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Jessie è scomparsa - Il giallo Mondadori n. 2318 (1964)

di Margaret Millar

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1323205,619 (3.82)13
A young girl is at risk in this tense and disturbing page-turner that reveals a web of abusers and victims among a disparate cast of middle class Americans Ben Gowen is trying to do the right thing. His brother Charlie is a disturbed man--one who has done his time for the crimes he committed, crimes involving children. But Ben is determined to help Charlie reform, something that isn't easy considering Charlie's limited mental capacity and the nature of his disease. Charlie wants to be good. To be good and to be liked by his brother Ben. He doesn't want to have the bad thoughts. But he's disturbed that the parents of a little girl named Jessie have allowed their daughter to engage in risky behavior. Climbing trees. Rough-housing on the playground. She could get hurt. She should be fed nourishing meals and given warm clothing to wear. Upset, Charlie writes an anonymous letter to Jessie's mother, shaming her. He will keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe.   The Fiend, first published in 1964, is a shocking novel in any era. Millar piles on the suspense and tension to nearly unbearable heights as a self-absorbed group of adults fail to notice a predator in their midst.… (altro)
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review of
Margaret Millar's The Fiend
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 16-20, 2021

I was on a spree of reading Ross MacDonald novels. I'd read that he'd originally written under his given name, Kenneth Millar, but that he'd changed his name so as to not be in conflict/competition w/ his wife, also a crime fiction writer, Margaret Millar. That got me interested in reading something by her. This was the only thing I found by her at my favorite local used bookstore. I picked it as one of several bks to take w/ me on my vacation in September, 2021. Since my vacation was to start on Labor Day wknd I had a hard time finding anyplace I cd reserve. I finally picked a place that I thought was remote & facing Lake Erie w/ woods behind it. That turned out to be only almost the case: About 1,000 ft away was a playground. Ordinarily, that wdn't've mattered to me. As it was, I was there out-of-season so there were very few kids in evidence anyway. The thing that made it uncomfortable for me was that The Fiend is about a mentally ill guy who's been convicted of being a sexual psychopath who's obsessed w/ little girls & the novel starts off w/ him watching a little girl at a playground. That creeped me out & I cdn't bring myself to actually read this while I was on vacation. As such, I didn't finish it until the end of November instead.

The Fiend is on a par w/ some of Patricia Highsmith's work. Highsmith is accomplished at writing about the psychology of her characters in a way that really gets under my skin. Typically, one can see what's coming, be disturbed by it, & feel a sort of helplessness that one can do nothing about. Margaret Millar does much the same. While the main character, Charlie, doesn't, strictly speaking, commit any heinous crimes that the reader knows about, his whole mindset is almost insufferable. His obsession w/ little girls is such that it overides any small ability he has to be able to pay attn to much of anything else - including his loving fiancée. It's extremely exasperating to a person such as myself who keeps hoping he'll 'wake up' & become a less deranged adult, that he won't ruin his life & the life of the little girl(s) he becomes obsessed w/. Millar plays w/ this psychological tension beautifully.

The Fiend was originally written in 1964 but the edition I have is from 1983. Millar provides a new introduction:

"There is no fiend in this book, only Charlie, a good-looking, rather bewildered young man who suffers from an illness for which no cause or cure has been found. Charlie was treated for this illness, and was, according to the authorities who released him, rehabilitated. The term means, roughly, that he indicated remorse and promised not to repeat his offense. (It may also mean that the correctional facility is overcrowded and room must be made for newcomers.) Charlie's remorse and promise were sincere. They both are forgotten when he falls in love with a nine-year-old girl." - p -ii

The story of Charlie's previous conviction is only very gradually revealed. As such, the reader only knows that Charlie's obviously demented w/o knowing how far his dementia will take him.

"He knows he shouldn't be there. It was dangerous to be seen near such a place.

""—where children congregate. You understand that Gowen?"

""I think so, sir."

""Do you know what congregate means?"

""Well, not exactly."

""Don't give me that dumb act, Gowen, You spent two years at college."

""I was sick then. You don't retain things when you're sick."

