Customer Reviews

Goodnight Moom

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just dusted off a book from the late 80's called "Goodnight Moom" and started reading it again... I think this is a real sleeper classic. It's a horror novel of the Stephen King variety (written by Jack MacLane) about a boy who is brain damaged as an infant by his abusive father. Unable to function in school or society and with no sense of right or wrong he starts killing for fun, starting with small animals and working his way up... when one of his classmates disappears, his father imprisons him in the basement of the house. Suffice to say this does not help his mental state, and over ten years, well fed by his mother, he grows very large until one day he escapes...
The title comes from his obsession with the moon, which he calls "moom". The book is long out of print but used copies might be found on places like Amazon or Biblio. If you're not into horror novels this one won't win you over, but if you are this is a must read.

I just happened to grab this book off of the shelf in one of my used book runs. I'm not quite sure if I was lucky or cursed. It begins with our two "fine" characters: Harriette and Ed. Ed proposes to Harriette one night after getting drunk. Harriette, who doesn't particularly like Ed, agrees because she dreams of having a wonderful romantic husband. In other words-Harriette is living in a fairytale. It gets steadily worse from there as Ed is just a sick abusive man. Then it gets even worse when they have their first child-Harry. Ed throws Harry up against the wall and he's never the same. He starts murdering local pets and then progresses on to humans... Read this book to see what happens to Harry. Or don't read it and spare yourself the nightmares. A book for adventurous folk.

This is a fast-paced, gripping horror story that ranks near the top of sort that Zebra published some twenty years ago. "Jack Maclane" wrote half a dozen of them -- all equally readable, all imbued with a pulp-style sensibility. GOODNIGHT MOOM is the gritty story of an abused, brain-damaged child who is kept locked in the basement by his parents, and (as we all know) that can't be good. This book is certainly not for everyone, but if you go for this kind of stuff, Maclane's your man. It's good to see the book available once again.

I had always been interested in this book. It was ok but too weird, about a psychotic youngster. Get it if you like this sort of thing. You might find something to like about it. Definitely not for the squeamish.

Good thing I got this book from a yardsale, free. The only reason I rate it 1 is because I can't rate it 0.