My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Dimiter
William Peter Blatty has thrilled generations of readers with his iconic mega-bestseller The Exorcist. Now Blatty gives us Dimiter, a riveting story of murder, revenge, and suspense. Laced with themes of faith and love, sin and forgiveness, vengeance and compassion, it is a novel in the grand tradition of Morris West’s The Devil’s Advocate and the Catholic novels of G
...moreHardcover, 304 pages
Published
March 16th 2010
by Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
(first published 2010)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
295)
". . .the most personally important novel of my career." This is how William Peter Blatty feels about his newest novel Dimiter. If you don't recognize his name let me just remind you that he is the author of The Exorcist. I had to check ratings on Amazon to get a feel for how others liked this book and the ratings are all over the place, from 5 star to 1 star. As you see I am one of the 1 star people. It was sad to me to read how important the author felt this book was and to know...more
During 1973, a mysterious figure is taken captive in the totalitarian state of Albania and interrogated by authorities using extreme methods of torture. Impervious to pain and unwilling to speak about his true identity, the prisoner confounds his captors until his remarkable escape. One year later, a series of strange occurrences that include the unexplainable healing of a boy with an incurable condition and the discovery of a body in Christ's tomb have gained the attention of local authorities ...more
Blatty, post-Exorcist, writes theologically-inclined thrillers like he's channeling the Middle Ages through some odd combination of Ben Hecht and Dashiell Hammett. There's a loopy Catskills spin on every bit of dialogue--everyone (priests, Albanian torturers, Shin Bet agents, neurologists with a vague despair) has snappy patter: dense biblical allusions, cheap threadbare puns, metaphysical (as opposed to the more conventional physical) double entendres. The plots hinge on series of unexplained...more
view all 10 comments
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
An interesting and intriguing book.
A man is captured in Albania during the cold war and tortured and he has a mission that involves the Vatican. The book later takes us to Jerusalem and the story continues as we first meet a doctor and then later the story switches to an Israeli detective.
Some of this switching in the novel makes it partly difficult to start getting into the groove of it as part of it is told through interviews. This is also quite a complex plot with many tw...more
A man is captured in Albania during the cold war and tortured and he has a mission that involves the Vatican. The book later takes us to Jerusalem and the story continues as we first meet a doctor and then later the story switches to an Israeli detective.
Some of this switching in the novel makes it partly difficult to start getting into the groove of it as part of it is told through interviews. This is also quite a complex plot with many tw...more
I really wanted to love this book. It wrestles with themes and questions of faith, evil, redemption, etc. Blatty, the author of The Exorcist, calls this his most personally important book of his career. The book drew me in and held my interest, but the prose was stilted at times and often turgid. Take this line: "A waiting silence almost deeper than God's was broken only by the quiet cooing of a dove in one of the apertures just about the level of the streets outside that were aglow wit...more
Intriguing religious thriller (is that even a genre?) that somehow left me a bit unsatisfied. Though there's a steady supply of mysterious happenings and provocative developments, it never seems to add up to much momentum. It doesn't help that most of the pivotal moments of action happen "off page" and are related after the fact in interviews or dialogue exchanges. As a result, there's rarely a sense of imminent danger; nothing like the page by page unfolding of the climactic struggle ...more
Blatty's mind-twirling mystery revolves around the elusive title character, a dead body found at the site of Christ's tomb, and an Arab Christian detective named Meral who attempts to piece these (and several other occurences) together in the wake of his recently-deceased wife and daughter.
After a violent (yet wonderfully written) opening scene in 1973 Albania, the story shifts a year ahead to Jerusalem, where we're introduced to Dr. Moses Mayo and a couple of other offbeat character...more
After a violent (yet wonderfully written) opening scene in 1973 Albania, the story shifts a year ahead to Jerusalem, where we're introduced to Dr. Moses Mayo and a couple of other offbeat character...more
My mom picked this book up out a bargain bin for road-trip reading and I picked it up after she had finished it. I don't think I was disappointed, but there was something that felt incomplete about this book. The setting and characters I felt to be fairly believable (a criterion which is personally important to me when it comes to the mystery/thriller genre), but overall I found the writing rather dull. The story moved in strange, arrhythmic directions and the denouement seemed to me to come alm...more
This was my first William Blatty novel and will likely be my last. If someone else had written it, I might have given it three stars. But Blatty is already famous for having written The Exorcist, so I guess I expected more. And don't get me wrong - I was all set to love this book. Interesting locations, the promise of supernatural mystery with attention paid to spiritual satisfaction, intrigue, redemption - it could have been a knock out! Instead, it was dull, confusing, disjointed, and difficul...more
Sean
added it
Wow.. twenty five years post-The Exorcist, the 85 yr old William Peter Blatty has spun a story of less obvious storyline than the Exorcist, but still in the realm of metaphysics and earth in conflict and co-existence. The story is actually from several perspectives and ties relationships to a misunderstood world of spies, superhuman achievements, and a plot that thickens with sensible sacrifice and cache. Compassion really opens the world to accept the psychologically disturbed, somewhat two-f...more
Not my review or read, but fascinating article in London book site about purchase of DIMITER with a new title for the British reading public: THE REDEMPTION. (I think DIMITER'S much better):
“Little, Brown imprint Piatkus has bought a new book by the author of cult novel-turned-film The Exorcist, his first full-length work for more than 25 years. Commissioning editor Donna Condon described the novel, set in 1970s Albania and Jerusalem, as “unusual”, and compared the “suspense element”...more
“Little, Brown imprint Piatkus has bought a new book by the author of cult novel-turned-film The Exorcist, his first full-length work for more than 25 years. Commissioning editor Donna Condon described the novel, set in 1970s Albania and Jerusalem, as “unusual”, and compared the “suspense element”...more
Outstanding book.
Sure, there were many descriptive sentences that, while pretty, went on for far too long, and it kindof dragged a bit in the middle, but overall.... wow.
Never read this author before, but am impressed. Same guy as The Exorcist, but so much different than that. I now have to wonder if The Exorcist was different in book form.
Dimiter had great build-up. A sortof murder-mystery with light supernatural/religious(is there a difference?) overtones. The fi...more
Sure, there were many descriptive sentences that, while pretty, went on for far too long, and it kindof dragged a bit in the middle, but overall.... wow.
Never read this author before, but am impressed. Same guy as The Exorcist, but so much different than that. I now have to wonder if The Exorcist was different in book form.
Dimiter had great build-up. A sortof murder-mystery with light supernatural/religious(is there a difference?) overtones. The fi...more
This is not Blatty's best work. There are more twists and turns than an Ozark highway, and all those changes in direction can get to be a little confusing. I think it would have helped to sit down and take the whole book in one sitting ... but who has time for that?
The book does have Blatty's signature introspective, wry characters, and most of the writing is absolutely top notch. That said, I found the quick teaser lines at the end of many chapters to be clumsy author intrusions.
...more
The book does have Blatty's signature introspective, wry characters, and most of the writing is absolutely top notch. That said, I found the quick teaser lines at the end of many chapters to be clumsy author intrusions.
...more
I was expecting something more inexplicably creepy, considering how they splashed The Exorcist all over the promotions. Instead, I was just confused.
Non-sequiters. Rapidly changing POVs. No background to said POVs. New characters showing up out of nowhere and vanishing into thin air. And a body count that had the same person dying three times? Or was it twice? I couldn't help wishing it had been sooner. It would have saved me some confusion.
Non-sequiters. Rapidly changing POVs. No background to said POVs. New characters showing up out of nowhere and vanishing into thin air. And a body count that had the same person dying three times? Or was it twice? I couldn't help wishing it had been sooner. It would have saved me some confusion.
"The most personally important book of my career," writes Blatty in his acknowledgments. Appreciate the chaos: the book is a gyre of mistaken identity, pursuit of phantoms and dreams, lost love, and spiritual awakening. I felt the elation of coming close to discovery, and the emptiness of loss. The writing soars. The mystery is a character as real as Meral and Moses and Samia; an allegory for life and meaning. I'm glad I was surprised.
I like the overall message in this book - see religion for the lessons it has to teach not for the sometimes ridiculous and outrageous package it comes in. And that living a Christ-like life can bring redemption and rebirth to us all.
