Blind Panic

Manitou #5

by Graham Masterton

The ancient Native American spirit from bestselling novel The Manitou is back in a disturbing and terrifying tale from the master of horror, Graham Masterton.

The demon is back. And his thirst for revenge is stronger than ever.

The President of the United States, without warning, is struck blind. High above the Rockies, the pilot and crew of a 747 suddenly find that they have lost their sight. Thousands of people across America all realise they are blinded – communications fail, TV screens go blank and civilisation is taken back two hundred years overnight.

Self-proclaimed mystic Harry Erskine is telling the fortunes of the gullible in Miami when his friend Amelia Crusoe, a genuine psychic, calls on him to help her sister, who has also been blinded. Together they discover that the Indigenous medicine-man spirit Misquamacus has come back to life to seek a final devastating revenge against the white man who massacred his people.

Only Harry and Amelia know that this spirit, and his band of resurrected shamans and terrifying killers from ancient legend, are responsible for the chaos. But this time, the odds of beating him are suicidal indeed...

Praise for Graham

'One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time' Peter James

'Suspenseful and tension-filled... All the finesse of a master storyteller' Guardian

'One of Britain's finest horror writers' Daily Mail

'You are in for a hell of a ride' Grimdark Magazine

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Supernatural, Audiobook

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.

At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.

Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.

Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.

He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.

Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.

He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.

Reviews

[Victor Rodriguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aunque fluye rápido y es entretenida, Blind Panic es sin duda la novela más floja de Manitú. Después de que Misquamacus, ahora solo un eco espiritual sin ectoplasma, posea los espíritus de decenas de hombres medicina nativos americanos del pasado, el brujo usa a unos espíritus que ciegan a gran cantidad de habitantes de los Estados Unidos. Hay caos a tope, accidentes aéreos y automovilísticos a tutiplén y mucho rollo de peli de catástrofes, con varios personajes secundarios y sus historias paralelas a la de Harry Erskine y su antigua novia Amelia, que se encargan de ir solucionando el percal entre una casualidad y otra. Y es que aquí Masterton va en piloto automático y se le nota; todo pasa de las maneras más peregrinas posibles, los personajes descubren información relevante sobre los planes de Misquamacus minutos antes de usarla contra él y la novela tiene flagrantes casos de "infodump" para rellenar páginas. Alguna cosa se salva, como las escenas de accidentes, una confrontación final a lo Godzilla con un Misquamacus gigantesco hecho de espíritus indios fusionados o lo de que la última esperanza de la humanidad sea un bebé médium que una de las protagonistas rescata de un incendio en plan random. Bastante olvidable.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
This had an interesting premise and likable characters all mixed with what seemed to be Masterton's ode to King's The Stand. However, the story felt very half-formed and nothing ever really seemed to come together.

[Tressa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of Blind Panic is a good one: much of America's population suddenly go blind after being in the presence of a Native American spirit and his two walking wooden sidekicks that have stored blinding lights the strength of the sun stored behind their white masks.

The novel unfolds in different cities throughout the U.S. as individuals and groups of people are blinded. Some are integral to the story: a blonde reporter and a young stunt man; a group of teens blinded while they were out fishing; a Santeria grandmother and her grandaughter and the baby that was passed through a window to her as she came upon a 20-car fiery pileup; the president of the United States. On the trail of a cure for this blindness are two real-deal psychics: Harry Erskine and Amelia.

The dialogue is wonderful and witty and the book veers off in directions you won't expect. However, it was filled with Native American mumbo jumbo that if you're a horror reader, you've read before. What I thought was a little tiring was the screeching lecture of the Native Americans' treatment by the white man every time the Native American spirit stepped into the action. That got a little redundant.

