The Sentinel: Disappointed By A Classic

This may have been my fault but I went into reading The Sentinel by Jeffrey Konvitz with high hopes. After all it came on the scene pretty close after the big three of the start of the horror boom (Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Other) and even had a well received movie adaptation. But hot damn this book was hard to get through. Following the partial formula of Rosemary's Baby that you should never trust a realtor in New York when it comes to apartments, we follow the ordeal of beautiful model Allison Parker who after returning to the city following her father's death finds the perfect Brownstone to start over in only to be beset by sinister forces.

The 1976 Ballantine Books Paperback

Honestly? I hated the main character and felt fed up with her behavior by the middle of the book. She's a neurotic mess with a domineering jerk of a boyfriend I will get to later in this review. Don't get me wrong I understand she's supposed to be tortured, she is portrayed as a renounced Catholic who is in distress after the death of her abusive father but sheesh. When she's not screaming and fainting she's vomiting from horror or chugging tranquilizers. Which speaking of tranquilizers that is the crux of this books problems it's painfully dated. Tranquilizers and sleeping pills are tossed at our main girl like candy, her lesbian neighbors are portrayed as sinister and unnatural, she's thankful for her boyfriend because he cured her frigidness in bed, and the Catholic Church is up to a sinister plot which in hindsight, is the only thing that's weirdly modern. Hell most of the attributes of the neighbors in Allison's apartment building that are supposed to be scary or unnerving just come across as the author's phobias. There's a possibly crazy old man who talks to his cat and parakeet like they are human, fat older women, a non existent landlord, and not to mention those "sinful" lesbians. Then there's Michael Farmer, Allison's boyfriend and a top lawyer who has a detective out for him because he's believed to have set up his former wife's death to look like a suicide. Charming.

Step back art in the interior of the Ballantine paperback

No joke, you find out that he kept the fact he was married from Allison when they met and she only found out when his wife supposedly committed suicide and she was questioned by the cops two years prior to the start of our story. This is our main character's boyfriend. The biggest part of this character that gets under my skin is he takes over the narrative. Instead of Allison empowering herself and investigating the mysterious events, she basically becomes a near catotonic prop while Michael investigates and doesn't tell her anything he finds out. This, after constantly telling her she's crazy and just needs to snap out of it. He's a swell guy. Saying all this there are some unnerving moments and the reveal of the Catholic conspiracy is super creepy but it would have been scarier if I actually cared about any of these characters. If you find yourself with a hankering for Catholic hijinks involving the devil there are better books to read so unless you're in the mood for something flimsy I would say pass on reading The Sentinel.