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لا شيء سوى الظلام
كلُّ ما يحيط بالطفلة "ماري هَارْب" غامضٌ ومفزعٌ.
أحلام مريعة، روحٌ عجوز تحلُّ في عقلها الصغير، جرائم قتل طقسية، تجارب علمية لم تخطر ببال أحدٍ!
هذه الرواية تقف على الحدود الفاصلة بين روايات التشويق، الرعب، الجريمة، والروايات النفسية. تجربة فريدة، ورواية مفصلية في تاريخ أدب التشويق. استطاع الروائي البريطاني جون بلاكبرن في رواية "لاشيء سوى الظلام" أن يمزج أنواع شتى من الأدب ببراعة، فالرواية بين يديك تحوي خليطًا مميزًا من نوعيات أدب الرعب، وأدب الغموض والتحقيقات، والأدب النفسي المعتمَد على تشريح ووصف النفس البشرية ببراعة، وكل ذلك على خلفيةٍ من معلوماتٍ طبية شيقة تتسق مع أجواء الرواية وأحداثها المُحيرة.
صدرت الرواية عام 1968، ولا زالت سابقة لأدب عصرها، تحوِّم في خلفيتها تأثر الكاتب بعلم النفس والطقوس السحرية القديمة وأجواء المؤامرات. لا زالت سُمعته ككاتب متميز لأدب الرعب راسخة، وكمؤسِّس لنوع هجين من ذلك الأدب، يُعد أكثر عُمقًا من المألوف حتى يومنا هذا.
أحلام مريعة، روحٌ عجوز تحلُّ في عقلها الصغير، جرائم قتل طقسية، تجارب علمية لم تخطر ببال أحدٍ!
هذه الرواية تقف على الحدود الفاصلة بين روايات التشويق، الرعب، الجريمة، والروايات النفسية. تجربة فريدة، ورواية مفصلية في تاريخ أدب التشويق. استطاع الروائي البريطاني جون بلاكبرن في رواية "لاشيء سوى الظلام" أن يمزج أنواع شتى من الأدب ببراعة، فالرواية بين يديك تحوي خليطًا مميزًا من نوعيات أدب الرعب، وأدب الغموض والتحقيقات، والأدب النفسي المعتمَد على تشريح ووصف النفس البشرية ببراعة، وكل ذلك على خلفيةٍ من معلوماتٍ طبية شيقة تتسق مع أجواء الرواية وأحداثها المُحيرة.
صدرت الرواية عام 1968، ولا زالت سابقة لأدب عصرها، تحوِّم في خلفيتها تأثر الكاتب بعلم النفس والطقوس السحرية القديمة وأجواء المؤامرات. لا زالت سُمعته ككاتب متميز لأدب الرعب راسخة، وكمؤسِّس لنوع هجين من ذلك الأدب، يُعد أكثر عُمقًا من المألوف حتى يومنا هذا.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
8 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
John Blackburn
35 books33 followersJohn Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. Blackburn attended Haileybury College near London beginning in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s work, including the bibliomystery Blue Octavo (1963). A Scent of New-Mown Hay typified the approach that would come to characterize Blackburn’s twenty-eight novels, which defied easy categorization in their unique and compelling mixture of the genres of science fiction, horror, mystery, and thriller. Many of Blackburn’s best novels came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a string of successes that included the classics A Ring of Roses (1965), Children of the Night (1966), Nothing but the Night (1968; adapted for a 1973 film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Devil Daddy (1972) and Our Lady of Pain (1974). Somewhat unusually for a popular horror writer, Blackburn’s novels were not only successful with the reading public but also won widespread critical acclaim: the Times Literary Supplement declared him ‘today’s master of horror’ and compared him with the Grimm Brothers, while the Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural regarded him as ‘certainly the best British novelist in his field’ and the St James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers called him ‘one of England’s best practicing novelists in the tradition of the thriller novel’.
