Scan barcode
A review by bunnieslikediamonds
The Fiend by Margaret Millar
4.0
Convicted sex offender becomes obsessed with little girl, causing secrets and neuroses to surface in 60's suburbia.
The lack of violence in this novel does nothing to diminish its creepiness. As is her style, Millar keeps things vague. We don't know the exact nature of the crime the childlike Charlie committed in the past, but it was bad enough to put him away. His legal guardian and brother resents having to watch him and is eager to marry him off to the town librarian, although he does seem to genuinely care about Charlie (as does the librarian, though for murkier reasons). The adults in the little girl's vicinity do little to protect her from their own dysfunction, let alone from creeps in the streets.
Dark and suspenseful, with that sixties sensibility of WTF.
The lack of violence in this novel does nothing to diminish its creepiness. As is her style, Millar keeps things vague. We don't know the exact nature of the crime the childlike Charlie committed in the past, but it was bad enough to put him away. His legal guardian and brother resents having to watch him and is eager to marry him off to the town librarian, although he does seem to genuinely care about Charlie (as does the librarian, though for murkier reasons). The adults in the little girl's vicinity do little to protect her from their own dysfunction, let alone from creeps in the streets.
Dark and suspenseful, with that sixties sensibility of WTF.