![]() At the hospital, Dussander hears a group of Neo-Nazis outside the hospital realizing his identity has been hopelessly compromised, he commits suicide by giving himself an air embolism. Bowden is briefly questioned about his relationship with Dussander, but he manages to convince the police that he knew nothing of the old man's true identity. It is the desire to do better, to dig deeper, that propels civilization to greatness." The scene is juxtaposed in a montage with Dussander's home being searched and the hobo's corpse being found in the basement. Bowden graduates as his school's valedictorian and gives a speech about Icarus, saying, "All great achievements arose from dissatisfaction. At the hospital, Dussander is recognized by a death camp survivor sharing his room, and he is arrested to be extradited to Israel. When Dussander has a heart attack, he calls Bowden, who finishes the job, cleans up, and calls an ambulance for Dussander. One night, Dussander tries to kill a hobo who sees him in the uniform. Dussander also takes great pride in Bowden's unbelievable turnaround, going from near dropout to straight A's in a matter of weeks. Talking about the war crimes affects both the old man and the young boy, and Dussander begins killing animals in his gas oven. Dussander even poses as Todd's grandfather and goes to an appointment with Bowden's school counselor Edward French (Ed Schwimmer). In turn, the Nazi blackmails the young boy into studying to restore his grades, threatening to expose the boy's subterfuge and his dalliance with Nazism to his parents. When he spends more time with the old man, his grades suffer, he loses interest in his girlfriend (Heather McComb), and he conceals his bad grades from his parents. Though Bowden threatens to turn Dussander in, the teenager reveals his fascination with Nazi activities during World War II and blackmails the war criminal into sharing stories about the death camps. I never want to think about it again but I suspect it’s not going to leave me quietly.Ĭontent warnings include death by suicide, murder of animals, racial and religious slurs, sexual assault, suicidal ideation and war crimes.In southern California in 1984, 16-year-old high school student Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovers that his elderly neighbor, Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen), is really Kurt Dussander a former Nazi Obersturmbannführer who is now a fugitive war criminal. I’m horrified by humanity and at my own ability to come up with some pretty disturbing revenge fantasies. King has done a really good job of making me uncomfortable and intrigued and disgusted all at once. That, or cleanse my reading palette by devouring something full of rainbows and unicorns and all things sugary sweet. I feel like I need a long, hot shower to wash away any traces of these characters. ‘If I die today … tomorrow … everything will come out. I came up with some gruesome let the punishment fit the crime scenarios. It’s always a little disconcerting to learn what twisted things your imagination can come up with when you’re face to page with some of the worst of what humanity has to offer, but I guess there’s darkness in all of us. I spent most of the book detesting both of the main characters, eagerly anticipating what I hoped would be appropriately hellish demises. ![]() Because there has to be a comeuppance, right? That part won in the end. There’s this other part that wants to stick around long enough to see evil receive its comeuppance. See, there’s a part of me that needs to know what it is about specific people that makes them act in ways that I will never truly understand. But it sucked me in, even as I was mentally trying to backpedal. Even when I picked this book up again this morning I was certain it would be returned to the library unread. I thought about all of the times over the years that I considered reading this book and instead chose something lighter because I just couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to spend their time gazing into the abyss. I wondered how King was able to do mundane, everyday things while he was inhabiting the darkness necessary to bring these characters to life. There were bits that made me squeamish and bits that had me wondering why I wasn’t putting this book aside for a reasonable length of time. Two psychopaths hanging out together is a recipe for all things bad, and there’s a lot of bad in this book. Mr Dussander, the Blood Fiend of Patin, lives in Todd’s neighbourhood and Todd’s keen to learn all of the “gooshy stuff” from Dussander’s past. His fascination with the atrocities committed during the Holocaust take on a whole new life when he meets a new fiend. Todd Bowden, thirteen years old at the beginning of this story, has discovered his “GREAT INTEREST” and it’s a doozy.
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