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The Desecration of Susan Browning
Susan Browning has all that a woman could want: youth, beauty, a brilliant acting career, an utterly marvelous marriage. Then one night her husband saves a young woman from a hideously brutal rape. And when it's over, the rescued victim will shower them with love, gratitude, and devotion.
Wanda Carmichael. From the moment she enters their lives, Susan will never be the same. For Wanda Carmichael is a woman with strange, eerie powers. In the weeks to come, she will strip Susan of her career, of her marriage, of her self-respect. Susan Browning will become the groveling sexual slave of a man she loathes. Susan Browning will learn blind obedience, erotic ecstasy—and satanic horror.
And only then will the real nightmare begin...
Wanda Carmichael. From the moment she enters their lives, Susan will never be the same. For Wanda Carmichael is a woman with strange, eerie powers. In the weeks to come, she will strip Susan of her career, of her marriage, of her self-respect. Susan Browning will become the groveling sexual slave of a man she loathes. Susan Browning will learn blind obedience, erotic ecstasy—and satanic horror.
And only then will the real nightmare begin...
254 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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159 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 8, 2017
I literally have no idea how I ended up with this book. It's the kind of yellowed paperback that you find in a beach rental, or maybe in a weird aunt's guest room. The kind of book you'd smuggle into your fifth grade classroom so everyone could be scandalized by the titilating synopsis on the back cover but secretly too freaked out by the creepy face on the front to actually read it.
I thought it would be really dirty (hello, it's from Playboy Press!) or really scary. It's really not much of either, but despite the dated sexism, so-so writing, and overly obvious attempts to rip off Rosemary's Baby, I still found it strangely compelling and readable.
Did I mention how dated it is, though? I think my favorite moment was when a surgeon apologized for not offering another character a drink, because it would be so wrong for a doctor to keep alcohol in his office... then instead offers him a cigar, and they spend the rest of the scene filling the room with smoke! Ah, the early 80s, when smoking was still ok but Satanic cults were hiding around every corner!
I thought it would be really dirty (hello, it's from Playboy Press!) or really scary. It's really not much of either, but despite the dated sexism, so-so writing, and overly obvious attempts to rip off Rosemary's Baby, I still found it strangely compelling and readable.
Did I mention how dated it is, though? I think my favorite moment was when a surgeon apologized for not offering another character a drink, because it would be so wrong for a doctor to keep alcohol in his office... then instead offers him a cigar, and they spend the rest of the scene filling the room with smoke! Ah, the early 80s, when smoking was still ok but Satanic cults were hiding around every corner!
May 23, 2023
This occult tale had everything I wanted, satanic rituals, an evil powerful cabal, sex, good pacing and a nice twist ending. It does contain some dated material that was offensive in numerous ways. Thats the main reason it got 3 instead of 4 stars.
April 4, 2020
This is a tough one. While I really enjoyed this psychosexual satanic melodrama, the inclusion of some very dated and problematic elements are keeping me from giving it five stars. Having said that, I absolutely enjoyed The Desecration of Susan Browning, and cannot wait to start The Devil and Lisa Black.
This book is very well paced, moving just fast enough to stay interesting, while doing a fairly decent job of developing the central cast of characters. Susan is an interesting enough heroine, showing enough strength and intelligence to keep the reader interested in her, and Wanda is a delicious villain. Now, this is pure pulp, but damn is it good, entertaining pulp.
I do have to mention the problematic part of this book, but I'll be vague as not to reveal any spoilers. There is a trans character, and the revelation of this person's transition is handled with about as much grace as one could expect from a pulpy horror novel from 1981 (translation: about as much grace as a sloppy punch to the nose). That makes me hesitant to recommend this book. If you do chose to read this understand going in to expect some very cruel, transphobic and homophobic language. As a gay man, one character's use of a derogatory term for gay men made me cringe. But the character is intended to make me cringe, so I was able to move past it. Everyone has their own limits, though. So proceed with caution.
If you can handle the above mentioned issue (and it is a major one) I recommend giving The Desecration of Susan Browning a try if you can find an affordable copy online. Dated material aside, I had a blast with this one.
