Camp Pleasant [Hardcover]

Richard Matheson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Matt Harper, a first-time counselor at a boy's summer camp, is witness to casual brutality that leads to murder in this short novel told with almost fable-like simplicity. Certainly the bullying, gluttonous headman Ed Nolan (who "has reduced Camp Pleasant to a microcosm of the Third Reich") is portrayed as a stereotype the reader is not sorry to see killed. All the sympathy is reserved for the possible suspects, from Merv Loomis, the homosexual counselor Nolan humiliates into quitting, to the troubled 10-year-old, Tony Rocca, to Nolan's meek wife, Ellen, and others. The setting and tone have the distinct feel of the early 1950s, but a casual reference to Catherine Deneuve places the action in the mid-60s or later. The minimalist plot would be inadequate in other hands, but Matheson author of Somewhere in Time and Hell House, as well as classic Twilight Zone teleplays has such command of his craft that this book is a pure pleasure. The simple style recalls Hemingway, with such lines as "It was a Wednesday night and there were movies down in the lodge so I sent my boys there and stayed in the cabin, packing my trunk." Occasionally Matheson waxes poetic: "I lay there staring at the wall, feeling my heart thud slowly in my chest like the fist of a dying man on the wall of his prison."

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Matt Harper, a first-time counselor at a boy's summer camp, is witness to casual brutality that leads to murder in this short novel told with almost fable-like simplicity. Certainly the bullying, gluttonous headman Ed Nolan (who "has reduced Camp Pleasant to a microcosm of the Third Reich") is portrayed as a stereotype the reader is not sorry to see killed. All the sympathy is reserved for the possible suspects, from Merv Loomis, the homosexual counselor Nolan humiliates into quitting, to the troubled 10-year-old, Tony Rocca, to Nolan's meek wife, Ellen, and others. The setting and tone have the distinct feel of the early 1950s, but a casual reference to Catherine Deneuve places the action in the mid-60s or later. The minimalist plot would be inadequate in other hands, but Matheson--author of Somewhere in Time and Hell House, as well as classic Twilight Zone teleplays--has such command of his craft that this book is a pure pleasure. The simple style recalls Hemingway, with such lines as "It was a Wednesday night and there were movies down in the lodge so I sent my boys there and stayed in the cabin, packing my trunk." Occasionally Matheson waxes poetic: "I lay there staring at the wall, feeling my heart thud slowly in my chest like the fist of a dying man on the wall of his prison." This limited edition is sure to satisfy the veteran author's many fans and collectors.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587670372
• ISBN-13: 978-1587670374
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,666,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richard Matheson--storyteller, December 17, 2011

By 

Joel, Holden "Barry Eysman MY REAL NAME" (TN..) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Camp Pleasant (Richard Matheson Series) (Kindle Edition)

Camp Pleasant is a wonderful novel, a lot of fun to read, and something extra to it, that special Matheson touch, beyond the storyline, the suspense, and sad twist, where heroes are made.

As you realize he has been touching your heart all the way so delicately. Toward the end, he removes it from fiction.

As we see those boys singing round the campfire that one last time, then it's over, the sound of trembly life against all that darkness, as they turn their flashlights on and go back to the cabins, he imbues them with innocence in bravery and something inimical that only children understand and Richard Matheson tells us how it felt.

The closing, the mystery solved, is written with such deep heart, and you realize, in the plot, and the characters, in the subtle shifts, we see the moment when everything is possible and mostly, the boys want to go home and find out it's all different than before.

It's kind of like the last night of summer, before everything is broken and confused. This book is a place to come to. It is kind of like a friend saying a novena.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Camp Pleasant, August 12, 2002

By 

D. Hensley (jamestown, nc United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Camp Pleasant (Hardcover)

Camp Pleasant is a good quick read for all fans of Richard Matheson. This is the story of an abusive camp dirctor and the pain and suffering that he causes the campers, his staff and his wife. There is a nice twist to the ending and the book can be read in a couple of hours.