By the time Blackburn published his final novel in 1985, much of his work was already out of print, an inexplicable neglect that continued until Valancourt began republishing his novels in 2013. John Blackburn died in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 23, 2021
رواية مثيرة جدا ومشوقة حتى النهاية ... غامضة وبها لمحة سوداوية مع شيء من الرعب ... هي مزيج من الخيال العلمي والرعب والقصص المتعلقة بالنفسية ... كنت بالفعل لا أستطيع التأكيد على أي شيء يخص أبطالها، فأغلبهم مرسومين بشكل يسمح بكونهم الطيب والشرير والممسوس والمظلوم والظالم والمريض النفسي والعاقل، باستثناء عدد قليل من شخصيات الرواية فالباقين شخصياتهم تبدو خادعة جدا ومركبة
مرعبة قليلا عندما تسير مع الافتراضات المرعبة ومرعبة كثيرا إن فكرت فيها بعدما تنهي الكتاب
أقيمها بخمس نجمات لاختيار المترجمة لهذه الرواية، حيث أنها المرة الأولى لي التي أقرأ فيها للكاتب ولم أسمع عن الرواية من قبل
وخمس نجمات للترجمة بالتأكيد، فالترجمة جاءت سلسة على الرغم من صعوبة الفكرة
وثلاث نجمات للدار بسبب الأخطاء الطباعية والنحوية ... فهناك مثلا
إطلاق سراح والمكتوبة في الرواية إطلاق سلاح
الجنرال التي كتبوها في أكثر من موضع الجرنال
استخدام كان مع الطفلة بدلا من كانت
مشاكل الجمع والتثنية كالعادة
وبعض الاخطاء الأخرى التي لا أتذكرها حاليا ... لكن إجمالا فقد كانت قراءة ممتعة واختيار موفق جدا سواء للدار أو لي حينما اقتنيتها
مرعبة قليلا عندما تسير مع الافتراضات المرعبة ومرعبة كثيرا إن فكرت فيها بعدما تنهي الكتاب
أقيمها بخمس نجمات لاختيار المترجمة لهذه الرواية، حيث أنها المرة الأولى لي التي أقرأ فيها للكاتب ولم أسمع عن الرواية من قبل
وخمس نجمات للترجمة بالتأكيد، فالترجمة جاءت سلسة على الرغم من صعوبة الفكرة
وثلاث نجمات للدار بسبب الأخطاء الطباعية والنحوية ... فهناك مثلا
إطلاق سراح والمكتوبة في الرواية إطلاق سلاح
الجنرال التي كتبوها في أكثر من موضع الجرنال
استخدام كان مع الطفلة بدلا من كانت
مشاكل الجمع والتثنية كالعادة
وبعض الاخطاء الأخرى التي لا أتذكرها حاليا ... لكن إجمالا فقد كانت قراءة ممتعة واختيار موفق جدا سواء للدار أو لي حينما اقتنيتها
January 1, 2016
A truly bizarre, gritty-noir "rediscovered" little book worthy of a cult following. Bravo, Valancourt Books!
In order to convey the oddness and off-the-beaten-path nature of this work, it's necessary to explain why I even have it in my possession. I mean, it only has 12 ratings and 2 total reviews on Goodreads - not something I'd usually consider picking up. So, it all started with taking a chance on an Amazon recommendation of a "rediscovered classic" - The Elementals by Michael McDowell, and being intrigued by the actual edition I received - a new Valancourt run (it was such a beautiful book - one of those you love to hold in your hands and smell and just play with between your fingers as you read, and, of course, a good but totally strange story).
Now, I'm a book snob, and the publishing house matters. But that doesn't mean I discount those I've never heard of - I just had to do a bit of research into Valancourt. I found myself impressed by their mission to hunt down and republish literary horror/sci-fi/fantasy works that have sadly been lost to time, and like I said, I loved the care and quality of the physical book. I even contacted them directly to buy some books up for sale on their website--they got back to me right away and were very nice and professional.
So Nothing but the Night was delivered to my doorstep a few days later, along with a bunch of other McDowells. And, whoa, is it ODD. And I don't mean just the plot. The plot is strange, sure, and includes bit of quaint, outdated sci-fi, but it's more than that: it's the entire atmosphere and language, which seems to convey a ... Lynchian off-ness. I'm a bit at a loss for how to qualify this strangeness, other than drawing the analogy that this book is to mainstream horror what Twin Peaks is to mainstream detective shows.
A summary won't really do the book justice, and a true summary would give too much away, but in short: there's a little girl in a hospital with puzzling symptoms, connected to a fellowship of rich philanthropists who run a home for abandoned children. Some of these rich people die in suspicious accidents. The little girl's mother, a triple murderer released from prison, visits her daughter in the hospital, and the attendant physician is later found with a hat-pin through his skull. The investigation takes off, and the resolution isn't at all what you may imagine.
Absolutely recommend it if you're craving a chilling, gritty, dark, suspenseful "what the heck did I just read" type of book.
In order to convey the oddness and off-the-beaten-path nature of this work, it's necessary to explain why I even have it in my possession. I mean, it only has 12 ratings and 2 total reviews on Goodreads - not something I'd usually consider picking up. So, it all started with taking a chance on an Amazon recommendation of a "rediscovered classic" - The Elementals by Michael McDowell, and being intrigued by the actual edition I received - a new Valancourt run (it was such a beautiful book - one of those you love to hold in your hands and smell and just play with between your fingers as you read, and, of course, a good but totally strange story).
Now, I'm a book snob, and the publishing house matters. But that doesn't mean I discount those I've never heard of - I just had to do a bit of research into Valancourt. I found myself impressed by their mission to hunt down and republish literary horror/sci-fi/fantasy works that have sadly been lost to time, and like I said, I loved the care and quality of the physical book. I even contacted them directly to buy some books up for sale on their website--they got back to me right away and were very nice and professional.
So Nothing but the Night was delivered to my doorstep a few days later, along with a bunch of other McDowells. And, whoa, is it ODD. And I don't mean just the plot. The plot is strange, sure, and includes bit of quaint, outdated sci-fi, but it's more than that: it's the entire atmosphere and language, which seems to convey a ... Lynchian off-ness. I'm a bit at a loss for how to qualify this strangeness, other than drawing the analogy that this book is to mainstream horror what Twin Peaks is to mainstream detective shows.