""Then I'll spell it out for you. You are to stay away from any place frequented by children—parks, certain beach areas, Saturday afternoon movies, school playgrounds—"

"The conditions were impossible, of course. He couldn't turn and run in the opposite direction every time he saw a child. They were all over, everywhere, at any hour." - p 4

Charlie's just brimming over w/ 'good intentions' - or so he tells himself:

"Charlie wrote the name and address on the inside cover of a book of matches: Jessie, 319 Jacaranda Road. He wasn't sure yet what he intended to do with the information: it just seemed an important thing to have, like money in the bank. Perhaps he would find out Jessie's last name and write a letter to her parents, warning them. Dear Mr. and Mrs. X: I have never written an anonymous letter before, but I cannot stand by and watch your daughter take such risks with her delicate bones. Children must be cherished, guarded against the terrible hazards of life, fed good nourishing meals so their bones will be padded and will not break coming into contact with the hard cruel earth. In the name of God, I beg you to protect your little girl...." - p 12

But Charlie's so obsessed that he's myopically unaware of the world that he's interpolating himself into - Millar's depiction of this is deft - Charlie's oblivious to the soap opera of the adults, he doesn't even get what he's obsessed w/ right. I'm reminded of Philip K. Dick's straight novels, of the adult dysfunctionality.

""Listen, Virginia, I've wanted to say this before but I hated to cause trouble. Now that trouble's here anyway, I might as well speak my peace. You're getting too bound up with Jessie."" - p 22

But the typical drama of the adults isn't prepared for the special case of Charlie:

""In fact," Charlie said, "I can't even leave the county without special permission."

"Louise smiled, thinking it was a joke. "From whom?"

""From my parole officer."" - p 28

Louise, in love w/ her imagined Charlie is slow to catch on to his behavior & even allows herself to be implicated w/o understanding that that's what's happening:

""Louise, would you do me a small favor?"

""Consider it done."

""Would you look up an address in the city directory and tell me who lives there? It's 319 Jacaranda Road. You don't have to do it immediately. Just make a note of the name and give it to me tonight when you come over.""

""What's the mystery?"" - p 34

Now, of course, Charlie's just wiley enuf to not give an honest answer to that one.

"Mrs. Oakley leaned over to pick up the cat and it was then that she saw the old green coupé parked at the curb across the street. At noon when she'd unlatched the screen door to let the girls in, she'd seen it too, but this time she knew it couldn't be a coincidence. She knew who was behind the wheel, who was staring out through the closed dirty window and what was going on in his closed dirty mind." - p 36

But, no, she doesn't, she's deranged too, in a more common way, & everywhere she looks, just like here, she sees signs of her imagined menacing ex-husband.

"But this time she didn't even hear the jay. Her ears were still filled with her mother's voice: "He's got what he wanted, that fat old gin-swilling whore who treats him like little Jesus." The sentence bewildered her. Little Jesus was a baby in a manger and her father was a grown-up man with a mustache. She didn't know what a whore was, but she assumed, since her father was interested in birds, that it was an owl. Owls said, "Whoo," and were fat and lived to be quite old." - p 40

The naive innocence of the children is contrasted nicely w/ the out-of-control manias of the adults.

"He knew from experience what Ben's reaction would be. Playround? What were you doing at a playground, Charlie? How did you learn the child's name? And where she lives? And that her little bones are delicate? How did she fall, Charlie? Were you chasing her and was she running away? Why do you want to chase little girls, Charlie?

"Ben would misunderstand, misinterpret everything. It was better to feed him a lie he would swallow than a truth he would spit out.

"Charlie took off the windbreaker he always wore no matter what the weather and hung it on the clothes rack beside the front door." - p 48

The adult drama is excruciating just by virtue of being so real.

"The door opened and Virginia came out, clutching a long white silk robe around her. All of her skin that was visible was a fiery red and her eyes were blooshot. "I'm not feeling very well, Howard. I have a fever."

""You also have a visitor," Howard said in the same calm voice. "Jessie has come to return the book you gave her this afternoon. It seems her mother considered it too expensive a gift for her to accept. How much did it cost, Virginia?"

""Please, Howard. Not in front of the child. It's—"

""How much?"

""Twenty dollars."

""And where did you get the twenty dollars, Virginia?"

""From my—purse."

"Howard laughed." - p 54

All the adults are so miserable. The children are generally ok when they're not confused by the adult behavior. & why wd Louise fall in love w/ Charlie? Who knows? But it's realistic - think of all the women who wanted to marry Ted Bundy while he was in prison arrested as a serial killer.