[Ken Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There were no skeletal babies in the coffins that had become their only means of walking through the world."
There are many unusual sentences like this in BLIND PANIC, a seriously stupid but consistently demented and entertaining combination of horror and disaster genres. On the disaster front we get epic scenes of destruction, scattered characters to follow through the chaos, a stressed-out president, and a big explosive climax. On the horror front there is a lot of weird imagery about people being connected and bound together. Some are holding hands, some get tied up together in ropes (and tossed over a cliff), and many are subjected to incredibly gory scenarios.
The description on my edition does not mention it, but this is a sequel to THE MANITOU. Structurally it's a mess. The MANITOU horror half of the book is in first person and the disaster half is not. There are some unintentionally hilarious scenes, like the ending and the suddenly blind people trying to land a helicopter. I was really stressed out while I was reading BLIND PANIC, and it was nice to have something so ridiculous to distract me at the end of some long days.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when you thought it was over...the greatest most malicious Native American revenge spirit is back. Yet another Manitou novel to remind me that some series are good and fun and totally worth the commitment. This book was fun, fast & furious in the best possible way. Harry and Amelia are back and are as sharp as ever (I don't think they age or if they do, it is done with much grace and delicacy) and there are some cameos from familiar characters from previous novels. There are very few writers as consistently good and as compulsively readable as Masterton and he proves this with every book. I highly recommend Blind Panic.

[denudatio_pulpae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misquamacus, podejście piąte.

Stany Zjednoczone nawiedza kolejna plaga – setki osób nagle tracą wzrok. Wybucha chaos i panika, samoloty rozbijają się, na drogach dziesiątki aut zderzają się w wielkich karambolach, tysiące ludzi traci życie w wypadkach. Oczywiście za tym wszystkim stoi popaprany indiański szaman, którego jedynym celem jest zniszczenie cywilizacji i przywrócenie warunków naturalnych. Na szczęście Harry Erskine i Amelia Crusoe dokładnie wiedzą, z czym mają do czynienia. Czy tym razem uda im się pokonać Misquamacusa raz na zawsze?

Raczej nie, w końcu jest jeszcze jedna część tej serii :)

„Armagedon” jest przyzwoitym horrorem, ale bardzo (aż za bardzo, moim zdaniem) podobnym do poprzednich części. Schemat jest dokładnie ten sam – jakaś plaga wywołana przez indiańskiego demona, z którą walczyć będzie Harry i Amelia. Osobno pewnie to tak nie razi, ale czytane jedno po drugim – zaczyna mnie trochę nużyć.
6/10

[Fred Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've never read a "Manitou" book before, I think you will like this one.

If you've read the whole series up to this point, I think you will find it entertaining (and if you've made it this far, you must find Graham Masterton novels entertaining, as I do), but will also find the "Manitou" series getting tiresome.

********* SPOILER ALERT **********

Here we go again. Misquamacus is still angry. He finds a way to spread catastrophe across the U.S. for the third book in a row (in the first book it was just a hospital; in the second just a school bus and a small town). Harry Erskine is still surprised that Misquamacus found a way back. Amelia, who was dead in the first book, is still alive, as she was in the last few books. Singing Rock is still available as a spirit, but -- typically inconsistent Masterton -- Erskine needs help to call him back even though in the last book it took him a few minutes to call him up. (Singing Rock's feelings for Erskine are also inconsistent; in the second book, they are like best buds, but now Singing Rock seems to just be putting up with him.) There's some of the usual gore, but not the sex that is usually in a Masterton novel.

Another thing . . . Didn't Harry Erskine gain some vampire powers in the last book? Some superhuman strength? They didn't come up at all.

Oh, well. If you've read the prior "Manitou" books, you can basically predict what's going to happen. But there are engaging characters along the way, including a cool baby who can see spirits and predict plane crashes (although I really, really don't like references to 9/11 in novels I read for entertainment; still too fresh). Even when Masterton is not great, he's still fun.

The next book I'm reading is The Djinn, which is an early Graham Masterton novel featuring Harry Erskine but apparently NOT Misquamacus!

[Isshi69nikkei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta książka nie jest warta 4 gwiazdek, które dałam, ale! Od WIEKÓW nie przeczytałam niczego autorstwa Mastertona co było choćby WZGLĘDNE, nie mówiąc już o tym, by było DOBRE czy wręcz DOSKONAŁE. "Armagedon", bo z nieznanych mi przyczyn taki jest tytuł polskiej edycji, jest... no, "całkiem niezły", może nie rzucił mnie na ziemię, ale czytało się to naprawdę dobrze. Z uwag, oprócz ogólnomastertonowego braku związku przyczynowo-skutkowego - utwór miał rozgrzebanych za dużo bezsensownych postaci i wątków, bo po co tworzyc gościa, który pojawia się tylko po to, by na końcu zginąć, a poza tym w akcję nie wnosi nic? Zakończenie potoczyło się jak zwykle u tego autora za szybko i za prosto, mało ciekawie - czyli to co zawsze, słaba kompozycja.

Mogłabym jęczeć i jęczeć, ale trzeba w końcu powiedzieć co sprawiło, że AŻ CZTERY GWIAZDKI. Niezłe postaci, nawte jak niepotrzebne. Do wykreślenia tylko irytująca dziennikarka, cała reszta budziła sympatię. Wiele sensownych i ładnie powplatanych łągodnych nawiązań do współczesności, zwłaszcza stosunków rosyjsko-amerykańskich. Ja KOCHAM POLITYKĘ, upajałam się tymi fragmentami. Dobrze prowadzona narracja, gdy przejmował ją jeden z głównych bohaterów. Parę świetnych dialogów, takich jakoś bliskich mojemu sercu i trafiających w moje poczucie humoru.

To była przyjemna książka i jak ktoś nie ma alergii na Mastertona po jakiś "szatańskich włosach" albo innej szmirze, to raczej mu się spodoba. Niby jest to któraś z części serii Manitou, ale ja czytałam z wcześniejszych tylko jedną lub dwie i to wieki temu, ale nieszczególnie to przeszkodziło ;)

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read Masterton before then you will probably have read THE MANITOU. BLIND PANIC is the latest instalment in the Manitou series and the long dead Native American wonder-worker, Misquamacus, returns to try to destroy the white man, but once again he must do battle with his nemesis, fake psychic Harry Erskine. I discovered Masterton in my late teens, so this was like a blast from the past. Thoroughly enjoyable. If you haven't read Masterton, try some of his old classics like: CHARNEL HOUSE, THE WELLS OF HELL or THE DEVILS OF D-DAY.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. A little disjointed but some of the horror scenes are good.

[Rafal Gluchowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh nooo… weak stuff. The Manitou cycle is being dragged along by Masterton by sheer force and goes absolutely nowhere. A waste of time—both the readers’ and the author’s—continuing to stretch this worn-out formula.
+
Misquamacus, despite having been utterly defeated in earlier installments (even his spirit had ceased to exist—sic!), returns yet again, this time as… a "memory" of a spirit (sic! sic!), possessing the ghosts of other deceased Native American shamans. Together with them, using old Native magic, he comes up with a New Monstrous Plan—he unleashes a plague of blindness on the unfortunate USA (sic…). Indian specters appear in various places and blind successive groups of people with Terrifying Rays. Sometimes they don’t even need to manifest at all (Masterton doesn’t worry much about narrative consistency)—in some unexplained way, blindness strikes, for example, the President of the United States (right before important negotiations with the President of Russia…), airplane pilots (complete with flashy disaster descriptions straight out of 1970s catastrophe movies), or car drivers (an equally flashy description of a massive pile-up somewhere around L.A.).

Against this backdrop we follow several groups of characters—the President himself and his entourage; four friends on a forest camping trip; a female truck driver; a film stuntman who, in an "Airplane!"-style moment, saves one of the passenger planes from crashing; and… unfortunately, the worst of all… the James Bond of this franchise, the fake medium Harry Erskine. Despite 35 years of fighting Misquamacus, he remains the same slimy con man and erotomaniac, with a sense of humor that is idiotic and cringe-inducing in the face of the scale of the ongoing disasters. Everyone eventually converges in California, in Memory Valley, for the final confrontation…
+
It’s genuinely a shame to waste Masterton’s time on further "Manitou" volumes—he can write much better than this. There’s nothing interesting here, plenty of plot weaknesses, and on top of that a dreadful, utterly unlikable “hero,” dragged from novel to novel purely by force.

The core idea is what it is—pretty average (the previous volume, the vampiric "Manitou Blood" was much better in that regard). Worse things have been read, sure, so let it be—but at times the horror turns into yet another disaster novel (like in third series instalment, "Burial"), and there’s simply too little genuine genre horror in it.