A summary won't really do the book justice, and a true summary would give too much away, but in short: there's a little girl in a hospital with puzzling symptoms, connected to a fellowship of rich philanthropists who run a home for abandoned children. Some of these rich people die in suspicious accidents. The little girl's mother, a triple murderer released from prison, visits her daughter in the hospital, and the attendant physician is later found with a hat-pin through his skull. The investigation takes off, and the resolution isn't at all what you may imagine.
Absolutely recommend it if you're craving a chilling, gritty, dark, suspenseful "what the heck did I just read" type of book.
Read
April 14, 2021كنت أريد قراءة خفيفة مسلية سريعة.
يُفترَض أنها رواية إثارة وتشويق. لاحظت أنها مكتوبة بنفس الأسلوب الذي كان كاتبا روايات مصرية للجيب يحاكيانه، وما قرأت من سلاسل روايات مصرية يصلح للتسلية ويمر سريعا، لكن هنا مللت وأكملتها بصعوبة. ربما تغير ذوقي أو أنها فعلا مملة.
- يعيبها كثرة الأخطاء الإملائية، وتكرار الخلط بين الحروف كالخلط بين الزاي والذال مثلا في كثير من الكلمات.
- لماذا تُرجِم العنوان Nothing but the Night إلى "لا شيء سوى الظلام" وفي النص تُرجِم الاقتباس الذي أُخِذ منه العنوان "لا شيء سوى الليل"؟
- الفكرة لا بأس بها، لكن ربما التناول أفسدها، والتخلص من المعضلة الأخلاقية ال خاصة بالتعامل مع "المسوخ" في النهاية كان ساذجا.
في المجمل لم تعجبني.
#أبريل_2021
يُفترَض أنها رواية إثارة وتشويق. لاحظت أنها مكتوبة بنفس الأسلوب الذي كان كاتبا روايات مصرية للجيب يحاكيانه، وما قرأت من سلاسل روايات مصرية يصلح للتسلية ويمر سريعا، لكن هنا مللت وأكملتها بصعوبة. ربما تغير ذوقي أو أنها فعلا مملة.
- يعيبها كثرة الأخطاء الإملائية، وتكرار الخلط بين الحروف كالخلط بين الزاي والذال مثلا في كثير من الكلمات.
- لماذا تُرجِم العنوان Nothing but the Night إلى "لا شيء سوى الظلام" وفي النص تُرجِم الاقتباس الذي أُخِذ منه العنوان "لا شيء سوى الليل"؟
- الفكرة لا بأس بها، لكن ربما التناول أفسدها، والتخلص من المعضلة الأخلاقية ال خاصة بالتعامل مع "المسوخ" في النهاية كان ساذجا.
في المجمل لم تعجبني.
#أبريل_2021
September 14, 2021
What can I say? Halloween Bingo made me do it. Normally, I don't read horror from the 1960s. I was put off by all those smug, seedy, in-it-for-the-naughty-bits Denis Wheatley books that were everywhere when I started reading horror in the 1970s. I picked up 'Nothing But The Night' as a strongly recommended example of 1960s British horror. I knew it had been made into a movie and I was intrigued to see a horror book with a title that referenced Houseman's 'A Shropshire Lad'.
The story follows a pattern of apparently accidental deaths that might be murders that befall the members of a charity run by a bunch of millionaire philanthropists. Is it a series of bizarre coincidences or an evil plot or the act of one mentally disturbed woman who believes she has the sight? And are the children at the luxury orphanage that the charity runs in danger or are they dangerous? These questions are asked and answered by two men with no official authority but who are both prominent establishment figures. One holds the rank of General and is an approaching-retirement overwatch-only leader in British Intelligence. The other is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, specialising in creating new antibodies, a Knight of the Realm, and a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Belsen.
It took me a while to settle into the story, partly because of the slightly sparse storytelling style but mostly because I kept getting distracted by how much I disliked 1960s Britain. John Blackburn did a good job of pressing my prejudice buttons. I'm glad I was still a child in the 1960s if this is what the adults were like.
Initially, I felt that none of the male characters was worth knowing. It took me a little longer to realise that Blackburn's two male heroes are from the survived-the-war-and-am-a-little-surprised-to-be-here generation and were both deeply damaged men who had gone on to excel at what they did. I found I needed to revise the media-generated Swinging London image of the 1960s when I thought about what it meant when all the people in power had been through six years of a brutal war.
The way the men talked about women was also distracting. The women who prepare the data for the computer are referred to as girls and not one of them is given a line. A Sister at a hospital anticipates our heroes need for a fresh slide showing a cross-section of brain tissue and receives a 'good girl' comment, meant as praise and thanks.
The language on race was also annoying. I'd always assumed that the term Mulatto had fallen out of use in England before the First World War, but Blackburn uses it as common parlance to describe a mixed-race woman. This usage woke my Inner Pedant who, after harrumphing at the derogative language, pointed out that the correct offensive terminology for a woman of her ancestry would have been Mulatta. She was the only non-white character in the book and, by sheer co-incidence, was also a prostitute, a convicted murderer and a suspected terrorist.