""Nobody can explain what it is, what makes people fall in love with each other. Do you remember that first night when you were sitting in the library and I looked over and there you were with that book on architecture? I felt so strange, Charlie, as if the world had begun to move faster and I had to cling like mad to stay on it. It hasn't slowed down even for a minute, Charlie."

"He stared down at the floor, frowning, as if he were trying to see it move in space. "I don't like that idea. It makes me dizzy."

""I'm dizzy, too. So we're two dizzy people. What's the matter with that?"

""It's not scientific. Nobody can feel the world move."

""I can."" - p 65

Charlie, the airhead, chooses the one moment when Louise waxes romantic to be 'scientific'. He's too stupid to even realize what a wonderful thing her devotion to him might be. Louise isn't exactly all there either.

"She looked down at her blue dress. It was spotless, unwrinkled. It bore no sign that she had run out into the street after Charlie's car and been dragged under the wheels and lacerated; and Charlie, unaware that anything had happened, had driven on alone. He had seen nothing and felt little more. Maybe I felt a slight bump but I thought it was a hole in the road, I certainly didn't know it was you, Louise. What were you doing out on the road chasing cars like a dog? - p 66

Do dogs still do that?

So they get engaged. Louise shd've moved on after the 1st of many red flags & here she is, delighted:

""I don't want to wait even until Christmas. I think we should get married right away. Maybe the first week of September, if you can be ready by then."

""I've been ready for a year."

""But we just met a year ago."

""I know."

""You mean you fell in love with me right away, just looking at me, not knowing a thing about me? That's funny."

""Not to me. Oh, Charlie, I'm so happy."" - p 70

Meanwhile, this reader was writhing w/ the misery of it all, caught up in a fiction as if it were something happening to a friend. Then Charlie drops his anonymous bomshell, triggering more paranoia.

"The note was neatly printed in black ink:

"Your daughter takes too dangerous risks with her delicate body. Children must be guarded against the cruel hazards of life and fed good, nourishing food so their bones will be padded. Also clothing. You should put plenty of clothing on her, keep arms and legs covered, etc. In the name of God please take better care of your little girl." - p 73

But Charlie can't even get that right & sends it to the wrong parent. One thing leads to another & Charlie's car gets investigated:

""Yes, but meanwhile pass the license number around to the traffic boys. If they spot the car anywhere I'd like to hear about it, any time of the day or night. I have an answering service."

""What's that license again?"

""GVK, God's Very Kind, 640."" - p 97

Charlie's backstory continues to be revealed:

"Ben remembered the document word by word, though it had been years since he'd seen it:

"We are recommending the release of Charles Edward Gowen into the custody and care of his brother. We feel that Gowen has gained insight and control and is no longer a menace to himself or others. Further psychiatric treatment within the closed environment of a hospital seems futile at this time. Gainful employment, family affection and outside interests are now necessary if he is to become a useful and self-sufficient member of society." - p 104

In the meantime, Louise is still in the dark but knows that something's amiss:

"If I am to deal with this thing, if I am to hep Charlie deal with it, I must know what it is. I must know. . . .

"Charlie had never even mentioned children to her, he never looked at them passing on the street or watched them playing in the park. Yet somehow, somewhere, he had seen the girl, Mary Martha, and found where she lived. Louise remembered his excitement the previous night when he was talking about 319 Jacaranda Street and the little dog that chased cars. Well, there was no little dog; there was a child, Mary Martha." - p 105

In the other meantime, Mary Martha's mother, Kate, has been helped along into her total paranoia by Charlie's misdirected anonymous letter:

"["]I could scream for help at the top of my lungs and not a soul would hear me. I've got enough privacy to be murdered in. Sheridan knows that. He's probably dreamed about it a hundred times: wouldn't it be nice if someone came along and murdered Kate? He may even have made or be making plans of his own along that line, though I don't believe he'd have enough nerve to do it himself. He'd probably hire someone, the way he hired Gowen."" - p 132

Charlie continues w/ his demented fantasy obsession:

"His only reason would have seemed sinister to Louise and peculiar to Mr. Warner, but to Charlie himself it made sense: he had to find a little girl named Jessie to warn her not to play any more tricks on him because it was very naughty." - p 133