But that’s still the best part. Unfortunately, the plot itself is flimsy, boring, and ultimately goes nowhere (okay, fine—to “Memory Valley”). Individual episodes are not very engaging and don’t contribute much to the overall action (for instance, the decidedly overlong—and at times absurd—office workers episode). At times Masterton simply abandons ideas altogether, such as the blinding of the U.S. President, which at some point is just casually “undone” (clearly, he had no idea what to do with it).

The characters are completely colorless and unengaging—except, of course, for Harry Erskine, who is as infuriating as ever. For the fifth time in a row, this character shows up on a pure copy-and-paste basis: just as slimy, just as busy conning poor exploited widows, just as incel-ishly sighing after a married colleague, just as prone to cracking unfunny dad jokes.

This desperate clinging to the Erskine character is probably the cycle’s greatest weakness. It feels like it would have been far better if Masterton had let new protagonists face Misquamacus’s successive attacks (as he did, for example, in "Night Warriors"), which would have refreshed the stale convention of the series.

It all reads without pain—Masterton does know how to write efficiently—but it doesn’t offer much satisfaction. This one is for stubborn completists only. Most of the Graham’s novels are far better.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harry Erskine once again battles the evil medicine man, Misquamacus, this time fighting a curse that plunges humanity into blindness.

The concept is fresh and terrifying, and Masterton’s knack for vivid, unsettling imagery shines through. As usual, Masterton’s skill with pacing is spot on as Blind Panic is brisk, with action and a fun plot that keeps the story interesting and addictive.

However, the story struggles with shallow character development and repetitive scenarios. The protagonists feel underexplored, and some of the more fantastical elements border on absurdity, making it difficult to stay immersed. Additionally, the resolution feels rushed, leaving questions unanswered and themes underdeveloped. Things just happen but there are few explanations other than readers are just supposed to accept it. And, since this is Masterton, once again, many of the events of previous Manitou books are glossed over, retconned for the sake of this particular encounter with Misquamacus or forgotten completely…

While Blind Panic offers moments of genuine horror and typical Masterton creativity, it doesn’t fully live up to the legacy of the first 2 books. The folklore is there, as is Masterton’s mashup of multiple elements of horror, but overall, this entry into the series is by far the weirdest and weakest. Fans of pulpy, fast-paced horror will enjoy the ride, but those seeking depth or emotional weight may walk away either unsatisfied or disappointed.

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always good to be in the company of Harry Erskine. As far as supernatural investigators go, he doesn't get a lot of credit, but he should be up there with John the Balladeer and Carnaki and Levi Stotzfus and the others. All right, all right, he's a fake psychic who somehow winds up on these weird adventures involving very real magic(k) of all kinds ever since The Manitou. It's worth pointing out, though, that a character in this book implies that Harry actually has real abilities possibly akin to the Native American trickster god. This time his favorite shaman has returned to try once again to take America back from the colonizers, even if it means slaughtering all of them. His method: take their sight from them. People across the US, up to and including the president, go blind and--much as the title suggests--panic. And it's great fun as you would expect from Masterton.

There's just one thing I thought he should have done. Why would he not introduce characters who were already blind before Misquamacus started blinding everyone else? Since they already had plenty of practice getting around, wouldn't it stand to reason that they would step in and help those newly blinded? Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Highly recommended.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago I stumbled on a Richard Laymon book for cheap on the kindle. I really didn't like it. When I read a second (the Traveling vampire show) my views changed.

With that, I started to hunt down more of his works and learned about Dorchester Pubs "leisure horror club" a now defunct book club that published paperback horror fiction.

These titles have been popping up at Half Price Book Stores (Dorchester likely liquidated their unsold back stock to them) and a bunch of horror writers who were largely unheard of and overshadowed by King, Koontz, and Saul are escaping obscurity.

This is awesome, because when you dig deeper than the big three, there is some really interesting stuff out there.


I've not read anything by Masterton before, and while this is a later book in a series, it wasn't bad. It read fairly cinematically, and so at times it lacked a bit of depth, but it was a fun and easy read.

I was a bit concerned about taking the Native American stuff too far, I guess it did okay.
Ma decent spooky book.

