Friday, May 4, 2012

Evil is a Quiet Word by Theodus Carroll (1975): Don't You Ever Call On the Unspeakable


Couldn't find anything out about Evil is a Quiet Word, a Warner Books gothic horror novel by someone named Theodus Carroll. The stepback art is the same as the cover but the tagline is priceless: 
A
novel
that
murmurs
oh 
so
softly
of 
unspeakable
horror


If anyone's read this, let us know: is the horror truly unspea--









7 comments:

Jose Cruz said...

You will be cradled into a nap of pure horror by its lullaby of unending fury!

*Sigh* Oh, for the days of Olde..

Zwolf said...

I read this one a long time ago, and dug up my review...

The inside cover of this book claims it is "a novel that murmurs oh so softly of unspeakable horror..." - oh so softly is right. I must be hard of hearing, because it completely went past me. Misunderstood little girl Clarissa forms a friendship with dopey gardener Max and the ghosts of two dead kids who haunt her house, but nobody but Clarissa ever sees the kids. Most of them think she's crazy or making it up. Eventually she ends up trying to be more than friends with Max, and that scares him pretty badly... but it's very near the end and is limited to nothing but a kiss. But, I guess "Naughtiness-At-Best Is A Quiet Word-Or-Words-As-The-Case-May-Be" would be an unwieldy title. The spine says it's a "gothic." If that means weak, yawn-inducing nothing-happening horror, then yeah, it's "gothic" as all hell. Slow-moving junk.

francisco said...

but the synopsis sounds interesting, a kind of modern The turn of the screw by Henry James

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I couldn't disagree more with Zwolf. The style and plotting is that of a late 70's Gothic. And there is more implied than elaborated. But once all of the subtleties coalesce in the mind of the reader, it becomes shockingly clear what has gone on...and what is indicated for the future... I absolutely love this novel.

Unknown said...

That's exactly what it is. I've read this book many times. It's hard to find, so I bought a copy, just got it today. Got some reason, I just love this book!

Unknown said...

Me,too! I just bought a copy today!