In what was probably seen as a progressive move at the time, the heroes wife, a Russian woman who used to work as an analyst for Russian Intelligence, plays an active part in solving the mystery. This is even more remarkable as she's seven months pregnant. Yet, instead of admiring this, I got distracted by the fact that she smoked cigarettes and drank gin, even though I know my mother would have done the same.
Perhaps the most distracting scene was when the British secret service guy used a computer to analyse the data on several cases to see if they were related. We have a male boffin doing the jargon chat and 'girls' producing the punch cards (remember those? I do.).The description of the technology sounded OK up to the point the output arrived and it turned out to be a computer-generated report in plain English that a modern AI would struggle to produce and which would have been sheer sorcery in the 1960s And not one character thought it was odd.
Despite all the distractions, I found the first three quarters of the book quietly entertaining in an ahead-of-it's-time techno-thriller way but I couldn't see the horror part. Then Blackburn turned up the heat and delivered a really big and very creepy finish. There's a clever idea sitting at the heart of the plot that you can read as science or sorcery or both. Whichever you pick, the idea is an evil, corrupting, fundamentally repugnant one and Blackburn managed to blindside me with it.
I won't be seeking out 1960s horror for my TBR pile but I'm glad to have sampled a good quality example of the vintage.
John Blackburn (1923 - 1993) was a British novelist who wrote more than thirty horror and thriller novels. He published his first book in 1958 and his last in 1985.
Many of his books, including Nothing But The Night feature General Charles Kirk of British Intelligence, the scientist Sir Marcus Levin and his Russian wife Tania.
In 1973, Nothing But The Night was made into a film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
February 14, 2023
This is British 1960s horror, and easily identifiable by its focus largely on crime. But.. its well worth the effort as the ending certainly delivers.
Set around an orphanage on a remote Scottish island, not far from Skye, this deals with a pattern of seemingly accidental deaths, that could possibly be murders, that happen on and around the sialnd, to people with ties to the orphanage, including the philanthropists who have generously funded it, indeed it is a 5 star luxury orphanage.
For its large part it reads as a crime thriller, and though passably entertaining it is quite predictable and treads little new ground. The last 30 pages or so, with a nod to Poe, Blackburn shows his skill as a horror writer, as he finishes the story leaving an indelible impression.
Set around an orphanage on a remote Scottish island, not far from Skye, this deals with a pattern of seemingly accidental deaths, that could possibly be murders, that happen on and around the sialnd, to people with ties to the orphanage, including the philanthropists who have generously funded it, indeed it is a 5 star luxury orphanage.
For its large part it reads as a crime thriller, and though passably entertaining it is quite predictable and treads little new ground. The last 30 pages or so, with a nod to Poe, Blackburn shows his skill as a horror writer, as he finishes the story leaving an indelible impression.
October 19, 2020
John Blackburn's twelfth novel and one of the finest.
When psychologist Peter Haynes is murdered while attending to indefinably disturbed Mary Valley, the immediate suspect is the girl's homicidal mother Anna Harb fleeing the scene.
Sir Marcus Levin calls in General Charles Kirk and the two make their way to the remote Scottish island of Bala, where a children's home run by the Van Traylen Foundation where Mary resides is the natural place for the madwoman to head. But Kirk and Levin make further disturbing discoveries on the island and about the Van Traylen Trustees who are also meeting violent ends.
What connection is there between Mary Valley and the late Helen Van Traylen? What connects her to the work of neurologist Dr. Laura Tyrrell and the apparent ritual murder of another child?
Blackburn gives the answers at a climactic bonfire party of horror.
Also the only one of Blackburn's works to be filmed, thanks to Christopher Lee; who stars with Peter Cushing as the leads (renamed Colonel Bingham and Sir Mark Ashley) with Diana Dors as Anna Harb, Kathleen Byron as Dr. Tyrrell, Fulton McKay as Laird Cameron of Bala, Michael Gambon (making his debut) as young Inspector Grant with special mention to young Gwyneth Strong in the pivotal role of Mary Valley. Blackburn (a fan of Nigel Kneale) was no doubt pleased with the casting of Duncan Lamont (original Victor Caroon) as Dr. Knight and second Quatermass John Robinson just spot on as obsequious trustee Lord Fawnlee.
When psychologist Peter Haynes is murdered while attending to indefinably disturbed Mary Valley, the immediate suspect is the girl's homicidal mother Anna Harb fleeing the scene.
Sir Marcus Levin calls in General Charles Kirk and the two make their way to the remote Scottish island of Bala, where a children's home run by the Van Traylen Foundation where Mary resides is the natural place for the madwoman to head. But Kirk and Levin make further disturbing discoveries on the island and about the Van Traylen Trustees who are also meeting violent ends.
What connection is there between Mary Valley and the late Helen Van Traylen? What connects her to the work of neurologist Dr. Laura Tyrrell and the apparent ritual murder of another child?
