The Parasite

by Ramsey Campbell

Rose Tierney and her husband Bill are successful writers, picking apart films and enlightening the masses. They are invited to New York to talk business and get invited to a party where one of the guests, a quiet Diana, is interested in the occult. Bill has a tarot card reading and dismisses it out of hand, but when it’s Rose’s turn, it sparks something in her. That night, she has an odd out-of-body experience and is attacked by an unknown force. Diana, through a premonition, found Rose and helped her back to her apartment to recover. The assault seems to waken her dormant psychic powers, and Diana excitedly encourages Rose to pursue them, to learn how to master them. Rose quickly begins experiencing premonitions and discovers that her self can leave her body, later discovering all the intricacies of astral projection. At first frightened by her newfound powers, she soon begins to explore, both her own abilities and the world that they belong to. She soon discovers that her sinister feeling greenhouse, Hitler and the Nazis, and her quiet hometown all seem to have something in common. As her powers grow, her relationships with those around her grow increasingly turbulent. Rose Tierney is no longer alone in her own body, and her newfound powers belong not to her, but to that Other. The evil seed that was planted in Rose twenty years ago is about to flower. Praise for Ramsey Campbell “Ramsey Campbell has written a novel using the Lovecraftian themes of survival, the occult, and the things which may live at the rim of the universe (or beyond it) in a way that seems to ring true for our time.” — Stephen King Ramsey Campbell was born in 1946 in Liverpool, Merseyside where his mother supported him in his writing and creative pursuits. Growing up in post-war Liverpool provided the perfect backdrop for his taste for the more macabre literature. He’s lived there his whole life and over the years has built up a truly prolific portfolio of work that has deservedly cemented him as a leading figure within the genre.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Supernatural, Horror Thriller, Paranormal

379 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1980

About the author

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a terrifying opening in which a group of kids break into a creepy, abandoned old house and awaken something evil during a séance (which can be found as a short story in 1980's The Year's Best Horror Stories VIII), The Parasite aka To Wake the Dead drags for the next couple hundred pages as nothing much happens, and it's difficult to care for the astral-projecting protagonist at all due to Campbell's distant, confusing and obscure writing style.

Stephen King once wrote that reading Campbell's prose was like taking a small dose of acid, and I agree. This style works fine for his many excellent short stories, but over 370 pages it's a bit of a headache-inducer. For anyone new to Ramsey Campbell, I recommend starting with one of his short story collections, such as 1982's Dark Companions (which collects the stories in which he really came into his own and freed himself from Lovecraft's grasp) or his career retrospective, Alone with the Horrors.

As for this, stick to the opening prologue or the short story version.

2.0 Stars

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this classic horror novel. In the preface you hear about a seance with a little girl being locked in alone in a room. Then you delve into the story about a wife named Rose Tierney and her husband bill. Both write about movies and teach at university. When Rose starts talking with a friend of theirs, Diana, about astral projection and extra body experience the eerie story starts moving. Slowly moving you are getting drawn into an eerie atmosphere full of horror and sinister occurences. Which body was used by shadowy clergyman Peter Grace as a vessel? Who is this parasite the title associates to? If you read through the nailbiting pages of slowly built up creepy suspense and terror you'll easily find out. The nightmare church is one of the darkest depictions of a horror church I ever came across. The story slowly evolves, sometimes even painfully slow, with a lot of subconscious experiences of its main character (Rose) but when you get involved you can hardly quit this book. A book for cold winter nights. Highly recommended!

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pair of film critics, Bill and Rose, who've gotten rich writing movie trivia books, get sucked into an occult conspiracy when Rose does trendy astral projection after reading a book called ASTRAL RAPE, becoming a target for a long-dead wizard who wants to take over her body and it's a sad commentary on the world that I find the most unbelievable part of this sentence the part about two people getting rich writing books of movie trivia.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read several Campbell novels and outside of a few, such as Incarnate which was fantastic, I have found them rather meh. The Parasite definitely fits into the meh category. This starts with the obligatory spooky prologue (and this one was really spooky) with a young girl attending an impromptu seance when something bad happens. The next chapter kicks off the story several years later when Rose (our main protagonist) is now happily married and works as a lecturer at a university and writes books with her husband.

First off, I should state that a pet peeve of mine in the horror genre is having the main protagonist be an author; at least in this case she is not a horror novelist, but writes about films. What is it with Campbell and old films? They seem to feature pretty regularly in his work (see Ancient Images for example). I might have rounding this up to three stars if not for this pet peeve.

