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Seed of Evil
Book by Plante, Edmund
368 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 23, 2020
2.5 stars, rounded up.
despite being crudely written, excessively brutal, and all kinds of grim, gray, and depressing... the book has a stark moral message that i appreciated and which was very effectively delivered: love your kid, no matter how difficult it may be, otherwise he will bring you hell.
if you think you'll be incapable of providing that love - maybe because the fetus is the spawn of a handsome but eventually bestial incubus who raped and then urinated on you in the opening pages of this book - then please get an abortion for fuck's sake. it would have been more than understandable; even your judgmental mother was willing to co-sign that. you're not going to be able to myka stauffer your way out of this if the kid can disappear & reappear at will and use his demonic powers to kill everyone around you, just because you never learned how to hug him without shuddering. and all those vodka tonics aren't helping.
the author does not seem like a very nice or sensitive man, and he's not a great writer, but I get his anger at parents who don't know how to be empathetic to the troubled kids who they had no business bringing into this world in the first place. such parents shall reap the whirlwind.
despite being crudely written, excessively brutal, and all kinds of grim, gray, and depressing... the book has a stark moral message that i appreciated and which was very effectively delivered: love your kid, no matter how difficult it may be, otherwise he will bring you hell.
if you think you'll be incapable of providing that love - maybe because the fetus is the spawn of a handsome but eventually bestial incubus who raped and then urinated on you in the opening pages of this book - then please get an abortion for fuck's sake. it would have been more than understandable; even your judgmental mother was willing to co-sign that. you're not going to be able to myka stauffer your way out of this if the kid can disappear & reappear at will and use his demonic powers to kill everyone around you, just because you never learned how to hug him without shuddering. and all those vodka tonics aren't helping.
the author does not seem like a very nice or sensitive man, and he's not a great writer, but I get his anger at parents who don't know how to be empathetic to the troubled kids who they had no business bringing into this world in the first place. such parents shall reap the whirlwind.
June 8, 2023
Perhaps this had some potential, but overall a definitely meh. I was tempted to DNF at about the 70% mark, but figured I might as well finish it. Our main protagonist, Patty, starts the novel off in her early 20s, recently divorced with two infant children and living with her mom on welfare. Her neighbor cajoles her to the corner bar where she sometimes picks up men, although she is very shy. The guy she picks up that night seems to be a man of her dreams, but ends up raping and pissing on her with his huge wang, almost killing her and then he simply disappears, like fades away, before the cops come.
Patty soon finds out she is pregnant and while her mother wants her to have an abortion (how can you have a child that comes from demon rape!) Patty decides to have the child nonetheless. Plante gives us a sophomoric debate within Patty's mind here; just because the father was an evil demon, that does not mean the child will be, right? Every infant should have a chance at life, etc., etc.. Well, obviously, the child is a little strange and Patty has a hard time loving him, unlike her other children...
Seed of Evil does give us some ham-handed moralistic dialogues regarding parents loving or not their children; all little Richie wants is love from his mother, but she just cannot give it. Poor Richie. He so wants love but he has a terrible temper! I was hoping for a good, trashy 80s horror novel here, but instead just got the trash. Yeah, there are a few grizzly scenes, but at close to 400 pages, not nearly enough to make this very interesting. Again, the moral dilemma of abortion and the ability or not to love your children constituted the main gist of this, and frankly, it was just not very interesting. 1.5 demons, rounding up as I did manage to finish.
Patty soon finds out she is pregnant and while her mother wants her to have an abortion (how can you have a child that comes from demon rape!) Patty decides to have the child nonetheless. Plante gives us a sophomoric debate within Patty's mind here; just because the father was an evil demon, that does not mean the child will be, right? Every infant should have a chance at life, etc., etc.. Well, obviously, the child is a little strange and Patty has a hard time loving him, unlike her other children...
Seed of Evil does give us some ham-handed moralistic dialogues regarding parents loving or not their children; all little Richie wants is love from his mother, but she just cannot give it. Poor Richie. He so wants love but he has a terrible temper! I was hoping for a good, trashy 80s horror novel here, but instead just got the trash. Yeah, there are a few grizzly scenes, but at close to 400 pages, not nearly enough to make this very interesting. Again, the moral dilemma of abortion and the ability or not to love your children constituted the main gist of this, and frankly, it was just not very interesting. 1.5 demons, rounding up as I did manage to finish.