Blackburn gives the answers at a climactic bonfire party of horror.
Also the only one of Blackburn's works to be filmed, thanks to Christopher Lee; who stars with Peter Cushing as the leads (renamed Colonel Bingham and Sir Mark Ashley) with Diana Dors as Anna Harb, Kathleen Byron as Dr. Tyrrell, Fulton McKay as Laird Cameron of Bala, Michael Gambon (making his debut) as young Inspector Grant with special mention to young Gwyneth Strong in the pivotal role of Mary Valley. Blackburn (a fan of Nigel Kneale) was no doubt pleased with the casting of Duncan Lamont (original Victor Caroon) as Dr. Knight and second Quatermass John Robinson just spot on as obsequious trustee Lord Fawnlee.
March 22, 2016
I’m happy to announce that another of John Blackburn’s classic horror novels has been reprinted by Valancourt Books, and again it features an introduction by me — Nothing but the Night!
When a bus crashes that is carrying orphans from the Van Traylen Home, one of the children, Mary Valley, is injured and taken to the hospital for observation. Psychiatrist Peter Haynes is convinced that something is wrong with the young girl, who suffers from traumatic nightmares of events that she could not possibly have experienced. A visit from Mary’s biological mother Anna Harb, psychic and once convicted murderer, goes terribly wrong as the woman attempts to throw the child down the stairs, declaring that she is a “soul that should never have been born.”
An additional murder sparks a manhunt for Harb on the lonely island of the Van Traylen Home. But General Kirk of the Foreign Intelligence Service suspects that something even more sinister is afoot. Three members of the Van Traylen Fellowship have died recently in mysterious circumstances; could the deaths be connected? And what is their relationship to Mary Valley and Anna Harb? Kirk and scientist Marcus Levin join the hunt around the Van Traylen Home, but they are unprepared for the true horror that will be revealed — in the darkness and fires of Guy Fawkes Night!
Read the whole review.
When a bus crashes that is carrying orphans from the Van Traylen Home, one of the children, Mary Valley, is injured and taken to the hospital for observation. Psychiatrist Peter Haynes is convinced that something is wrong with the young girl, who suffers from traumatic nightmares of events that she could not possibly have experienced. A visit from Mary’s biological mother Anna Harb, psychic and once convicted murderer, goes terribly wrong as the woman attempts to throw the child down the stairs, declaring that she is a “soul that should never have been born.”
An additional murder sparks a manhunt for Harb on the lonely island of the Van Traylen Home. But General Kirk of the Foreign Intelligence Service suspects that something even more sinister is afoot. Three members of the Van Traylen Fellowship have died recently in mysterious circumstances; could the deaths be connected? And what is their relationship to Mary Valley and Anna Harb? Kirk and scientist Marcus Levin join the hunt around the Van Traylen Home, but they are unprepared for the true horror that will be revealed — in the darkness and fires of Guy Fawkes Night!
Read the whole review.
February 25, 2025
I’ve read about a dozen of Blackburn’s works so far and this is the best I’ve come across. You will never guess the ending. This is indeed a horror novel!
March 16, 2025
A young girl with frightening nightmares and the hunt for her mystical, murdering mother are at the center of this story that is lightly tinged with the occult but harbors a far more outrageous surprise. Without giving too much away, this story is actually a kind of quaint bridge between some of Doyle and Poe's more supernatural tinged tales and modern technology and reason. There's a bit of hypnotism, a "supercomputer" that is employed to predict the future actions of the murderer, and .
But in good faith I forgave the book its more outlandish claims because this was a time when school bus drivers smoked and women seven months pregnant are offered gin and tonics.
But in good faith I forgave the book its more outlandish claims because this was a time when school bus drivers smoked and women seven months pregnant are offered gin and tonics.
March 19, 2021
قصة استحواذ معتادة لطفلة صغيرة
الاحداث متوقعة وبالرغم من موضوع الرواية الا انها غير مخيفة بالمرة
هل اثرت الترجمة في جودة الرواية ، لا أدري لكن تجاربي السابقة مع ترجمات شيرين كانت جيدة فمن الواضح ان مشكلتي مع الرواية نفسها
الاحداث متوقعة وبالرغم من موضوع الرواية الا انها غير مخيفة بالمرة
هل اثرت الترجمة في جودة الرواية ، لا أدري لكن تجاربي السابقة مع ترجمات شيرين كانت جيدة فمن الواضح ان مشكلتي مع الرواية نفسها
April 9, 2021
رواية جميلة
ترجمة ممتازة
مراجعة مرئية للعمل ضمن قراءات شهر فبراير
https://youtu.be/IhREpaXTJxI
ترجمة ممتازة
مراجعة مرئية للعمل ضمن قراءات شهر فبراير
https://youtu.be/IhREpaXTJxI
July 1, 2022
من غير أى مبالغة واحدة من افضل روايات الرعب و التشويق اللى قراتها
August 18, 2025
كل الرواية في كوم، والتفسير اللي في نهايتها كوم تاني..
تفسير ذكي جدًا، اللي كنا فاكرينهم أبرياء، اتضح إنهم الجناة، والعكس بالعكس..
