I recently managed to get hold of a book I read many years ago, and was more than a little shocked by it.
I have for many years been a fan of British horror writer Graham Masterton and have collected almost all of his books bar one.
In 1980 under the name Thomas Luke Masterton published a novel entitled "The Hell Candidate" it was a rare flop, possibly why it was released under a pseudonym.
But most contemporary reviews simply claimed it was so unbelievable in it's premise that no one could possibly take it seriously.
spoilers
The story tells of how inept Millionaire businessman, conman and bankrupt Hunter Peale suddenly becomes a a media sensation and TV personality by simply saying ludicrous things while raising millions for charity and then on the strength of his celebrity is persuaded to stand for president as the republican candidate.
His major platform promise is to restart the Vietnam War and reclaim the USA's pride "make American's proud again" is his slogan he openly boast of sexual conquests and adulterous behaviour, while his opponents simply resign, disappear or become terminally ill with a new plague that strikes Washington males not at all randomly. When he is swept to power in a landslide victory a Washington political reporter is contacted by an eccentric loner with a tales of how centuries before a similar thing happened in Europe, with a mad prince being swept to power after making a pact with the Devil to be his avatar on earth and how on that occasion the only thing that saved when world was a papal exorcism .
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I finally found a copy of Graham's novel called Plague from 1977. Found it in an ebook. Was searching for it off and on for some time. Read a bit of it. I think I liked it better the first time.
MissingLink16
Level 7
Feb 17, 2021
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Plague is not one of Masterton's best novels, true but I still found it enjoyable.
It is from a time when he and his contemporary and rival James Herbert's early books such as Plague and "The Rats" trilogy tried to step away from supernatural horror in favour of social and environmental horror. Speculative fiction extrapolated from current events and historical precedent.
Masterton in later years reworked many of these novels adding supernatural elements, such as vampires etc. to much greater success and branching away from his horror in a separate set of crime, historical and thriller novels published by a different house.
Gotta' admit , sounds exactly like Trump . Being an atheist , I'm wondering how an exorcism by the Pope would accomplish anything . Perhaps , at best , it might encourage some religious radical to do the job for us . Actually , I've been wondering why that hasn't already happened , Considering Lincoln and Kennedy . I've read he's been looking into putting i office a military man who would do his bidding , if he called for a coup .
Cast1es
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Nov 22, 2020
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