December 2, 2012
Imagine taking a guy home from a bar to a quiet apartment where, once sex begins, he turns into a hideous creature whose penis becomes so big that it begins ripping apart your insides, a sudden cold ejaculation mixing with the warm blood that oozes within. Then imagine waking up in a hospital and finding out that the police have nothing to go on, the man / beast having somehow disappeared from the apartment without a trace. Then imagine realizing you were pregnant and that the growing child is the result of that horrible night. What would you do?
Patty Thompson, a divorced mother of two, decides to keep the baby, her catholic upbringing and disgust with abortion pretty much making the decision for her. Protests are made, the most adamant coming from her own mother who, having seen the man beast ravaging her daughter, fears what the child could be. Patty doesn’t give in, however, and soon delivers a seemingly healthy normal baby boy. Normal the baby is not, however, and right away Patty realizes she will never be able to love him. It isn’t just the memories of his conception that plague her. Something about the baby isn’t right. It is his eyes. Every time he looks at her Patty can sense intelligence in them. She also always feels an odd love and warmth oozing from him when she holds him, but a cold rage and bitterness directed toward her whenever she has him taken away. Never before has she experienced anything like this with a newborn. Even so her determination to be a mother to the baby eventually overcomes the fear she harbors, and amid the continued protests from her mother she brings him home to be part of the family.
Richard is the baby’s name and within him a war rages. On one side is the evil of his father who was obviously not human; on the other is the kindness and compassion of his mother. Unfortunately this inner war has consequences, especially when someone triggers a rage within Richard that gives power to the evil side. When this happens people get hurt and sometimes, if Richard is unable to get control back, die. In some households this easily triggered rage wouldn’t be a problem due to the love and compassion everyone treats each other with. In the Thomson household it is a problem, the open hostility shown toward Richard by his grandmother and older brother constantly providing the fuel the evil side needs. It also spurs a desire to find his father, so at the age of five Richard leaves his mother’s family behind. Eight years later he returns, a decision on the life he wants to live having been made. The question is will his mother’s family be able to provide him with what he craves or will they once again cause the rage to boil over to the point where Richard can not control his actions?
Seed of Evil by Edmund Plante is one of the best horror novels I read this year. Its brutal yet gripping tale never let up and kept one guessing as to what the eventual conclusion of the story would be. The characters also felt real. With Patty you could constantly sense the struggle taking place inside of her on whether or not she wanted to love Richard, the horror of his birth and of the events that unfold around him butting up against the fact that he is her son and should have a mother’s love. Equally compelling is the struggle Richard faces, especially after returning from living with his horrible father for eight years. His character could so easily have been cliché, yet Edmund Plante gives him such depth that it is impossible not to feel empathy toward him. At one point I even began hoping that things would work out despite all the horror he had caused. The reason for this was my realization that he wasn’t to blame for his state of being. One also couldn’t really put blame on Patty for the turmoil she felt toward him, not after what she went through during his conception, though one does have to ask why she never considered setting him up for adoption. Had she done this all the terror her family faced might have been adverted. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been. Maybe Richard would still have found his way to them, his desire to be loved by the mother that gave birth to him guiding his actions.
Now, lastly, I would like to set something straight concerning this book and Edmund Plante’s later book Garden of Evil, which I read last month. Given the two titles one can’t help but wonder if the two books are connected in someway, especially if one reads Garden of Evil first because there are many questions one may have as to the origins of things within the book that are never answered within it. Doing a search online gives the answer of YES thanks to several websites that list the two books as belonging to a two book series, the order being Seed of Evil followed by Garden of Evil. Unfortantly these sites are incorrect. The two books are not connected in any way and anyone who lists them as being connected obviously didn’t bother to read them and just concluded it based on the titles.