This book is very well paced, moving just fast enough to stay interesting, while doing a fairly decent job of developing the central cast of characters. Susan is an interesting enough heroine, showing enough strength and intelligence to keep the reader interested in her, and Wanda is a delicious villain. Now, this is pure pulp, but damn is it good, entertaining pulp.
I do have to mention the problematic part of this book, but I'll be vague as not to reveal any spoilers. There is a trans character, and the revelation of this person's transition is handled with about as much grace as one could expect from a pulpy horror novel from 1981 (translation: about as much grace as a sloppy punch to the nose). That makes me hesitant to recommend this book. If you do chose to read this understand going in to expect some very cruel, transphobic and homophobic language. As a gay man, one character's use of a derogatory term for gay men made me cringe. But the character is intended to make me cringe, so I was able to move past it. Everyone has their own limits, though. So proceed with caution.
If you can handle the above mentioned issue (and it is a major one) I recommend giving The Desecration of Susan Browning a try if you can find an affordable copy online. Dated material aside, I had a blast with this one.
January 27, 2023
Small time actor/director Marty saves a women from rape, the women starts to give gifts, she is extremely wealthy, mysterious and eludes huge presence. The women Wanda will wear a black robe and in front of 169 inner, inner circle members will plunge a gem-crusted knife into a virgin, the blood spraying her robe and wipe the blood on her vagina. Through Marty's wife Susan a private Investigator was able to establish that Wanda had a sex change to a women, inherited her wealth when she was a secretary and invested wisely to be worth a billion dollars. She steals Susan's husband by putting him under a spell where he submits wholly and is a sex slave (like most Russ Martin novels). Susan will also submit to a man as his sex slave and live a life of suffering until she escapes and is captured by Wanda who plunges a long blade in her abdomen spurting blood which sloshed down the altar gushing blood onto a baby born by Wanda who also cuts off a man's dick. The baby saved from flames and possibly the child of Satan. Yes this is a typically bonkers story by Russ but a goodie.
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October 2, 2017This was the picture of the book I got after taking this quiz from quirk books!
This cover is creepy af
I fear that staring at it could give me nightmares.
This cover is creepy af
February 19, 2023
If you ever sat through a bad Skinamax flick when you were a kid, hoping for the kind of gratuitous sex and violence your parents would never condone you watching during their waking hours, only to have settled for some bloodless gunshot squibs and a flash of side boob, well… you can save yourself the trouble of reading this snoozer of (self-proclaimed) erotic cult horror.
I’ll be honest - I was hoping for all the shlock. I wanted it to get weird, graphic, uncomfortable, and gory. Out of all those things, it manages only uncomfortable, albeit the wrong kind. Equal parts misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic, this novel didn’t introduce a single character worth rooting either for or against. Even sleazy beach reads - which this absolutely is - should have at least a bare minimum level of character and plot development. In place of both of those things, this novel offers only religious platitudes, PG-13 eroticism, and dread-free horror.
Don’t let it off the hook for being a product of it’s time period, either. Yes, misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic sentiment was prevalent in the 80s, but prevalent doesn’t mean acceptable, then or now. This book doesn’t just feature ugly, malicious descriptions of gay and trans people; it luxuriates in them. Morbid curiosity and the fleeting hope of even the tiniest redemptive feature were the only things keeping me from filing this under DNF.
I’ll be honest - I was hoping for all the shlock. I wanted it to get weird, graphic, uncomfortable, and gory. Out of all those things, it manages only uncomfortable, albeit the wrong kind. Equal parts misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic, this novel didn’t introduce a single character worth rooting either for or against. Even sleazy beach reads - which this absolutely is - should have at least a bare minimum level of character and plot development. In place of both of those things, this novel offers only religious platitudes, PG-13 eroticism, and dread-free horror.
Don’t let it off the hook for being a product of it’s time period, either. Yes, misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic sentiment was prevalent in the 80s, but prevalent doesn’t mean acceptable, then or now. This book doesn’t just feature ugly, malicious descriptions of gay and trans people; it luxuriates in them. Morbid curiosity and the fleeting hope of even the tiniest redemptive feature were the only things keeping me from filing this under DNF.
May 4, 2021
What the Hell?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews