcraft tangles around a small town where everyone is connected in a trail of sex, murder, abuse and lies.

While many of the characters were decent, the "accent" is too difficult to read in many points. Also the whole ending of the story leaves you questioning who put the final spells on who...

[Marc Schoenhals · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It’s a story you can really get in to. Not necessarily fast paced as much as it is detailed and calculated. Every move was calculated. I’m glad I found this book.

[Slayermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a long time ago; I believe I was around fifteen years old at the time. I really don’t remember too much about it though except that I found it to be an interesting read. I’m giving it three stars based on that as if it was any better I’d like to think it would have been more memorable. I do remember it had something to do with a bunch of mysterious murders but after that I draw a blank. :0)

[Beth Dufraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attention Goodreads Librarians:
I have the image for this book uploaded on my flickr account at:
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