Customer Reviews

The Parasite

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Other non-Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have left me wishing he'd just stuck to Holmes. Not this one.

In this story, Doyle does not try to incorporate the deductive reasoning of Holmes, and he has created a very believable and interesting character who tells the story from the first person. "I" is not only hypnotized by a woman but his mind is at times completely taken over by her. She even forces him to pledge his love for her. Through sheer force of will, he is able to counter her control but never for long. After he tells her that he hates her, she makes him do and say things that make him look like a lunatic. And then...

Short. Fun to read. And like I said, this story works because it really is a departure from the Holmes character and doesn't need Holmes to make it work.

What can I say but I liked it?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is, of course, best known for his Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger characters. What is much less well known is that Doyle was fascinated with spiritualism and the paranormal. Indeed, his fascination may well be categorized as a morbid obsession to find proof of existence beyond the grave dating from depression which began after the death of his wife, Louisa, in 1906. Doyle's readers, at least, can be pleased with the results. His futile efforts at quasi-scientific exploration of paranormal phenomena provided fodder for an enormous number of short stories and novellas that could hardly be more different from the focused attention on data and facts - it only counts if it can be seen, felt, observed and measured - that is seen in the Sherlock Holmes canon. These little known stories, exemplified by THE PARASITE, can best be categorized within the horror genre.

Austin Gilroy, a physiologist, is a realist and is firm in his belief that the paranormal is hokum. On the other hand, his friend, Professor Wilson is a dyed-in-the-wool true believer and, with a view to convincing his skeptical friend, introduces him to a "skilled" psychic, Miss Penclosa. Despite his rejection of her amorous advances, Gilroy is maddened to discover that he is falling under the power of Penclosa's abilities and that he is being forced into the humiliating position of unwilling and subservient love slave to Miss Penclosa. And he is positively horrified to realize that he is contemplating the mutilation and murder of his current fiancée with a vial of sulphuric acid.

THE PARASITE is an enjoyable novella that can be comfortably devoured in a single sitting and atmospheric literature that exemplifies Victorian behaviour and beliefs. The story itself, while hardly up to the grisly standards of 21st century horror, is typically open-ended and, like so many Twilight Zone episodes, leaves the reader with a pleasant feeling that all is not as it seems and any number of possible resolutions might be imagined.

Highly recommended if you'd like to sample some Arthur Conan Doyle writing that is well off the beaten track! Those readers interested in pursuing more of the same might explore the anthologies ROUND THE FIRE STORIES and THE HORROR OF THE HEIGHTS.

Paul Weiss

Aside from the Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote a series of science fiction novels around the character of Prof. Challenger. This novella is part of neither series, but is worth checking out. A suspenseful horror story of psychic possession, it prefigures (by about 90 years!) the "mind vampires" of Dan Simmons' Carrion Comfort.

A superb example of how to build suspense and horror in a story. This is probably the best of the non Sherlock Holmes stories.

Perhaps this book suggests how to fight with evils or ill-fate oneself because "There is no human help for me; I must fight this out single-handed".