However, the journey it takes to get you there can be confusing at best and very disturbing at times. The myriad of characters Blatty employs gets to be cumbersome (and unnecessary in some places). Also, the ending does the story absolutely no justice. I...more
However, the journey it takes to get you there can be confusing at best and very disturbing at times. The myriad of characters Blatty employs gets to be cumbersome (and unnecessary in some places). Also, the ending does the story absolutely no justice. I...more
Just awful. Was this a sequel to something else? I kept feeling like there was a whole lot that I was missing or not understanding because I was supposed to read something else first. If there was a previous book, then I HATE when they don't warn you of that in a conspicuous manner. If there was not a previous book, then this one sucked. It was not scary or thrilling. But it was incoherent.
What a horrible waste of paper. The first half was so plodding as to be dull. The second half got exciting, but, rather than let the action resolve the mystery, all action stopped, and a bunch of people around a table told us what happened. None of the so-called "spiritual" issues were resolved at all; they were just thrown out randomly and carelessly.
Dimiter unconsciously excels at being the anti-modern thriller. No computers, no Google, cell phones, spy satellites or handy UAVs to help expedite and artificially complicate the plot. Dimiter is 1970s, pure and simple. You have to follow the fractured facts to the very last page, until the last sentence to comprehend what happened
I tried, I really did. After toiling through the first 50 pages, I gave up. It was convoluted, with constantly changing points of view. There was not even the beginning of a compelling plot and no sympathetic characters. Worst of all, it was dull (I had to constantly re-read entire pages because my mind kept wandering). Disappointing, to put it mildly.
Anyone looking for a page-turning thriller in the style of Blatty's previous efforts, The Exorcist and Legion, will probably be disappointed with Dimiter. Though it's also set up as a who-done-it, it has a quiet and contemplative tone and is much slower-paced. Blatty once again turns to explorations of faith and of the goodness and evil in man. I enjoyed it.
This book is full of quirky characters whose dialogue is quite funny at times. So many of the characters had names starting with the letter "M" that I had to remind myself who they were.
I guessed the identity of Wilson partway through the 2nd half of the book.
I guessed the identity of Wilson partway through the 2nd half of the book.
Finished Blatty's Dimiter this morning. I feel as though I did the book a massive disservice by taking so long to read through it. It is definitely the kind of book that should read in as few, long sittings as possible. It is a very strange book; Blatty revisits territory he covered in The Ninth Configuration and Legion, but I don't think he does so as successfully here. It's well written, and contains some beautiful moments, but it's just not as memorable as those previously-mentioned novel...more
Extremely boring.... and not much of a story... .and u donno what the heck is happening till the very last 80, if not 50, pages of the book. Also, don't like how the "mystery" unfold..... mostly via interviews and old letters.....
This book was not at all what I expected. It was really confusing. Most of the "action" for the first part of a book, was all in one person's mind. His musings and contemplations. Even after I completed the book, I still wasn't really sure what was going on. Quite a bit of "theological" thoughts in this book. I probably will not read another book by this author.
About 1/4 of the way through the book. It's an ugly tale--graphic torture--beautifully told. Mystical & charismatic main character who may be too beautiful and good to be around or may be a master killer or both.
Well even after reading this, I'm still not sure if I liked it or not, so I feel a "2" is fair. I DID finish rather than abandon it so that says something. If asked to actually explain the plot, I'm not sure I could.
I don’t often read genre fiction (mysteries, horror, sci-fi, fantasy). It’s just not my thing. I prefer fiction where the story is moved forward by characters and character development. Genre fiction, in my experience, is often more plot-driven where characters are there to service the plot rather than the plot being driven by the characters.
So when my Rock & Roll Bookclub suggested we read Dimiter by William Peter Blatty I immediately started protesting via farty noises and gagging. O...more
So when my Rock & Roll Bookclub suggested we read Dimiter by William Peter Blatty I immediately started protesting via farty noises and gagging. O...more
This book was awful.. I tried to get through it as fast as I could to not waste to much of my time.. The storyline was to confusing.. I am glad to be done with it..
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
William Peter Blatty is an American writer and filmmaker. He wrote the novel The Exorcist (1971) and the subsequent screenplay version for which he won an Academy Award.
Sourced from Wikipedia
More about William Peter Blatty...
Sourced from Wikipedia
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