Of course, Jessie has no idea that Charlie exists & hasn't played any tricks on him. Charlie's obsessions are all rooted in his delusions. He IS aware that sooner or later he might have to face some consequences:

"He might even have to take a lie-detector test. If he were asked whether he knew Jessie Brant he would say no because this was the truth. But his heart would leap, his blood pressure would rise, his voice would choke up, he would start sweating, and all these things would be recorded on the chart and brand him as a liar." - p 153

& the adult drama never ceases its misery:

""Three days," Howard said bitterly, "I've been home three days and not for one minute have I felt welcome. I'm just a nuisance who appears every two or three weeks and disrupts your real life. The hell of it is I don't understand what your real life is, so I can't try to fit into it or go along with it. I can only fight it because it doesn't include me. I want, I need, a place in it. I used to have one. What went wrong, Virginia?"

"Dave and Ellen exhanged embarassed glances like two characters in a play who found themselves on stage at the wrong time. Then Ellen put some dishes on a tray and started toward the house and after a second's hesitation Dave followed her. Their leaving made no difference to the Arlingtons than their presence had." - p 160

Charlie continues to be even more deranged than everyone else:

""He's sitting out there on the top step of the porch making funny sounds. I think—I think he's crying. Oh God, Mac, so many crazy things have been happening lately. I feel I'm lost in the middle of a nightmare. Why should a strange man come up on my front porch to cry?"" - p 171

So, yeah, Jessie disappears & the police get involved in searching for her & the reader knows that Charlie was nearby stalking her when it happened but don't know whether he did it or not.

""I'd better get my mother's permission. She's kind of nervous this morning, I don't know why. But I have to be careful."

""She hasn't told you anything?"

""Just that Mac was coming over with a soldier and we were all going to have a chat."

""A soldier?"

""He's a lieutenant. I'm supposed to remember to call him that so I'll make a good impression."" - pp189-190

The misunderstandings of the children add to the overall misunderstandings of just about everyone. & Charlie continues to be feeble-minded:

""The grape and me, we're buddies. Got a cigarette and a light?"

""I don't smoke but I think I have some matches." Charlie rummaged in the pocket of his windbreaker and brought out a book of matches. On the outside cover an address was written: 319 Jacaranda Road. He recognized the handwriting as his own but he couldn't remember writing it or whose address it was or why it should make him afraid, afraid to speak, afraid to move except to crush the matches in his fist.

""Hey, what's the matter with you, chum?"" - p 232

Did Charlie do something to the little girl or not? I hope I haven't given away too much of the plot, much of it is a sort of foregone conclusion that the reader suffers through. Do I recommend this? It's well-written, it's a difficult subject - but if you're a person like myself who finds the general feeble-mindedness of humanity painful to try to get thru the obstacle course of then you might not really enjoy this reinforcment of your already depressing & cynical POV. ( )
  tENTATIVELY | Apr 3, 2022 |
Truly creepy! Don't read it at night. ( )
  flashflood42 | Sep 13, 2008 |
Stephen King is one of the great ones because he makes the characters come to life, believable. As usual he makes the story exciting and does a great job getting the reader to suspend disbelief even of the unbelievable.
  waldhaus1 | May 30, 2018 |
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A young girl is at risk in this tense and disturbing page-turner that reveals a web of abusers and victims among a disparate cast of middle class Americans Ben Gowen is trying to do the right thing. His brother Charlie is a disturbed man--one who has done his time for the crimes he committed, crimes involving children. But Ben is determined to help Charlie reform, something that isn't easy considering Charlie's limited mental capacity and the nature of his disease. Charlie wants to be good. To be good and to be liked by his brother Ben. He doesn't want to have the bad thoughts. But he's disturbed that the parents of a little girl named Jessie have allowed their daughter to engage in risky behavior. Climbing trees. Rough-housing on the playground. She could get hurt. She should be fed nourishing meals and given warm clothing to wear. Upset, Charlie writes an anonymous letter to Jessie's mother, shaming her. He will keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe.   The Fiend, first published in 1964, is a shocking novel in any era. Millar piles on the suspense and tension to nearly unbearable heights as a self-absorbed group of adults fail to notice a predator in their midst.

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