[Geoff Battle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blind Panic is larger in scale than most of Masterton's work, however it lacks the depth of character and menace usually present. Masteron's vengeful medicine man, Misquamacus, returns serving up an almighty helping of chaos, blinding the populace of the United States starting with the President. It's up to Harry and friends to save the day. Although this is a handful of books in to this series, each is a self-contained story, so anyone can enjoy it. The story follows the main two characters and a few other seemingly random groups, which interconnect in tenuous manners throughout the story. There's little development for most of these extras and since their purpose remains undisclosed for most of the book, there's little opportunity to engage with them. In defter hands this could have been a real winner, however Masterton's talent for tightly constructed horror misfires a little here. Still entertaining, however not in his top half.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

People across the US are suddenly going blind resulting in airliners dropping from the skies, multi-car pileups with hundreds of thousands dead. Yup, Misquamacus is back possessing hundreds of wonder-workers and the Eye-Killers. Harry, Amelia and other survivors Tyler (a stuntman), Tina (reporter for the LA Times), Jasmine and a baby boy she rescued from a car crash who has the sight, Aunt Ammy (spiritual woman) plus the President David Perry and his protection are all drawn to Memory Valley, the site of the last Indian massacre. Can they defeat Misquamacus once again or is this the end.

[Nelio Gomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I love Harry's battles with Misquamacus, this one seemed a little bit by-the-numbers. The humour was scant, the characters were flat, and you almost felt sorry for Misquamacus being hounded from the spirt world by the US Calvary marauders who destroyed his people in the first place. Here's hoping that the final book in the series, Plague of the Manitou, with its timely plot combining an epidemic and colonial injustices, will be a winning conclusion.

[Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Piąta runda! Mam pewne zarzuty - bo powtarzalność lekko mnie już męczy oraz fakt, że "przemiana" Harrego z poprzedniego tomu nie miała tutaj znaczenia. A tak na to liczyłam! Jednak dalej czytało mi się to przyjemnie. Autor mnie ugłaskał faktem, że opisał tę apokalipsę niczym film katastroficzny. Spadające samoloty, prezydent w potrzasku, wielkie wypadki drogowe - o tak, uwielbiam. Poboczne postacie były też interesujące i miały więcej udziału w całej sprawie niż w poprzednich tomach.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into the storytelling and characters as there is limited development and a choppy plot. This was a 'lighter reading' choice but was more difficult to get through just for the sake of it being uninteresting. Blind Panic is the story of a blindness epidemic, it's supernatural cause and a solution in the end. That's it. A quick read and some interesting parts tow the 2/5.

[Jon Waldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of the same pulpy, fun, problematic shenanigans as the rest of the series. I feel like I like it more than book #4.

[Aaron Polish · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stories round into 1 and all perfect

[Miłośniczka Książek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Słów kilka na temat powieści jak zwykle znajdziecie na moim blogu. Zapraszam:
http://magicznyswiatksiazki.pl/armage...

[READERS RETREAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterton has not lost his touch.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterton does it again with this new spin on his Manitou series. It's always fun to see what Misquamaqus has up his sleeve.

[Nigel Jopson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back to basics

I really enjoyed this book. It seemed like his earlier stuff ,slimmed down and refined. There is no filler just action all the way . Highly recommend

[Andy Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very light hocum with a native American horror plot. Moves at a pace. Over explaining baddie is a native american shamanic ghost. Too many characters with too little input end up meet at the same spot as everyone around them goes blind due to black magic. Some nice imagery and ok dialogue but plotline is bad comic book garbage.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 2 out of 5]

αν το 4 ήταν το 5 και το 5 το 4, τότε όλα πένα
τώρα... σκατάκια!

[Mary Mary]

DNF at 15%

I just didn't feel the story, I was bored.

[John C. Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Harry Erskin e novels,but this one was a bit weird for me.

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the penultimate instalment in the Harry Erskine and it is starting to show the difficulty with trying to keep and single idea namely that of long dead Native American wonder worker Misquamacus attempting to get revenge on the White Men who destroyed his culture. This time he is setting up a plague of blindness across the country with the corresponding collapse of infrastructure and death from accidents, plane crashes etc. Of course Harry is the only one who recognises this for what it is and finds out the following his last encounter with Misquamacus he can now only appear by the use of hostile takeovers of other spirits who can still return to the 'solid world'.
It is an interesting story and good confrontation between Harry and his Nemesis, I just can't help feeling I've read it all before in earlier books.