The Exorcist: A Novel

"A horror story for all midnights."  —The Boston Globe

"Read the book. It’s an experience you will never forget."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The phenomenal #1 bestseller that inspired the classic motion picture, a landmark of supernatural horror that remains the most terrifying and unforgettable novel ever written.

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist is a bestselling literary phenomenon and remains one of the most frightening and controversial novels ever written.

Based on true events of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, The Exorcist tells the story of eleven-year-old Regan MacNeil and her mother Chris, a famous actress and doting mother. When Regan’s personality unexpectedly shifts and she starts exhibiting disturbing, often violent behavior, her desperate mother is driven to seek help from two Catholic priests, men who will risk everything—including their own souls—in a terrifying rite of exorcism to free the girl from the ancient malevolent force possessing her.

Purposefully raw and profane, this landmark of classic horror still has the extraordinary ability to shock readers and cause them to forget that it is "just a story." More than fifty years after its initial publication, The Exorcist remains a truly unforgettable reading experience.

• A great read for spooky-season nights
• A perfect addition to any Halloween reading list

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist, one of the most controversial novels ever written, went on to become a literary phenomenon: It spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one. Inspired by a true story of a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s, William Peter Blatty created an iconic novel that focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. A small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals must rescue Regan from her unspeakable fate, and the drama that ensues is gripping and unfailingly terrifying.

Two years after its publication, The Exorcist was, of course, turned into a wildly popular motion picture, garnering ten Academy Award nominations. On opening day of the film, lines of the novel’s fans stretched around city blocks. In Chicago, frustrated moviegoers used a battering ram to gain entry through the double side doors of a theater. In Kansas City, police used tear gas to disperse an impatient crowd who tried to force their way into a cinema. The three major television networks carried footage of these events; CBS’s Walter Cronkite devoted almost ten minutes to the story. The Exorcist was, and is, more than just a novel and a film: it is a true landmark.

Purposefully raw and profane, The Exorcist still has the extraordinary ability to disturb readers and cause them to forget that it is “just a story.” Published here in this beautiful fortieth anniversary edition, it remains an unforgettable reading experience and will continue to shock and frighten a new generation of readers.

"A horror story for all midnights." - The Boston Globe

"A tremendous novel . . . fast, powerful, and completely gripping, a hypnotic combination of morality tale and supernatural detective story. A parable for our times, a stunning achievement." - London Sunday Express

"The Exorcist should be read twice; the first time for the passion and horrifying intensity of the story, with a second reading to savor the subtleties of language and phrasing. . . . It's an experience you will never forget." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Suspense that never lets up!" - Publishers Weekly

"A fantastic and deeply religious novel that will touch the reader to his very soul as it touches on things in this world that cannot be explained away rationally." - Texas Abilene Reporter-News

“The ultimate in scare fare.” - Los Angeles Times

"There are not many readers who will be unmoved. Written in a literate style, The Exorcist is to most other novels of its kind as an Einstein equation is to an accountant's column of figures." - New York Times Book Review

"Immensely satisfying, it hold its readers in a vise-like grip worthy of Poe." - Los Angeles Times

"Wonderfully exciting." - Newsweek

"Absolutely superb. Blatty makes you think this scary tale really might have happened." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Up till dawn, I was, with The Exorcist. A shocker . . . driving to a violent conclusion." - Cosmopolitan

"A page-turner par excellence. Poe and Mary Shelley would recognize [Blatty] as working in their ambiguous limbo between the natural and the supernatural . . . hair-rising." - Life