Andrew Niederman was the man who wrote the ultra-weird, PIN novel. Which was made into an ultra-weird movie. It’s a very psychologically disturbing story involving schizophrenia. Imp was equally psychologically disturbing and the whole time I’ll I could think was, who could come up with this? I feel like Niederman may have spent a fair bit of time “on the couch” himself working on issues. Or maybe he just wrote books to get it all out and now we must go lie on the couch. Also, he wrote VC Andrews books after she died.
I didn’t read the back cover before starting this and went in completely blind. There is kind of a spoiler in this review but much to my surprise the spoiler was on the back cover so it’s not really a spoiler.
Faith is a teenage girl living in the old Oaks house out in rural…undisclosed America. The next town over is Centerville which should give you an idea of the genericness. She lives there with her psychotic religiously fundamentalist mother Mary. Whom she calls, Mary. Also in the house is Imp. Imp lives in, and has never been out of, the windowless basement. He is Mary’s five-year-old second child whom she deemed the Son of Satan because she hated the father and she’s a fucking lunatic. He lives in filth, doesn’t talk and is beaten and constantly berated by Mary.
From what I knew of Andrew Niederman I knew that this wasn’t going to be a cut and dry Steven King-ish story about a supernatural creature named Imp but damn, I didn’t think it was going to be an entire novel about extreme child abuse. So, buyer beware, this is a horror novel (I guess) but the monster is not Imp, it is most definitely Mary. She is constantly described in horrific ways. Her pale sheet skin pulled back on her face enhancing her skeleton face bone structure. She is abusive to everyone she comes in contact with in this book. She is stone cold ignorant and hateful and has complete control over her children.
So, Faith’s dad, Mary’s ex-husband was killed in a car crash five years ago. He was a normal guy who married Mary when she wasn’t such a nut case, though it was just right under the surface. After Faith was born Mary really started to lose her mind with Jesus. Faith attends the local high school but has no friends. One day the neighbor boy hits on her. She remembers Mary’s teaching about how men will trick you into lust and away from Jesus but at the same time she’s super horny. She eventually accepts the advances and sneaks out at night to meet neighbor boy down at the pond for some moonlight canoeing.
She’s in love and feels human for the first time in her life.
Down in the basement Imp, who has transformed into a deformed little boy from abuse and neglect, lives in his world of darkness with nothing to look forward to except not getting beat by Mary. He claws his way to the ceiling and hangs there with his sharp neglected fingernails hoping for Faith to come to the kitchen floor and breathe through the cracks. It’s his only contact with anyone besides Mary. Faith wants to take care of Imp and help him but also knows if Mary finds out she may end up just like him.
Faith is becoming human, and Mary doesn’t like it. Imp has found a way to sneak out of the basement and Mary doesn’t like that either.
Niederman, what have you done to me?! I was so emotionally invested in the story of little Imp that I told my wife, if Imp doesn’t get a happy ending, I’m going to cry. Like, for real. You hate Mary so much throughout this and it just builds and builds. She better fucking die at the end of this was all I could think. Her treatment of her children was heartbreaking. Imp’s very brief moments of life and freedom were equally heartbreaking. It’s real-world stuff and though the book was totally engaging, I couldn’t imagine reading stuff like this more than once or twice a year.
Pocket Books 1985
Cover art: Lisa Falkenstern
Review by Nick Anderson
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