The totem: A novel: Amazon.ca: David Morrell: Books

Product Description

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Hoping that he has left behind his violent experiences as a Detroit cop, police chief Nathan Slaughter settles in a tiny Wyoming community only to find his peaceful plans shattered by an evil force that rises with the full moon. Reprint. PW. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars Not that great......from a great author, Nov 11 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Totem (Mass Market Paperback)

I went to Half Priced Books one day, while rummaging around I came across this book "The Totem" it was praised for being one of the best horror novels ever written!, Imagine my excitement!!!. The Totem starts off pretty good(comes across as a supernatural thriller) but as you reach the middle of the story, it becomes a medical disaster story and not a very good one at that. David Morrell is a terrific writer, this must be one of his first novels. (I wonder if while writing The Totem someone said while halfway through that if he writes a horror story he'll be pigeonholed and won't be able to write anything else and so decided to change it), Oh well... who cares just skip it.

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2.0 out of 5 stars May not be the worst book I ever read, May 26 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Totem: Complete and Unaltered (Hardcover)

Hmmm . . . How can a complete unaltered version of a book originally published in 1979 contain references to events occurring in 1993? The only thing that made me believe that this book could have been originally written in 1979 or earlier was lack of use by the author of cut-n-paste technology, resulting in character development scattered in the strangest and most inappropriate places. I agree that it wasn't altered - and should have been. Why give it two stars? Because I saved one star in case I come across a book worse than this one.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Makes time pass much quicker!, Mar 30 2003

By	T-Rexx (France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Totem (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book for the same reason you tend to buy a book at a train station or an airport: to pass time. I actually found myself unable to put it back down. Although the story line is pretty thin, the meat on the bone comes from the density of all characters, largely an effect of good human descriptions by the author. Also, Morrell is capable of diffusing a sense of fear in the reader's mind by cleverly opposing the beauty of pristine nature to this insanity that human beings are typically capable of displaying. Suspense and mystery have the reader "eat" one page after the other to get quicker to the conclusion of the story.

On the negative side, the writing itself is littered with missing rational elements and sometimes contradictions that act pretty much as gaps and holes in the overall framework. Like this: how come that a sizeable group of human beings reverts back to such a wild, animal-like condition whereas still capable of speaking (the guy found wandering on the road) and living in a semi-orderly social organization? I saw this as a real contradiction. Where did the virus -or whatever rage-bringing factor- come from? Why wasn't Slaughter infected when cut across his cheek? Also, the conclusion of the book comes way too fast. The final "battle" runs through a mere couple of pages.

But overall, this is a real, good, fast-paced horror book.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars SLOPPY SECONDS
In the introduction to this so-called "horror" novel, Morrell explains quite egotistically that the original version of this book was rejected by his publisher and so Morrell... Read more

Published on Oct 17 2002 by Michael Butts

3.0 out of 5 stars Rough Going
I, too, was recommended this book from the Horror 100 Best Books volume. The review written there spoke as if this were the Indy 500 of books--fast paced, quick reading. Read more

Published on Jun 27 2002 by Craig Clarke

3.0 out of 5 stars A pretty good read!
After reading Assumed Identity and Desperate Measures (which are fantastic novels) I expected more out of the Totem. It is good, but not Morrell's best. Read more

Published on Jun 11 2002 by James

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what it appeared
I picked up a used copy of The Totem recently thinking that it would be a standard horror novel. But after a promising start, this book became more of a medical thriller than... Read more