Patty Thompson, a divorced mother of two, decides to keep the baby, her catholic upbringing and disgust with abortion pretty much making the decision for her. Protests are made, the most adamant coming from her own mother who, having seen the man beast ravaging her daughter, fears what the child could be. Patty doesn’t give in, however, and soon delivers a seemingly healthy normal baby boy. Normal the baby is not, however, and right away Patty realizes she will never be able to love him. It isn’t just the memories of his conception that plague her. Something about the baby isn’t right. It is his eyes. Every time he looks at her Patty can sense intelligence in them. She also always feels an odd love and warmth oozing from him when she holds him, but a cold rage and bitterness directed toward her whenever she has him taken away. Never before has she experienced anything like this with a newborn. Even so her determination to be a mother to the baby eventually overcomes the fear she harbors, and amid the continued protests from her mother she brings him home to be part of the family.
Richard is the baby’s name and within him a war rages. On one side is the evil of his father who was obviously not human; on the other is the kindness and compassion of his mother. Unfortunately this inner war has consequences, especially when someone triggers a rage within Richard that gives power to the evil side. When this happens people get hurt and sometimes, if Richard is unable to get control back, die. In some households this easily triggered rage wouldn’t be a problem due to the love and compassion everyone treats each other with. In the Thomson household it is a problem, the open hostility shown toward Richard by his grandmother and older brother constantly providing the fuel the evil side needs. It also spurs a desire to find his father, so at the age of five Richard leaves his mother’s family behind. Eight years later he returns, a decision on the life he wants to live having been made. The question is will his mother’s family be able to provide him with what he craves or will they once again cause the rage to boil over to the point where Richard can not control his actions?
Seed of Evil by Edmund Plante is one of the best horror novels I read this year. Its brutal yet gripping tale never let up and kept one guessing as to what the eventual conclusion of the story would be. The characters also felt real. With Patty you could constantly sense the struggle taking place inside of her on whether or not she wanted to love Richard, the horror of his birth and of the events that unfold around him butting up against the fact that he is her son and should have a mother’s love. Equally compelling is the struggle Richard faces, especially after returning from living with his horrible father for eight years. His character could so easily have been cliché, yet Edmund Plante gives him such depth that it is impossible not to feel empathy toward him. At one point I even began hoping that things would work out despite all the horror he had caused. The reason for this was my realization that he wasn’t to blame for his state of being. One also couldn’t really put blame on Patty for the turmoil she felt toward him, not after what she went through during his conception, though one does have to ask why she never considered setting him up for adoption. Had she done this all the terror her family faced might have been adverted. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been. Maybe Richard would still have found his way to them, his desire to be loved by the mother that gave birth to him guiding his actions.
Now, lastly, I would like to set something straight concerning this book and Edmund Plante’s later book Garden of Evil, which I read last month. Given the two titles one can’t help but wonder if the two books are connected in someway, especially if one reads Garden of Evil first because there are many questions one may have as to the origins of things within the book that are never answered within it. Doing a search online gives the answer of YES thanks to several websites that list the two books as belonging to a two book series, the order being Seed of Evil followed by Garden of Evil. Unfortantly these sites are incorrect. The two books are not connected in any way and anyone who lists them as being connected obviously didn’t bother to read them and just concluded it based on the titles.
May 4, 2014
A lonely single mother seeks company from men at a local bar. She is brutally raped, which results in a son. Her invalid mother blames her for the attack, and she can't quite find her own love for the child. As a toddler the child is kidnapped, and she finds herself horrified and relieved in equal parts.
Years later the child resurfaces, and recounts living in a state of constant sexual abuse by his father while living in abandoned houses. The mother still can't quite offer him the mother's love he needs, and fears for her other children, while the child is torn between needing his mother's approval and following the path of his father.
This would be a pretty effective drama or thriller, in equal parts emotional and exploitative. Making the rapist a tree demon and the son a telekinetic waters the whole thing down.
You know the rule about not saying "It's like something out of a bad movie" in the middle of your bad movie? The same goes for horror novels. Plante drops a similar line at least five times, twice name dropping Stephen King and even mentioning Carrie. Not only does this destroy any suspension of disbelief, if you want to stop in the middle of your horror paperback to ask the reader "This is like Stephen King, isn't it?", you're not going to like the answer.
