I read The Exorcist back in the early 1970s before the movie was made and always considered it to be one of the most horrific novels ever. I wasn't sure what exactly I was getting into when I decided to read Blatty's Dimiter. I picked this up at a thrift store a few years ago thinking it would possibly be a followup to The Exorcist. Well, not exactly. The novel starts out in Albania in 1973 where a prisoner thought to be an enemy agent is being questioned and tortured by the Albanian police. The prisoner does not answer any questions even though he is subjected to gruesome torture and he finally escapes from his captors. The story then shifts to Jerusalem where a police detective and a hospital neurologist become involved in some mysterious deaths. So who is responsible? It appears that a U.S. agent named Dimiter is involved but who is he and where is he hiding?
This was an unusual novel that had some twists that I wasn't expecting. I was expecting more of a horror novel from Blatty but in the end I did find it satisfying. It has a sort of mystical and spiritual quality that is not totally explained at the end but I did find the story to be compelling and the time period and location for the novel in the 1970s middle east made for a good background to the story.
This was an unusual novel that had some twists that I wasn't expecting. I was expecting more of a horror novel from Blatty but in the end I did find it satisfying. It has a sort of mystical and spiritual quality that is not totally explained at the end but I did find the story to be compelling and the time period and location for the novel in the 1970s middle east made for a good background to the story.
