Spoiler alert: No one’s head spins around in this one… but some may or may not be removed…
Legion (The Exorcist #2)
Author: William Peter Blatty
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Published: January 1, 1983
Publisher: Tor Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: September 29, 2024
My rating: 
Thoughts
I read The Exorcist earlier this year and absolutely loved it. I really didn’t find it scary, but it was a really good book.
So of course when I find out that Blatty wrote a follow-up to that most-famous work, I had to get my hands on it and read it. Especially as we’re coming up on spooky season as I’m writing this.
Like its most excellent predecessor, I didn’t find this book scary. However, there was one scene toward the end that raised my hair a little.
This book really focuses on Bill Kinderman. You know, that detective from the first book that was obsessed with movies and really clung to the Jesuit priests. Kind of an odd fellow to follow around, but he’s a really good detective. Got some good Columbo vibes from him (“…just one more thing…”). He seemed almost a little senile in this book, like maybe he’s getting toward the end of his career. We learn a little about his home life, his work life, and we stick with him through his seemingly random bouts of pontification.
We do get to catch up with Father Dyer a little too, but he’s more of an “old friend” that Kinderman visits.
The story revolves around Kinderman investigating the death of a child who was killed in a pretty gruesome way, including being crucified. Once some other murders happen that seem connected to the murder of the child, Kinderman starts thinking outside the box. He looks into the local psychiatric ward of the hospital where he encounters… well, you’ll just have to read it to find out.
This was a really good, quick read. Like I mentioned early, not super scary for me, but it gets creepy and I could see how parts of it could be scary to some.
But what I didn’t like as much was some of Kinderman’s ramblings. They’re not always so random. Like, sometimes he actually makes connections to things… eventually. But all the stuff with the carp in the bathtub? What? Some of it felt like filler.
As a fan of Ghost Adventures (I’m not even ashamed), I really enjoyed the chapter written as a letter explaining getting some electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) although it didn’t seem especially connected to the story. I mean, it was. But it wasn’t. I don’t know. Maybe upon re-read some of these things will come together in my brain.
Despite all that, I gave this 4 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed jumping back into this world; I just wish we had more demon stuff. As weird as that sounds…
