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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This kind of Obsession doesn't come in a bottle, 13 Jan 2003
I’m not really sure that the title Obsession really fits the story in these pages because the main characters are not truly obsessed with the act that originally set things in motion. I also think some descriptions of this book overplay the impetus of the action. It is not exactly right to say that the four main characters made an evil pact with some sinister force in their youth. It was much more innocent than that. Peter, who wishes his overbearing grandmother would go away and stop destroying his family, receives a letter from out of the blue one day with the cryptic message “Whatever you most need I do,” promising that the price of the service will be something he does not value at all. Unwilling to reply on his own, he shares the message with three of his friends and convinces them to make their wishes along with him. Robin wants one of her mother’s coworkers to stop harassing her, Steve wants his undeniably vicious teacher to leave him alone, and Jimmy wants his father to stop gambling the family’s money away. The youths seemingly get their wishes and struggle to forget about the wishes they had made. The story then shifts ahead twenty-five years, where the four former friends begin seeing their individual worlds fall apart, and it is Peter who theorizes that they are finally paying for the wishes they regretted making in their youth. Jimmy’s wife is seriously hurt, Robin’s mother makes her life unbearable by making all kinds of accusations about her while her medical practice drops off due to accusations of peddling drugs, Steve’s business takes a nose dive, and Peter finds himself haunted by the brother of a girl he tries to help in his capacity as a social worker. Each person is eventually compelled to do something out of his/her character and inherently wrong, thinking that it will satisfy the debt they owe for the past. This is actually a pretty enjoyable novel, even though it is not altogether original in its theme. It took a while for me to get a handle on the characters because the introductory pages about their youths quickly changed to accounts of their adult lives, introducing new secondary characters such as spouses and children. One thing Campbell excels at is creating exasperating, needy characters who sap the energy out of those trying to care for them. Robin’s mother is almost unbearable in her dementia and interference in her daughter’s life, and for this reason I felt a stronger connection with Robin than with the three male characters at the heart of the story. Jimmy’s children, on the other hand, seemed somewhat unreal and never came across as more than shadows of themselves. The horror content here is pretty low, really. Peter is haunted by images such as that of his dead grandmother, whose whispers to him in the dark can be a tad unnerving, but the other characters dealt with thoroughly real-world problems. Personally, I would have welcomed just a little more information about the nature of the original letter behind everything that happened; Campbell’s final revelation about its source was a little confusing, but this may be a good thing because otherwise it might have impressed me as somewhat trite in nature. Overall, I found Obsession a rather enjoyable read. Campbell is an unquestionably skilled writer with a unique voice. Just don’t pick this up expecting to be terrified or treated to some kind of Faustian tale of sin and punishment. Campbell’s fictional horror is taken from real life for the most part, and that is one of the reasons why he is often deservedly hailed as a master craftsman of psychological horror.
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by Ramsey Campbell
by Ramsey Campbell
