The Sentinel By Jeffery Konvitz

Author: Jeffery Konvitz

Title: The Sentinel

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published:  1974

Pages: 278

Genre: Horror 

     Aspiring model Allison Parker finally moves into her dream apartment: a brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. But her perfect home quickly turns hellish. The building is filled with a cast of sinister tenants, including a reclusive blind priest, who seems to watch her day and night through an upstairs window. Eventually, Allison starts hearing strange noises from the empty apartment above hers. Before long, she uncovers the building’s demonic secret and is plunged into a nightmare of sinful misdeeds and boundless evil.

     One of my many as it would seem hobbies is watching films. I can happily spend an evening lost in these cinematic worlds. And horror is something I will always jump right into especially having been exposed to it at a far too younger age by an older sibling. But it is one that for the most part I relegate to the screen. From Dario Argento to Jordan Peele I love that not only can they scare us in the deep of the night. But also give us insight into our genuine fears, how with each new writer or director we are shown the things that worry that current generation more often the not the political state of any country. Its always been a good way to say the truth to the greater public without saying it in a very blunt way. But when it comes to written fiction I always seem to swerve at the last minute and go for something a little safer. But with the current cost of living crisis taking place, I opted to go for an ebook subscription service in the hopes of saving a little money. This does also afford me the luxury of not having to worry if I don't like something. It's not like I've spent full price to be able to read it. 

     Whilst I have of course heard of the likes of Steven King when it comes to horror fiction Konvitz was not a name I had ever come across before. He seems to have been left behind in favor of more current names also maybe ones whose works have been transferred over to the big screen in much more recent time. But before I started to read this book the blurb on the back compared it to some of its more big named contemporaries such as Rosemary's Baby. And as I started to read I could completely see where this was coming from. This in part goes back to what I said about Horror always for me feeling very of its time. Maybe we need to be easily able to connect to be scared and what beeter way than to give us the streets and poeple we see every day. In the case of both Rosemary's Baby and The Sentinel, they ooze the decades they were created in. Here we find ourselves slapped bright back into the seventies not only by the styles of clothes and decor but by their sensibilities. Here our hero is not believed in part because of the supernatural elements taking place but on a more base level. She is after all a woman and a model at that. Our cast of male charters dismiss her with ease as she descends into this horror scape. It is lucky then that ore author treats her better than some two-dimensional object to be moved around at his pleasure. 

     From the reader's point of view, we get to hold Allison's hand as she slowly succumbs to the horrors that surround her. We just as much as she does know that what is taking place is so very real. So for me, it was easy to slip into her world and believe what was taking place within her world. The author seems to have a natural ease with the genre he chose to write. And I can see why at the time this was a best-selling novel. But it also goes to show to some extent how things have changed. I suspect there are a great deal less blood and guts than might be found in more recent work. Being based on the Christian religion and the tales of the devil and demons, This book places much more on the psychological aspects of horrors. Being an atheist means for me to some degree this element of eternal damnation place a little less impact. But having attended religious schools growing up I am well aware of the catechism that goes with it. Maybe that is why it's still some of my favorites within the horror genre. Either way, the book plays out amazingly once you take all this into account.

     So I'm most definitely glad I decided to go with The Sentinel as one of my first tentative steps in going deep into the horror genre. Yes, this book is definitely horror but also a psychological thriller a genre that I'm all too happy with. MIxing this with the now historical feeling element of a book written in the seventies means I was definitely a happy reader. I feel it's a shame that he is not as widely known as his contemporaries are. I'm sure I shall delve into the sequel sooner rather than later.