تفسير ذكي جدًا، اللي كنا فاكرينهم أبرياء، اتضح إنهم الجناة، والعكس بالعكس..
December 28, 2021
رواية من المفترض أنها تقف على الحدود الفاصلة بين روايات التشويق، الرعب، الجريمة، والروايات النفسية.
لكنني لم أرَ أنها مرعبة، أو حتى أنها مشوقة إلى حد ما.
تدور أحداث الرواية حول دار ترايلِن لرعاية الأيتام، والتي أسستها هيلين فان ترايلِن، ومجموعة من كبار السن الأثرياء. من المفترض أن دوَّر رعاية الأيتام تؤسس لحماية الأطفال الذين تركوهم ذويهم أو حتى ظروف معيشتهم قاسية، لكن نرى في هذه الدار أن مجموعة الأثرياء أسسوها لهدف أبعد من ذلك، وهو أنهم يأخذون الأطفال لينقلوا لهم روحهم الهرمة وذكرياتهم إلى جوف هؤلاء الأطفال البريئين ليكملوا بذلك حيواتهم ويتحدون فكرة الموت، فقط عبور أبدي من جسد لجسد. وذلك عن طريق نقل أجزاء معينة من مخهم تحمل ذاكراتهم إلى مخ الأطفال. لتكون النتيجة مجموعة من المسوخ التي لا تختلف كثيرًا عن الوحوش سوى أنهم يبدون كأطفال بريئة لا يُتوقَع منهم شئ وحشيّ. جعلتني الرواية أتساءل، هل هذا مايحدث حقاً عندما نلغي شخصيتنا وكياننا وتفكيرنا ونستبدلهم بتفكير الكبار وكأنهم يعيشون بدلًا عنا؟. هل حقا نصير مسوخ بهذا الشكل، بدلا من أن نعيش حيواتنا بالشكل المفترض أن يكون، أو بالأحرى كما نريد، نعيش حيواتهم هما؟!، وكأننا بذلك نعصب عيوننا ونسد آذاننا ونتركهم يقودوننا بصمت إلى ما يرون _من وجهة نظرهم_ أنه الصحيح، لمجرد فقط أنهم أكبر منا!!
أقيمها بثلاثة نجوم؛ واحدة لي وواحدة للترجمة وواحدة للفكرة :D
لكنني لم أرَ أنها مرعبة، أو حتى أنها مشوقة إلى حد ما.
تدور أحداث الرواية حول دار ترايلِن لرعاية الأيتام، والتي أسستها هيلين فان ترايلِن، ومجموعة من كبار السن الأثرياء. من المفترض أن دوَّر رعاية الأيتام تؤسس لحماية الأطفال الذين تركوهم ذويهم أو حتى ظروف معيشتهم قاسية، لكن نرى في هذه الدار أن مجموعة الأثرياء أسسوها لهدف أبعد من ذلك، وهو أنهم يأخذون الأطفال لينقلوا لهم روحهم الهرمة وذكرياتهم إلى جوف هؤلاء الأطفال البريئين ليكملوا بذلك حيواتهم ويتحدون فكرة الموت، فقط عبور أبدي من جسد لجسد. وذلك عن طريق نقل أجزاء معينة من مخهم تحمل ذاكراتهم إلى مخ الأطفال. لتكون النتيجة مجموعة من المسوخ التي لا تختلف كثيرًا عن الوحوش سوى أنهم يبدون كأطفال بريئة لا يُتوقَع منهم شئ وحشيّ. جعلتني الرواية أتساءل، هل هذا مايحدث حقاً عندما نلغي شخصيتنا وكياننا وتفكيرنا ونستبدلهم بتفكير الكبار وكأنهم يعيشون بدلًا عنا؟. هل حقا نصير مسوخ بهذا الشكل، بدلا من أن نعيش حيواتنا بالشكل المفترض أن يكون، أو بالأحرى كما نريد، نعيش حيواتهم هما؟!، وكأننا بذلك نعصب عيوننا ونسد آذاننا ونتركهم يقودوننا بصمت إلى ما يرون _من وجهة نظرهم_ أنه الصحيح، لمجرد فقط أنهم أكبر منا!!
أقيمها بثلاثة نجوم؛ واحدة لي وواحدة للترجمة وواحدة للفكرة :D
January 31, 2021
Strange coincidental deaths, a group of wealthy older people, and a child with nightmares about someone being burned alive. A mix of horror, thriller, and sci fi that all comes to a great reveal and conclusion at the end.
December 26, 2022
3/75
رواية مشوقة وغامضة أعجبتني
رواية مشوقة وغامضة أعجبتني
July 20, 2021
هي رواية تبدو في أول الأمر رواية نفسية ثم تتصاعد الأحداث لتبدو كرواية بوليسية ثم تصبح تشويقية و بعد ذلك سترى أنك على موعد مع الشياطين كرواية رعب و في النهاية ستبدو لك رواية خيال علمي.
إن لم تقرأها فإذهب لقراءتها وخصوصاً أن الترجمة ستعجبك جداً.