Secondly, while Campbell often does a fine job of evoking unease in his prose, where you sometimes feel the connection to the 'real' is more than a little shaky, or that the characters are losing their sanity. This aspect is definitely here, but I found it more distracting than mood building if you will. Poor Rose starts having strange experiences, like astral projection (not spoiler-- it is on the blurb on the back of the book) and other 'powers'; that is eerie enough without the mildly hallucinogenic, unconventional prose dragging the story along.

Thirdly, The Parasite really has a pacing problem to say the least. After the explosive prologue, the next 200 or so pages drags on and on; I just about DNF at this point. Yet, some strange things popped up that maintained my interest (gotta love the inclusion of Hitler and his occult stuff!) and I managed to finish. While the pacing picked up toward the end, even the epilogue was rather tedious. I might give some of his other works a go; he did write a lot of novels after all. I had high hopes for this one, however, especially given the glowing blurbs by King and Straub gracing the cover (once again, proving that I cannot never, ever, trust any blurb by King!). 2.5 stars, rounding down.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another finely crafted story of horror in which a malevolant spirit, that entered the protagonist Rose when she was a child, gradually starts to make it's presence felt although she can only wonder at first, at her new found psychic powers, but later her nightmares begin to dominate.

There is a really slow build up of unease in this book that may leave some readers impatient for the story to develop but Campbell will not be rushed. There is a most gradual transformation of Rose's character as she discovers and comes to terms with her new found psycic powers and this innevitably begins to affect her relationship with her sceptical husband Bill. Their relationship begins to suffer but to what extent is that down to Bill's unwillingness to accept change or a sinister influence making her see things differently, say unkind things and trying to drive them apart?

Campbell also slows down the pace of the narrative by devoting many paragraphs to evoking powerful imagery, shaping mood and atmosphere. Much of the tension of the story is built this way (as opposed to relying solely on event driven tension) and it is important that, as a reader, you swallow your impatience and immerse yourself in the imagery in order to get the full benefit of what the author is trying to do.

This is a pretty bleak story as Rose is either let down or betrayed by almost everyone she knows but if you can bare that, this is a powerful and very effective horror novel that any fan of the genre should read.

[Karl]

This hardcover is numbered 40 of 150 produced and is signed by:

Ramsey Campbell
Reggie Oliver
Piotr Jablonsk

[W.T.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Page after page (after page) of excruciatingly detailed minutiae, which eventually elevate from extreme micro storytelling to an unnerving, pulsating horror. Campbell can stick a landing like no other.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ïs another favorite of mine. When I read it, it struck me as a bit dated with its astral projection stuff. But then things started getting pretty weird. There's a stretch that takes place in Germany, which gets into the occult, Nazis, etc., that just absolutely creeped me out, and goes way beyond Raiders of the Lost Ark in its Evil (big "E") implications. Campbell at his best.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best of Campbell's novels that I've read. A triumph of sustained tension, building to two consecutive well wrought and nail-biting conclusions. I was especially impressed by how Rose's perceptions of people close to her slowly become skewed as the titular parasite grows closer to its goal. There are many levels of the supernatural at play here from the relatively tawdry yet terrifying machinations of human occultism to a glimpse of cosmic indifference. There is a consistent use of pathetic fallacy throughout which both shores up the sense of unease and uncertainty and is something of a virtuoso performance, a repeated grace note in this fugue of terror.

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oddly, this book has a lot more to say about film culture, married life, New York City, Europe, and English living than you'd expect from the cover — and every character, from people on the bus to guests at various parties, are well-thought-out and have backstories, identifiable at least a glance, until wait, there's more. Meanwhile, the underpinnings of the narrative take a while to boil, concomitant with the narrator's awakening as an astral traveler, so the thesis of the whole work becomes well-nigh inescapable: and, oh yeah, it involves the Nazis. Not great for those who cringe from the thought of sleepless nights — or, for that matter, that a night's sleep will shake certain unquiet thoughts from your heads. Only good for "escapist reading" if you don't read anything else for the rest of your life, and live in a cave. Good luck!

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment. The story was ridiculously uneven and disjointed. It felt like three story lines cobbled together with a lot of unnecessary drawn out chapters thrust into the book to stretch out its length. At one point I felt it would have a been a decent novella, but the story just went in such ridiculous directions in the later chapters that I don't think anything could have saved this book.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, certainly not his greatest work! But a decent enough occult horror!

[Иван Величков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Първият ми сблъсък с по-голямо произведение на Кембъл наподоби чупеща костите среща с товарен влак. Стилът му е бавен, описателен и извънредно атмосферен. Докато четеш постоянно те гризе едно чувство на спотаен дискомфорт от неизвестното. Картините които рисува са потайни, неясни и играят с подсъзнанието ти, без посредничеството на разбирането. С едно описание на тиха улица, зарязана оранжерия или обикновен плешив човечец, бат Рамзи те изправя на нокти. Оставях книгата на няколко пъти, за да не ме засмуче текста в отчайващите си дълбини и определено научих неща за писането от нея.
Паразитът е един от първите романи на Кембъл и самият той казва, че не го харесва особено. Като всеки прохо��дащ автор и той се е поддал да наблъска повече информация от колкото е нужно за гладкото четене на текста. За бонус имаме и два доста различни, но всеки стряскащ сам по себе си, епилога, които са били з��вършеци на английското и американското издания.
Роуз е писател на нехудожествени книги за кино съвместно със съпруга си Бил. Това което не помни е, че десет годишна е била изложена на влиянието на нещо свръхестествено. Когато до къщата им се нанасят нови съседи, тя попада на спиритичен сеанс на партито за освещаване на къщата. Това отключва в нея неподозирани сили (астрална проекция, ясновидство), но и нещо много по-зловещо. Докато се опитва да разбере новите си способности семейният и живот се разпада на парчета. Накрая осъзнава, че я контролира нещо друго – жестоко и гладно.
Докато животът и чувствата на Роуз се разгръщат бавно и описателно пред нас, авторът успява да вмъкне в повествованието няколко изключително смущаващи исторически епизаода – един за програмата на Хитлер за прераждане и един за Грейс, който е последовател на Алистър Кроули, отлъчен от култа му заради екстремни опити с деца – както и много интригуваща статия за нямото немско кино от преди войната. През цялото време читателя не знае какво точно се случва, но остава запленен от прозата на Кембъл. Докато не стигне до вмуъкнатото обяснение, че целта на хоръра е да действа подсъзнателно, скрит зад стандартни клишета. Тогава всичко си идва на мястото.
Кембъл открито заявява, че е вдъхновен от „Дяволската къща” на Матисън, която скоро излезе на български, но експлоатирането на тропа за Лошото място тук е само заровена в почвата основа, която придържа произведението без да се вижда.
Определено ще прегледам още неща от обявения за най-добър хорър писател на острова. Имам големи очаквания към по-късните му произведения.

[Joel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up a few years back after reading an enjoying a few of Ramsey Campbell's short stories in various horror compilations. This is strange to think back on now, as my big problem with this book is that it feels like an underdeveloped short story that was needlessly padded to novel-length. It is a shame, because there are seeds for a good story buried in the mess, but they don't really appear until about 2/3 of the way through the book. By that time, they have been smothered by poorly executed and repetitious exposition. By the end of the novel (admittedly the strongest part), the payoff is too little, too late, and largely predictable. The potential for a good story was there, but bad execution seems to have squandered it. I cannot recommend this book. A good horror/supernatural suspense novel should never leave a reader bored and uninvested in it's protagonist, but that's just what this book did. I put this book down and re-started my reading of it numerous times over a 2-year span. That's a bad sign for a book in a genre that relies on suspense and a sense of tension.

[Laurie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the slowest moving horror story I have ever read. It’s not that slow to start- the odd things begin fairly early on. But the events drag horribly- much of the book is spent in denial of what is happening. Worse, none of the characters is very likeable. Not that they are dreadful people; they are just people I couldn’t care about. Even the protagonist, who I feared for at first, is portrayed too flatly to seem real. One character, who it seems like will be important to the protagonist’s development, just disappears halfway through the story and we never know what finally happened to her. The story is frustrating, more than anything. Even the end seems a cheat; a Deus ex machina appears to take care of the monster. Ultimately, it doesn’t really, but we’re still left to wonder what the deus ex machina was and why it intervened. This is a poor novel that might have been a good short story or novella.

[Dez Nemec · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book because several years ago around Halloween, it was on the lists of several authors as being one of the scariest books they ever read. Well, it is one of the most boring books I have ever read (although I have to admit to skimming the last 100 or so pages). I have several other of his books on my shelf but I'm not going near them for awhile. The premise is interesting - there are seances and astral projection and premonitions. But it fell completely flat. If I hadn't been on the treadmill, I probably would have given up on it completely and not finished. Definitely not recommended.

