The Sentinel

Genre: Horror Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pub. Year: 1974

My Halloween book (The Sentinel) for 2018 was written in 1974 by Jeffrey Konvitz. I read this book the year after I graduated high school (dating myself) and I remember it scaring the bejesus out of me. I was wondering if it still could. It did, but with noticeable flaws. As a teen in 1968, I read “Rosemary's Baby.” And in 1973, I read “The Exorcist.” Both books better stand the test of time than this one did. I can see what attracted me back then to “Sentinel.” As a native New Yorker, I enjoyed that the setting takes place in the Big Apple. The teenage me would have found the protagonist, a beautiful but troubled fashion model to be a fascinating character simply because she was a model.

The heroine moves into an old brownstone building and befriends the other occupants who are bizarrely eccentric. Sounds like “Rosemary’s Baby” right? Wrong, I actually found these neighbors even spookier (possible spoiler) because the reader is not sure if they truly exist or are part of the model’s imagination. The house is inhabited on the top floor by a reclusive blind Catholic priest, who may or may not be evil. He spends his time sitting at his open window. Yes, such a thought can still scare the Catholic schoolgirl in me. Is our heroine crazy or is she in hell? The book also has an unsolved murder in its plot. This would be the deceased wife of our heroine’s boyfriend. I can’t say any more about him or it would be a spoiler.

So why didn’t this book stand the test of time? Well first of all, as an adult I was pissed off that her loving boyfriend uses his hands on her. Plus, her abusive father is written as such an insane deviant he is not a believable character. Not to mention that a lesbian couple are referred to as perverts. Okay, there was no PC in the 1970s hopefully we have all grown. But mostly what bothered me is that the story’s lewdness seems to have been written to shock for shock purposes and that seldom works. Maybe, I am being too critical. Stephen King’s “Carrie” which was published in 1973 also had a crazy religious fanatic parent who beats her daughter. I guess I need to reread Kings first novel to see if it also feels dated. Still, mostly I feel that “Rosemary's Baby” and “The Exorcist” are superior to “Sentinel” because like another King novel “The Stand” they are basically good vs. evil fables. And let’s face it, now we are talking about the Bible. According to the March 2007 edition of “Time,” the Bible "has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating."

I'd already seen the film adaptation of this book, and it follows pretty well, so there weren't many surprises, but, I found the book didn't offer any further thoughts or expand of any of the characters either. In fact, I liked the climax scene in the film much better than what was presented in the book.

I was amazed how many formatting errors, typos and punctuation mistakes are present in the e-book. There's a lot. Also, the paragraphs are all run together, so, there's no way to tell when a scene switches in the middle of a chapter, the narrative simply switches, and it's pretty jarring. There are also long sequences of back and forth dialog with no tags--so you're often left wondering who's speaking.

Another small thing--the book is written in an omniscient 3rd person, and it frequently jumps from one character's perspective to another with alarming rapidity. Given the modern trend of writing from a fixed perspective wasn't around much in the 70's, it can be forgiven. The book begins mostly from the perspective of Allison Parker, the main character, though about half way through it changes to mostly that of her boyfriend, Michael Farmer. Again, sort of weird, but, don't hold it against the author.

The placing is slow ... Lots of walking around and idle chatter. When things do start to get scary, the settings and descriptions are effective at creating that wonderful tickle of fear--so kudos to the author for that.

I love historically great horror stories like Rosemary’s Baby. This is not that. My greatest pet peeve is bad dialogue and this book is the exact definition of horrible dialogue. Even if the story is great, you’ll never be able to get past the choppy incoherent and unrealistic dialogue.

This is my all-time favorite 'horror' novel. And I include those of King and Koontz. I was unable to put this book down. In fact, I finished it in the car while traveling and asking my husband to drive slower so we wouldn't arrive before I reached the end. Considering I am prone to motion sickness, that is enough to justify my rating. "The Sentinel" takes you by the imagination and draw a you to the twist at the end. Should be on everyone's 'must read' list.

Leí El Guardían en el 86 cuando tenía 10 años y hasta el momento es el libro de terror más fuerte que he leído, fuerte entre lo más fuerte, no hay palabras para expresar el miedo que suelta ese libro. Ahora tuve la oportunidad de leer este, no es tan miedoso pero vale la pena para tener la historia completa. Vale la pena.

The story is thin and absurd and poorly delivered. Gatz is a hysterically bad and lazily depicted character, and the book is laden to the point of collapse with exposition. The ending (SPOILER ALERT), when a freshly dead Michael decides to explain the whole plot to Allison, is the best unintentional comedy in any book I've read in years. No effort was made to have the characters behave in believable or relatable ways. The whole thing is just a sloppy disaster.

I know it's an older book. Doesn't change the fact that it descends into a confusing pile of crap with a predictable ending you can see a mile away.
Book starts out good and interesting and then goes off on a tangent of repetitive and repetitive crap. Get to the point! When point does arrive you don't care. One other thing is that the author does not break the chapters up correctly and this will become apparent and annoying to you if you happen to lose a bet and end up with this dog turd in your hands

I started reading The Sentinel forty years ago but never actually finished it. Even at a younger age when my literary tastes were decidedly less discerning I found reading it a chore. Perhaps seeing the films diminishes the reading experience. There is very little variation between the film and the novel apart from a few scenes being streamlined as most novels must endure when being adapted into a medium that is somewhat restricted by time and budgetary limitations. There are really no new revelations to be found in the novel. The actual writing is very efficient but has little flair or literary ambitions and can make scenes very superficial and characters very one dimensional. The pacing is wildly uneven and scenes that should be brief go on far too long. I was never invested or involved with the characters and they never really came alive. The ending is so rushed and underwritten that it gives the impression that the author just wanted to wrap things up. It's hardly a classic of the genre.....but I have read a lot worst than this. It might be effective for someone unfamiliar with the film but I doubt a modern audience will tolerate the tedious pace and the very subdued "scares" to be found within. It didn't make me as angry as reading Doctor Sleep but I give it a mild "meh". I guess it's good for anyone interested in old school horror fiction this might appeal. I would suggest just watching the film. It's actually quite creepy. Burgess Meredith as Charles Chazen is the film's Ruth Gordon. There is a quiet menace about him.

The story actually would have been really good if it had been well written. The characters were not well developed, so you really don't care about them. They say and do things that seem unnatural. The beginning of the book is a lot of its and pieces about the characters. You do eventually learn more about these pieces in the end, but it takes so long to get there that you've forgotten about that storyline and no longer care. It took me months to get through the book because I just didn't care about the story. In the end, it was a cool story, I just didn't like the journey there.

This is one of the few times I have enjoyed a movie adaptation of the book better than the book itself. There are so many terrifying scenes from the movie (the dead father's first appearance) that the book was a bit anticlimactic. It may be an unfair comparison, as the film was brilliant. Still, this was good old fashioned gothic horror at its best. My advice, read the book and THEN see the movie. You won't be tainted as I am.