William MARCH (pseud.)

The Bad Seed

William March

Now reissued – William March's 1954 classic thriller that's as chilling, intelligent and timely as ever before. This paperback reissue includes a new P.S. section with author interviews, insights, features, suggested reading and more. What happens to ordinary families into whose midst a child serial killer is born? This is the question at the center of William march's classic thriller. After its initial publication in 1954, the book went on to become a million–copy bestseller, a wildly successful Broadway show, and a Warner Brothers film. The spine–tingling tale of little Rhoda Penmark had a tremendous impact on the thriller genre and generated a whole perdurable crop of creepy kids. Today, The Bad Seed remains a masterpiece of suspense that's as chilling, intelligent, and timely as ever before.

The bestselling novel that inspired Mervyn LeRoy’s classic horror film about the little girl who can get away with anything—even murder. There’s something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she’s the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around? Originally published in 1954, William March’s final novel was an instant bestseller and National Book Award finalist before it was adapted for the stage and made into a 1956 film. The Bad Seed is an indelible portrait of an evil that wears an innocent face, one which still resonates in popular culture today. With a new foreword by Anna Holmes. Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test of time, now rediscovered through the publication of the novels on which they were based.

A Vintage Movie Classic

Sade A

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1.5 Stars
This book was bloody tiring and reading it felt like a chore.
I'm now of the opinion that most books regarded as brilliant aren't so much about the plot but more about the time it was released. Take this book, i bet it would have shocked a shit load of people that someone would consider a child to be capable of cold, calculating often unfeeling murders. And not just any type of child, a sweet, well mannered child. So i'm thinking of course people are going to be intrigued, of course they're going to hail the book as some sort of landmark. 

Do i think this book is worth the hype? Nope! 
I went into this book thinking (naively, in hindsight) that this book would be about delving into the mind of a child psychopath. Alas, 99% of the book is spent on Rhoda's mother fussing about what she thinks Rhoda is and you learning about inconsequential things that have absolutely nothing to do with the book or the plot. Take chapter 8, where there's a lengthy one sided conversation about the arrogance of sales people and a soap dish. So in essence through out the book, you mostly have this sort of thing going on:
Character: yammering on bla bla bla
Mrs Penmark: (thinking to herself) Rhoda might be a killer.. What do i do? i can't report her she's my child
Character: bla bla bla
Mrs Penmark : (thinking to herself) Rhoda might be a killer.. What do i do? Do i tell my husband? Oh mercy me
yadi yadi ya.

Do you get to meet Rhoda in her element? yeah a little bit. but really for the bulk of this book you're running around in Mrs Penmark's head constantly CONSTANTLY worrying about whether Rhoda is or isn't a psychopath and when that hurdle is finally cleared you're back to wondering how to solve this issue. 

 This was not a good read for me, the premise of the book is enough to drag you in but that's basically it. You're teased about a psychopath that you more or less never see in action.

With dimpled cheeks and braids in bows, eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark is the new darling at the exclusive Fern Grammar in lazy small-town Alabama. Impeccably turned out, she is a model pupil in every way and, yet perhaps, also a serial-killer.

The Bad Seed

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