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I agree with several other reviewers on this one. The prologue is outstanding, and on the basis of that as a stand-alone story, I ordered the novel. Unfortunately the whole book doesn't stand up well. Too little happens for far too long to characters who never seemed interesting or engaging. Although the basic plot idea is good, it doesn't really kick in again until the end of the book, and by then it is too little too late.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una buena historia pero que se hace larguísima por la cantidad de paja que mete Ramsey en su libro.
El inicio es apasionante con una sesión de guija donde una niña se queda encerrada con un ente. A partir de aquí saltamos al presente donde la niña es una mujer que vive situaciones desosegantes que incluyen viajes astrales y acoso por parte de una logia nazi. El libro tiene momentos muy interesantes y esta deliciosamente escrito, pero esa ansia por la ambientación y la descripción acaba lastrandolo ya que se hace pesado en ocasiones. Creo que Ramsey Campbell es mejor con los relatos o quizás esta no sea de sus mejores novelas pero la veo falta de ritmo por ese afán descriptivo. Supongo que le pasa como a Lovecraft, que con los relatos era un genio pero con las novelas se pasaba de largo, y es algo natural ya que Ramsey es su más aventajado alumno.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campbell’s prose is particularly psychedelic here, which goes a long way. The plot about psychic possession is only periodically interesting and is hindered by the main character who is a big weenie the whole time. Still, the prose is really good.

[Gwen Schwartz · Rating 1 out of 5]

My new worst book ever written

I made it to 15%. I'm actually impressed that I made it that far. It's that bad. The rules of writing, such as, "Show, don't tell " should have been followed more closely by Mr. Campbell. Below are some examples from the first 15% of the book. I cringe at the thought of what the remaining 75% held.
"There was room for little else but darkness thick as mud and in one corner of the yard an anonymous shrub starved and restless"
shrubs get restless? I thought that all shrubs were anonymous
"The dark closed around the young girl like the embrace of a fever "
"Beneath the lid of an overcast sky , a jumpy nerve tried to pluck at her lips "
" When she tried to stand up, her legs were water pouring over the edge of the couch "
"She heard a tap abruptly relieving itself "
"She felt the blanket pucker in her hands, and gape like ragged mouths "
"Wallpaper the color of old newsprint soaked up much of the brownish light ,which seemed thick as gravy"
"Cows were large pale standing stones ....gulls sailed down like flakes of the lonely full moon ,the river was a torrent of milk through which a luminous liner was gliding "
"Obscured by the frosted glass and surrounded by an aura of fragments of flesh, the woman seemed to be alone "
"A spark of migraine, pricked her vision a group of toddlers watched her their eyes painted into their sockets "
There are so many more examples.
I beg the author to find a good editor. Please? The 15% that I managed to get through was excruciatingly difficult.
I'm sure that there are plenty of people who like this type of writing, if you are one of those, I'm sure that you'll enjoy this story immensely. Me? Not so much.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rose is a child, she is taken to a séance where something happens, but she can’t remember it. As an adult, suddenly there are odd things happening to her. She is scared and doesn’t understand what’s going on, until a friend, Diana, tries to help her understand that Rose seems to be able to leave her body and float around. Rose doesn’t believe it at first, but things soon change.

It was ok. A bit odd at times, but I thought the end (probably the last quarter of the book) was much better than the rest of it, as it sped up as things really came to a head.

[Steve Goble · Rating 3 out of 5]

While too long and starting off rather slowly, this novel is far more focused than the Campbell book I read before it, "The Hungry Moon." The "Moon" book meandered among a large cast of characters, and there seemed to be some disjointed moments and loose ends. "Parasite" sticks with one protagonist throughout and, once it gets going, moves along quickly to resolve all its mysteries and end in a rather horrific manner.

[Gabriel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soporífero.
Podría haberle dado dos estrellas porque a pesar de lo lento y repetitivo de la historia, la escritura en sí no es del todo pedestre (ojo, tampoco es buena, pero hay peores); sin embargo, la segunda mitad se me hizo mucho más lenta y pesada. Prácticamente terminé el libro en piloto automático.

[Ben Loory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outside, the sunlight seemed unreal. A truck with a jointed yellow arm brandished a man at a streetlamp. A car with a propeller drove by– no, with the foot of an office chair protruding from the boot. An old woman stumbled across a pedestrian crossing; as she gestured the traffic to wait she looked as though she was swimming.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this at a secondhand store. It had it's slow moments, and PLENTY of odd moments, but very enjoyable 80's horror. The style of writing was just ambiguous enough to build the fear without spelling out exactly what you should be feeling. The ending was a depressing sort of satisfying that tied it all together.

[Estephania · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sus diez años, Rose fue "habitada" por algo tras quedarse encerrada y abandonada en una habitación luego de una invocación improvisada por un grupo de adolescentes.
Veinte años después del suceso, Rose es una exitosa escritora y profesora que trabaja codo a codo con su marido. A pesar de vivir con una extraña sensación de angustia y ocasionales dolores de cabeza, Rose no recuerda el traumático episodio vivido en su infancia hasta que en un viaje a Nueva York es abordada por un extraño.