أما إن كنت قد قرأتها فأظن أن من القانوني أن أتحدث.. لهذا إن لم تقرأها فلا تستمر في قراءة الكلمات التالية كي لا أحرقها عليك.
...
هل شاهد أحد منكم فيلماً إسمه
Get Out ?
ما هذا التشابه الرهيب في التيمة الرئيسية ؟ تيمة المسوخ الآدمية..
كبار السنّ الذين يتحدون إرادة الله و يريدون الخلود فيلجأون إلى وضع أدمغتهم إلى أدمغة شابة يافعة لتستمر الحياة.
في الفيلم سنجد الفكرة الكابوسية عندما نرى أحد الشباب إنه من الأجداد! وإنهم يصطادون الشباب ليحدث الأمر المخيف.. دماغ المسن في جسد الشاب.
في الرواية التي بالتأكيد الفيلم إقتبس التيمة منها نرى نفس الفكرة ولكن الأخوية التي يحكمها الأثرياء كبار السن يأخذون الأطفال ليضعوا أجزاء معينة من المخّ في جسد الطفل أو الطفلة لتكون النتيجة مجموعة من المسوخ التي لا تختلف عن الوحوش في شيء سوى أنهم يبدون كأطفال.
كما أن العنصر التشويقي والنفسي يتجلّى بوضوح في تيمة "البحث عن قاتل وفجأة نجد أن القاتل شخصاً آخر"
كم أعجبتني هذه الرواية
إن لم تقرأها فإذهب لقراءتها وخصوصاً أن الترجمة ستعجبك جداً.
أما إن كنت قد قرأتها فأظن أن من القانوني أن أتحدث.. لهذا إن لم تقرأها فلا تستمر في قراءة الكلمات التالية كي لا أحرقها عليك.
...
هل شاهد أحد منكم فيلماً إسمه
Get Out ?
ما هذا التشابه الرهيب في التيمة الرئيسية ؟ تيمة المسوخ الآدمية..
كبار السنّ الذين يتحدون إرادة الله و يريدون الخلود فيلجأون إلى وضع أدمغتهم إلى أدمغة شابة يافعة لتستمر الحياة.
في الفيلم سنجد الفكرة الكابوسية عندما نرى أحد الشباب إنه من الأجداد! وإنهم يصطادون الشباب ليحدث الأمر المخيف.. دماغ المسن في جسد الشاب.
في الرواية التي بالتأكيد الفيلم إقتبس التيمة منها نرى نفس الفكرة ولكن الأخوية التي يحكمها الأثرياء كبار السن يأخذون الأطفال ليضعوا أجزاء معينة من المخّ في جسد الطفل أو الطفلة لتكون النتيجة مجموعة من المسوخ التي لا تختلف عن الوحوش في شيء سوى أنهم يبدون كأطفال.
كما أن العنصر التشويقي والنفسي يتجلّى بوضوح في تيمة "البحث عن قاتل وفجأة نجد أن القاتل شخصاً آخر"
كم أعجبتني هذه الرواية
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2024
I think my favorite Blackburn book so far. This one starts with a bus crash and a possibly angelic, possibly evil little girl, features a super-computer that seems to have some AI abilities (a good one rather than HAL), a windswept, folk-horror Scottish isle, multiple murders, and, for fun, some Parliamentary intrigue. There's a mystery element, a thriller element, a horror element, and a plot that anticipates Michael Crichton as much as Stephen King. (Very forward-thinking for 1968.) Oddly, aside from some random hooligans, and I guess maybe that futuristic card-fed computer, the novel does not feel like 1968 at all. It's not in any way a parable about out-of-control kids or the generation gap or the war. Which I suppose is kind of a strength: the premise is creepy enough, and with enough of a theological tinge, to hold up irrespective of its time period. And while sometimes the briefness of these novels can leave them feeling stunted, this one feels like it tells its story with perfectly satisfactory economy within its 154 pages. Disappointing to read in the intro that the movie, featuring both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, tanked.
November 2, 2020
This is the Blackburn novel that got turned into a Hammer production. There's plenty for them to work with, with a murderous clairvoyant, weird children, a mysterious charity run by millionaires and based on a remote Scottish island, and of course brain transplant experiments. But more affecting is the character background: everyone has been broken by the real horrors of the 20th century. General Kirk mourns his son lost in the Battle of The Atlantic; Levin survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the concentration camps; even the murderous Anna Harb is another victim of an insane world. A daring move for a new adaptation would be to make it all a fever dream of these men driven mad by their memories.
October 10, 2020
Thought that I would give Blackburn another try. Read "For Fear of Litte Men" years ago, but barely recall the book. Chose this novel because I saw the film with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. The film seemed a little awkward, but the central idea of child possession had a nice twist. I think the novel would read better if I did not know this twist in advance. I like Blackburn's style in that his prose is clean and simple, the characterizations more than adequate and the plot fast. This book reads a bit like Dennis Wheatley, but more modern in execution. Glad to see Blackburn's books coming back into print, and I will likely read more.
March 18, 2022
رواية تدور حول طفلة صغيرة تقوم بأفعال غريبة وكأنها تحت استحواذ شيطانى ما ربما بسبب ماضى أمها المشين الملىء بالقتل وأشياء أخرى ، أو ربما لسبب أخر !!!؟؟؟
تتصاعد الاحداث لنجد أنفسنا أمام مجموعة من جرائم القتل وتتحول الرواية الى النوعية البوليسية المعتادة ومن القاتل والبحث عنه
نأتى إلى الجزء الأخير فى الرواية وهو فى رأيي أفضل جزء فيها ككل حيث نكتشف حقيقة مرتكب هذه الجرائم ولاى سبب تحدث هذه الجرائم وهل يستطيع الانسان فعلا أن يحقق حلم الخلود الأبدى !!!؟؟؟؟
الترجمة ممتازة كعادة الاستاذة / شيرين هنائي ، والرواية ممتعة ككل ومليئة بالتشويق والإثارة لكنى لا أستطيع تصنيفها كرواية رعب بل يمكن تصنيفها كرواية خليط من الخيال والجريمة
تتصاعد الاحداث لنجد أنفسنا أمام مجموعة من جرائم القتل وتتحول الرواية الى النوعية البوليسية المعتادة ومن القاتل والبحث عنه
نأتى إلى الجزء الأخير فى الرواية وهو فى رأيي أفضل جزء فيها ككل حيث نكتشف حقيقة مرتكب هذه الجرائم ولاى سبب تحدث هذه الجرائم وهل يستطيع الانسان فعلا أن يحقق حلم الخلود الأبدى !!!؟؟؟؟
الترجمة ممتازة كعادة الاستاذة / شيرين هنائي ، والرواية ممتعة ككل ومليئة بالتشويق والإثارة لكنى لا أستطيع تصنيفها كرواية رعب بل يمكن تصنيفها كرواية خليط من الخيال والجريمة
August 28, 2021
Shoulda woulda coulda...
What a marvellous mix of tasty narrative ingredients, unique story lines and inviting characters but the shallowness with wish each one has been treated and developed by the author is unforgivable.
I almost sensed that all these elements have been put together randomly at the very last minute - especially in the last quarter.
I just wished someone else had taken this story and expanded its core, made it meatier, more exciting and sublimely scary.
Instead there's nothing here but the night of what could have been and should have!
What a marvellous mix of tasty narrative ingredients, unique story lines and inviting characters but the shallowness with wish each one has been treated and developed by the author is unforgivable.
I almost sensed that all these elements have been put together randomly at the very last minute - especially in the last quarter.
I just wished someone else had taken this story and expanded its core, made it meatier, more exciting and sublimely scary.
Instead there's nothing here but the night of what could have been and should have!
March 17, 2009
Entertaining mix of thriller and horror that was later made into a Christopher Lee film in the 70's. Refreshing, straightforward style...I look forward to reading more of his work.
September 12, 2025
Read this when it first came out in 1968/9. very scary and unsettling. I enjoyed it so much I sought out everything he wrote, as I recall.
March 12, 2023
السهل الممتنع 😊
من اكتر الروايات الي خوفتني ( لا فيها دم ولا قتل ولا خطف ولا مصاصين دماء ولا عفاريت ولا شياطين)
انما فيها فكره..... اتكشفت بس ف اخر ٣ ٤ فصول....
حقيقي شريره و مرعبه...
تسلسل الأحداث كان حلو قوي و خادع جدااااااا...
الترجمه طبعا هايله بتوصف الاحداث ب ترابط ممتاز.... كالعاده الاسماء سخيفه شويه😀
بس ف المجمل بجد حبيتها جدااااااا و مختلفه عن كل الي قريته ❤️
ترجمه الجميله شيرين هنائي
*كنت اظن الشيطان ذكر... لكن اتضح لي انه امرأه 😉😉*
*ذنب واحد قد يودعك الجحيم للأبد * 💙
الرعب الحقيقي الي بنحس أن ممكن يحصل بجد حوالينا..
ده الي اتأكدت منه بعد الروايه دي..
من اكتر الروايات الي خوفتني ( لا فيها دم ولا قتل ولا خطف ولا مصاصين دماء ولا عفاريت ولا شياطين)
انما فيها فكره..... اتكشفت بس ف اخر ٣ ٤ فصول....
حقيقي شريره و مرعبه...
تسلسل الأحداث كان حلو قوي و خادع جدااااااا...
الترجمه طبعا هايله بتوصف الاحداث ب ترابط ممتاز.... كالعاده الاسماء سخيفه شويه😀
بس ف المجمل بجد حبيتها جدااااااا و مختلفه عن كل الي قريته ❤️
ترجمه الجميله شيرين هنائي
*كنت اظن الشيطان ذكر... لكن اتضح لي انه امرأه 😉😉*
*ذنب واحد قد يودعك الجحيم للأبد * 💙
الرعب الحقيقي الي بنحس أن ممكن يحصل بجد حوالينا..
ده الي اتأكدت منه بعد الروايه دي..
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