THE VISITOR

by Jere Cunningham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 1978

Ginny and her psychiatrist husband Frank get together after five months separation and move from Tennessee to a small Chicago suburb where Frank has a new job at posh Rosewood, a mental clinic, where his patients include heiress Kitty the hystero-schizophrenic; Laura Shea, a film actress with incest problems; and Stapler, a Pulitzer-winning alcoholic writer with memories of anal rape. Meanwhile, Frank and Ginny live with their two kids, Bobby and Belinda, in a glass house. Bobby seems almost retarded, forever smiling wistfully from his bedroom window at a shadowy visitor in the garden. This turns out to be the astral body of Kitty, who roams Rosewood and later the glass house, killing people without number by the mere touch of her frying hand--which makes victims' faces blacken and melt off. But Kitty has an archenemy!--Dr. Beck, who has been developing his powers of defensive astral travel in the Ecuadorean jungles ever since Kitty murdered his wife. Will Beck get out of his body and thereby save Ginny and the kids? Little Bobby doesn't want to be saved; he trusts Kitty. But when she melts off half of Frank's face, Bobby finally gets wise. A tidal wave of drivel, sometimes luridly fascinating, nearly always offensive in its vile view of human nature, mental illness, and even astral travel.

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION