William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, has died at age 89.
I remember about a quarter of a century ago, I finished one book before bedtime, and went “I know! I’ll read the first chapter of The Exorcist and then go to sleep.”
At 3:30 AM I finished the book. It was that good. William Friedkin’s very faithful movie adaptation was also great (indeed, arguably the best horror movie of all time), but it helped that he had great source material to start with.
Tags: Books, Horror, Movies, Obituary, William Peter Blatty
I was friends with the librarian in the town where I worked when the book came out. She told me the book had come in and that while it hadn’t been cataloged, she could sneak it to me that afternoon if I could get it back to her as soon as the library opened the next day. I said, “No problem.” And it sure wasn’t. I read it straight through. Great stuff.