Reviews

Baal by Robert R. McCammon

brianb71's review against another edition

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loved it!

horroritygirl's review

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Big plot holes, confusing to follow. No lead character 

bookjerm's review against another edition

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2.0

Meh. This was an earlier work of this writer, which was nothing extraordinary for me. It was an ok plot, and the characters were mostly undeveloped. I will give another of his later works a try. I’ve heard good things about Swan’s Song.

mnyberg's review against another edition

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4.0

One of my favorite authors. In the top 3 of his genre. A classic tale of the rise of evil with the ultimate clash against good. His first novel. I can see how it launched his career.

crator's review against another edition

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4.0

My first foray into the world of Mr. McCammon. I finished it in roughly 3 hours. The beginning does start off very slowly with some jumping twists and turns in plot line, character development, and timeline. However, with this being a debut novel written when he was only 25, this can't be judged too harshly. By the middle of the story, everything evens out and runs more smoothly. By the end, it finishes off with a nice peak. I look forward to his other works.

poptartsandhotfarts's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Considering it’s his first book it’s not bad at all. Like The Omen on steroids. Not one of his best works but well written if a tad slow at the start. Anyone who has read a lot of horror or is into the subject matter probably won’t get as much out of it as a newer genre reader.

chris1974's review against another edition

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4.0

First published way back in 1978, this is McCammon's debut novel which launched his highly successful career, churning out some of the best works of horror of the 20th Century and beyond.

When you think about the time of its release, all the greats were just getting started too, I mean Carrie by Stephen King was only released four years prior. In 1977, Dean Koontz was getting traction, although at the time he was of course using the pen names K R Dwyer and Leigh Nicholls. Richard Laymon is another that comes to mind in 1980, Ramsey Campbell, Anne Rice and many more, I'm sure. This was the golden age of horror fiction when its popularity exploded like a neutron bomb.

Baal is the sixth book of McCammon's that I have read, and I have enjoyed them all so far - Boy's Life (still my favorite!), Swan Song, Blue World, Mine and Stinger.

So, what is the book about?

A woman is ravished...
and to her a child is born...
unleashing an unimaginable evil upon the world...

They call him BAAL in the orphanage where he leads the children on a rampage of violence...
In California, where he appears as the head of a deadly Manson-like cult...
In Kuwait, crazed millions heed his call to murder and orgy...

They call him BAAL in the Arctic's hellish wasteland, where he is tracked by the only three men with a will to stop him: Zark, the shaman; Virga, the aging professor of theology; and Michael, the powerful, mysterious stranger.


Very much like Mine, the novel opens with a violent scene, a rape scene resulting in the conception of Baal, the name of a Demon Prince he later gives himself.

From early childhood it's obvious that he is not like other children and drives his parents against each other before going into the care of an orphanage where his insidious power begins to amplify very quickly - you definitely get some Damien / Omen vibes here.

I think the Middle Eastern and Inuit customs and religions were very well researched and were quite authentic, given that the origin of Baal's namesake is heavily steeped in biblical mythology, and I liked the scope of the story being told across several continents.

You could tell that with this book, that McCammon was still finding his writer's voice and he has also mentioned the same thing himself in interviews over the years but for a debut novel it is written exceptionally well, and it had me pretty well unsettled for the most part and you wouldn't think that this was his first novel. In fact, he may have written a few trunk novels before this one - who knows?

I enjoyed the twist at the end, it was very well thought out and McCammon faithfully follows the rules about Good and Evil, how you can never eradicate true evil. Yes, you can overcome it but it's always there, watching and waiting.

Was it the best McCammon book I've read so far? No, I don't think so but it's still pretty solid and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try McCammon's work for the first time and subsequent books just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to read Mystery Walk next, I've been hanging out for that one and there are so many books in McCammon's backlist that I'm looking forward to, I just want to read them all!

nickhenderson515's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

benjaminpritchardreads's review against another edition

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3.5

Underwhelming after finishing Swan Song. Started off really well then dwindled down 

jonahbarnes's review against another edition

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I’ll call it Christian fiction, but his view of the world as a battle between light and dark is way off. God is not fighting against Satan or Baal. God is God and everything else is created. God is not struggling. 
Still an entertaining story though.