Not as complex and engaging as his best works but passable ( )

Tras sufrir una terrible violación, Mary Kate da a la luz a un niño maléfico, que consigue acabar con la vida de sus padres, destruir el orfanato en el que lo internan y convertirse en un mesías del mal. Ese engendro es Baal, el príncipe de los infiernos, la hedionda semilla del mal y la destrucción, que cuenta además con una legión de fanáticos dispuestos a obedecerlo ciegamente.

Well done, as usual for Robert mcCammon. Although I've been reading his work for years, I've only recently learned that he is from Alabama, my home state. A delightful discovery.

I've been reading out of my usual genre alot lately....it felt good to get back to an old horror, my favorite reads.

I don't remember if I've read Baal in the past...probably so....but, I enjoyed every page. You can't get much scarier than the antichrist. A chilling read for sure. ( )

This started out so strong, then it just seemed to lose its way. I found, starting at about a third of the way in, not really caring about what happened.

When I really sat down and analyzed why, the answer was obvious. It was (at least for me), two things.

The first was, Baal was centre stage for the first third, then essentially disappears until the very end. Don't call a book BAAL then make him absent for the bulk of the storyline.

The second issue was that, of the three characters that ultimately chase Baal to ground, only one has any real motivation to do so, and he's the guy bent on revenge for the murder of the Eskimos. Michael's secret should have been offered much sooner, because it was poorly hidden and would have enriched the storyline.

Initially I wondered why McCammon always sounded a little embarrassed with this novel, but now I see it. With more experience or a better editor, this would have been a killer novel. Would almost be cool to see him revisit it and rewrite it from the ground up. ( )

Well wasn't that a special book for church ladies everywhere! ( )