Incubus (Ballantine Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Ann Arensberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2000 | Series: Ballantine Reader's Circle

Dry Falls, Maine was a simple farming town. Its residents lived innocently in sync with the seasons--honest churchgoing folk who looked to the land for a living and to tiny St. Anthony's church for spiritual sustenance. Until the spring of 1974, when a premature, blistering heat wave envelops the vicinity . . . along with something far more sinister. As crops wither, livestock birth only deformed offspring, and husbands lose all desire for sex, an ancient, unholy evil hungry for lust, an Incubus, secretly begins to prey on the town's women. As one female after another falls victim to erotic nightmares and dark violations, Cora Leiber, the wife of St. Anthony's rector, must look for answers in the depths of faith-- and her own tormented soul.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You can trust Cora Whitman. She's a minister's wife, gardener, food writer, and just the kind of narrator that you don't find in most horror novels. She is practical, skeptical, and her matter-of-fact telling of the events that took place in Dry Falls, Maine, makes this incredible story easy to believe.

Incubus begins with Cora Whitman's preface to the "case study" that is the novel. It's an almost scientific warm-up for the paranormal roller coaster that lies ahead. Arensberg's Dry Falls is a typical, small New England community, except during the summer of 1974 when the weather got unusually hot, the rain refused to fall, and the town was gripped by a sinister sexual spirit. The first signs of the incubus were relatively innocent--the town eccentric lost a few hours of her day, husbands became uncharacteristically ardent, schoolgirls saw a "ghost" in a graveyard. As the story progresses, the incubus grows more sinister, until it stirs up a supernatural hurricane with Cora Whitman trapped in its eye.

Arensberg, whose other works include Group Sex and Sister Wolf, has created a sophisticated work of literary horror with Incubus. She raises many questions about religion, marriage, and the supernatural, and handles the subject matter with unflinching objectivity. Her prose is simultaneously elegant and pointed, and her characters both unusual and familiar, making the story irresistible. --Mara Friedman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A tale of shape-changers and exorcism written with intelligence, restraint and style, Arensberg's compelling third novel (Sister Wolf; Group Sex) is another impressive example of this talented writer's work. In the summer of 1974, the town of Dry Falls, Maine, is subjected to a heat wave and drought that is so carefully circumscribed it doesn't even appear on the state's local weather maps. Even more disturbing evidence ensues of nature imbalanced, including a lack of sexual drive among the town's male inhabitants and cows that give birth to deformed calves, among other unusual events. Dr. Henry W. Lieber, Dry Falls's Episcopal priest and a man whose faith is fast fading, obsessively records each new incident, seeking signs of the supernatural. Cora Whitman, Dr. Lieber's wife and author of a weekly food column, is the skeptical narrator of this unsettling chronicle; this is a savvy move by Arensberg, as Cora's skepticism always precedes the reader's suspicions. Yet Cora comes to believe in the existence of a demon who disturbs women's sleep and, in fact, rapes the women of Dry Falls. But what this entity is, why it's attracted to this town and these women who know their herbs but practice no witchcraft?these are bones the readers of this beautifully written and carefully crafted novel can gnaw. Despite the rapture of the tale, Arensberg's greatest gifts here are not the plot or the research supporting her tale of the occult, but her precise insight into character and the portrayal of the workings of a small community, the life of a pastor and his wife and a marriage in many seasons. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345438167
• ISBN-13: 978-0345438164
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #663,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Judge For Yourself..., November 1, 1999

By 

"tlcyrol" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Incubus (Hardcover)

I had almost decided not to even attempt this novel after reading some of the other reviews on Amazon.com from readers. However, I have to say I disagree with the majority of reviewers. My theory: they all were looking for a "Horror" story filled with spirits, demons, etc. What they got was a character study on the lives in a small town, a look into spiritual beliefs and the wieght of personal relationships.

Much like Mr. Dobyns "Church of the Dead Girls," "Incubus" is more a social study of a small town when things go astray. There are definitly some eriee scenes and some strange happenings, but without the blood & gore of most horror novels today.

I would recommend this book but not as a horror novel. Instead, a novel that looks into Middle-America and small town life.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A horror novel that makes you think, May 24, 2000

By 

RB (Utah USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Incubus (Hardcover)

I had to add my two-cent worth and agree with those readers who reviewed this book and found it to be a wonderfully written novel of a woman's, and a towns, descent into hell. Arensberg has taken the myth of the incubus, (an evil spirit that lies on women in their sleep, pinning them down to have sexual intercourse with them), and has asked the question "What if?". What makes this story truly frightening is the way she blends the myth of the incubus into a 21st century setting, a small town in Maine in 1974. Told in retrospective by Cora Whitman, the wife of the local Episcopal minister, she begins to notice the subtle changes that are happening to the people of Dry Falls. But then things take a nasty turn, and Cora finds herself a victim of the evil that has settled over Dry Falls. Arensberg writes with a slow, matter of fact pace yet she is able to evoke a sense of doom and despair. She is a wonderful writer, the scenes she creates pull you in with characters that are real and fully developed. Arensberg has written a horror novel of a higher caliber, and she is one hell of a storyteller.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well crafted novel, not a "horror" book, January 3, 2000

By 

Miguel "Writer, Journalist, Film Critic" (Gijon, Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Incubus (Hardcover)

As opposed to the reviews given to a book I bought at the same time ("Wither" by Passarella)which claim that book as a "masterpiece" (and I think the average reviewer must be 16 years old), this book comes poorly reviewed in its wake.

This, from the very first lines is an anguish inducing, very haunting novel. Its only problem (in the eyes of the readers, I think) is that it lacks blood and gore and though it has an erotic undercurrent it also lacks sex, which is what most people associate with horror.

Cora's pilgrimage (so to speak) is actually a horrifying experience. Her life will NEVER be the same and that is what horror stands for: the utter, abrupt and irreversible change in our lives against our wills is what we fear the most. Ms. Arensberg creates a palpably (if slow-paced) atmospheric story, that uncoils in utter horror.

Nowadays a "good" horror novel must deal with vampires and/or killers, with lots of gore and smut... this on the other hand is a novel, and it is a supernatural horror odyssey too well crafted. Pity for those who couldn't get the point at all. It's like never knowing the difference between champagne and cheap fizz.