El inicio del libro es interesante, el capítulo introductorio nos deja en medio de algo realmente escabroso y dan ganas de seguir leyendo. Luego de ello la historia pasa a centrarse por completo en Rose, actualizando al lector sobre su vida años después. Algo a tener en cuenta es que el desarrollo de la historia es muy lento al principio.

No hay gran desarrollo de ninguno de los personajes secundarios. Todo el tiempo se siguen los acontecimientos desde la perspectiva de la mujer, lo que por momentos me cansó un poco.

Se ahonda mucho en detalles que me parecieron de relleno y me aburrí en varios momentos de la lectura. Esto mejora un poco hacia la segunda mitad del libro, donde se empieza a desatar el conflicto.

El tema del ocultismo y la reencarnación me pareció interesante, se nota que el autor conoce sobre el tema, y siento que todo el peso de la obra recae en esto, ya que no tiene mayor profundidad en ningún sentido.

Rescato ante todo la atmósfera densa que envuelve a esta historia, pues sí que me pareció bien lograda, todo parece muy extraño y logras sentir la angustia e incertidumbre de la protagonista.

El final me gustó bastante, da un emocionante giro en el último momento.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book at first, but there was just something about it that was calling to me (perhaps the artwork of the Pocket Books edition for which actress Dee Wallace was clearly the model) despite reviews that say it’s boring, nothing happens, etc. And they aren’t wrong, exactly. I can see why those people felt that way. There are many, many long, overly descriptive passages as Campbell follows the heroine literally everywhere instead of just cutting to the next location. The descriptions are sometimes really odd, and it took me a while to get used to this writing style. Despite this, I found the book fairly compelling and I wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters. I do think he could have cut to the chase a lot quicker — this book is a sloooowww build, that’s for sure — but in the end I wasn’t disappointed with how the story turned out. He definitely veers into Rosemary’s Baby territory (the heroine’s husband even starts calling her “Ro” just like Guy Woodhouse) and I thought the incorporation of astral projection was really groovy. There are some truly wonderful ideas, especially the backstory of the villain and the connection between fascism and the occult. Yes, the book is ultimately longer than it needs to be, but I found it to be a rewarding read despite its flaws.

[Mcf1nder_sk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard good things about Ramsey Campbell's novels, so I decided to try The Parasite. This story was a good one, but it was very slow-moving at times, and I had to force myself to continue. The suspense picked up about 2/3 of the way through, and the novel ended well.

Some of Campbell's writing was a bit wordy, and I felt he was a bit excessive on setting the scenery. I appreciate an author who will be descriptive in the details of the story, but this book was so overdone it stalled the pace of the tale. I'll still read more of his works, and hope it turns out better next time.

[Phillip Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those novels that was saved by the ending. It's early Campbell so while it might seem less polished than his later novels, it still evokes that ethereal, menacing quality that is the cornerstone of his writing.

[Graham P · Rating 4 out of 5]

With 'The Parasite', Campbell succeeds at painting unseen dread with a dark flourish. For example, 'Now the sound was more definable. Yes, it was like someone very old or very ill fumbling about in the dark.' This novel begins with some of Campbell's finest writing as a young child is assaulted after a seance in an abandoned house goes terribly wrong. One vision is all we get, and when the chill goes under the skin, it remains there and festers. The rest of the novel has moments of pure horror brilliance, yet at times it is marred down by a padding effect - we see, we feel, the heroine of the novel stumble through landscape after landscape, and the atmosphere can at times become so heavy that the tempo slows way down. Sensory overload burdens the text. However 'The Parasite' is an audacious novel and it covers a lot of ground: astral projection, Hitler's foray into the supernatural, film lore, the occult, possession; but what is more of focus is on a 'real' level - the demise of a marriage. Some readers may find this focus on marital strife to be cumbersome, leaden; others may find it enriching, true. But by the climax, Campbell weaves all the elements (the supernatural and the all-too-real) and slices the reader before they can fully glimpse who brandished the blade. Campbell continues to tap into the elements of cosmic horror: 'Perhaps there was no bottom, only darkness--but something which had made that dark its lair was scuttling upward, rapid as a spider, to seize her'. And he also continues to give light to the shuttered rooms that are locked within the brain, in this case, 'the fungoid church', a truly fucked-up place to be imprisoned. And he doesn't forget his characters are real people, which is essential in making this book more memorable than many others in the era where everybody and their mother was writing about possession post-Exorcist.