More reviews at Trash Menace.
Years later the child resurfaces, and recounts living in a state of constant sexual abuse by his father while living in abandoned houses. The mother still can't quite offer him the mother's love he needs, and fears for her other children, while the child is torn between needing his mother's approval and following the path of his father.
This would be a pretty effective drama or thriller, in equal parts emotional and exploitative. Making the rapist a tree demon and the son a telekinetic waters the whole thing down.
You know the rule about not saying "It's like something out of a bad movie" in the middle of your bad movie? The same goes for horror novels. Plante drops a similar line at least five times, twice name dropping Stephen King and even mentioning Carrie. Not only does this destroy any suspension of disbelief, if you want to stop in the middle of your horror paperback to ask the reader "This is like Stephen King, isn't it?", you're not going to like the answer.
More reviews at Trash Menace.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2022
I suppose I made a mistake reading two evil kid novels in a row. Or simultaneously as I started this before and finished it after reading the Bad Seed. The mother again is useless with her head buried in the sand to avoid reality, despite knowing the father is less than human and the child confessing to killing. 90% of the book is finished before she tries to do something, which is fine in a scant 200 pages, but not in a novel that spans nearly 400.
That annoying character aside, the book is an excellent read, deliciously gruesome at times, easily making you find your self plowing ahead for hours to get at the next juicy part. Not too complex a novel, but not insulting to your intelligence either.
Do not let the main character's weakness deter you; the novel is too damn good for that.
That annoying character aside, the book is an excellent read, deliciously gruesome at times, easily making you find your self plowing ahead for hours to get at the next juicy part. Not too complex a novel, but not insulting to your intelligence either.
Do not let the main character's weakness deter you; the novel is too damn good for that.
February 6, 2026
Imagine if Rosemary's Baby had been written by Stephen King instead of Ira Levin; not the Stephen King that wrote Carrie, but the Stephen King that wrote Sleepwalkers. Now imagine if it had been adapted to film not by Roman Polanski, but John Waters. NOW imagine it starred Jamie Lee Curtis as the mother; not the Jamie Lee Curtis that starred in Halloween, but the Jamie Lee Curtis that starred in Freaky Friday. Then you might be in the ballpark of knowing just how insane this book was!
This book was nuts. It was weird, it was crude, it was disturbing, and it was probably the most fun read I'd had in years. I'm glad to have found it in an antique mall for eight bucks.
This book was nuts. It was weird, it was crude, it was disturbing, and it was probably the most fun read I'd had in years. I'm glad to have found it in an antique mall for eight bucks.
December 17, 2025
Wow this one opens with a banger!
With a opening like that, i expected more schlock. But the book calms down, and becones kinda a seriouse heartfelt drama, until it gets disturbing again
When the son returns after being with the father...🤢
I think it could have used a bit more schlock in it. It would rate a bit higher for me if it had some more horrific moments.
But as it is, still solid book! I felt for the characters, got sucked in, and the whole book im waiting for that fucking grandma to die! Cause man she is dispicable. And when she gets her comeuppance...oh e boi!
With a opening like that, i expected more schlock. But the book calms down, and becones kinda a seriouse heartfelt drama, until it gets disturbing again
When the son returns after being with the father...🤢
I think it could have used a bit more schlock in it. It would rate a bit higher for me if it had some more horrific moments.
But as it is, still solid book! I felt for the characters, got sucked in, and the whole book im waiting for that fucking grandma to die! Cause man she is dispicable. And when she gets her comeuppance...oh e boi!
May 30, 2021
I bought this book because the boy on the cover looks exactly like my brother did when we were kids (except for the yellow eyes and claws, obviously). The blurb is also excellent. I suppose it was inevitable that the story itself couldn’t quite live up to it...
July 30, 2025
Honestly well written, brutally dark, and very entertaining. Probably a little long but overall quite good. Very smooth read.
January 6, 2026
Was my favorite book back in high school and every blue moon i reread it so im totally biased lol
Its crude, dark, harsh and a fun read
Its crude, dark, harsh and a fun read
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews