The Manitou

Introduction by Bernhardt J. Hurwood

Ordinarily readers of fiction do not find introductions when they settle down with what they are expecting to be a good book — especially when it comes to novels of spine-chilling suspense. But then, The Manitou is no ordinary novel.

In case you don't know what a Manitou is, I have no intention of diminishing the plot's shock value; you will find out soon enough. Let it suffice for me to say, as one who has had considerable experience exploring the darker side of the supernatural, that you are in for a fair share of shudders and chills as you plunge into the tale that lies ahead.

If you have any qualms about the unknown, about unlocking doors that unleash terrors which might creep against your will into your nightmares, then put this book down and rush out into the sunshine. Now! Like some mind-gripping drug, it has the uncanny ability to seize you and hold you firmly in its clutches from the moment you begin until you drop the book from your trembling fingers after you have finally finished the last page.

When a charming, witty, and sophisticated fellow like author Graham Masterton succeeds in conjuring up such dreadful horrors from the back recesses of his mind, I wonder about the rest of us. He has succeeded in weaving such a persuasive web of terror and suspense against a rather commonplace and familiar background that despite our desire to believe that such things cannot be, there remains a gnawing doubt, an uncomfortable tendency to feel a creeping fear. Perhaps he has discovered something that he wishes he never had — like Pandora.

It is very easy when you start reading The Manitou to assume that it is just another novel of mystery and suspense, but like burning phosphorus, once ignited, it sticks and envelops you, and refuses to stop until you have been consumed.

For true horror buffs The Manitou has a multi-pronged advantage. By combining elements like a master chef, the author has concocted something with a flavor that is vaguely familiar, enough to make you devour it voraciously, and afterward come to the realization that you have tasted something quite unique.

And now, to give you something to think about — here is a fact that may seem totally irrelevant, but that I recommend you stow away in your file of miscellaneous information. Like MSG it may enhance the flavor later. Fact: several years ago a fifteen-year-old Japanese boy developed what doctors thought was a tumor in his chest. The larger it grew, the more uncharacteristic it appeared. Eventually it proved to be a human fetus. This actually happened, whether Graham Masterton knew about it or not.

Whereas Rosemary's Baby gave us the minatory spawn of woman and Satan, and The Exorcist was a titanic clash between the forces of good and evil, The Manitou presents us with elements of both — plus the added ingredient of an intelligent menace that equally renders helpless the powers of the cross and modern science. It takes the familiar concepts of horror and manipulates the reader with a totally shocking and unique combination of terror woven into a solid suspense yarn.