Margaret Millar is fiendishly clever in this social mystery. The plot centers around Charlie Gowen, a young man in his 30s with “issues.” Charlie’s mind works differently from most people’s and Millar depicts Charlie’s twisted thought-process brilliantly. Charlie’s 12-year-old mind is obsessed with 12-year-old girls. Two of the couples in The Fiend are dealing with divorce (or the prospect of divorce). When a child goes missing, the police uncover plenty of secrets. If you haven’t read Margaret Millar before, be prepared for insightful social commentary and a surprising plot. No matter what you expect, Millar will surprise you.
Great choice George, I really liked the way it depicted the small community in this book and didn’t get too derailed over the potentially inflammatory subject matter. This was the last of the novels she wrote in that really fruitful and prolific initial period – in the next 12 year there would be only two more.
I agree, Sergio. Millar’s work in the Seventies was inferior to her novels written in the Fifties and Sixties.
This is certainly one of her best. I have not read it in years. I was shocked that my library has none of her books. I was also shocked yesterday to find that had not one book by Elizabeth Bowen.
As libraries have more computers, they keep few books, Patti. I bumped into a librarian over the Memorial Day weekend at a grocery store. She told me that patrons were complaining because the Library was closed for three days. “They say, ‘I can’t get to the Internet without the Library computers,'” the librarian said.
Patti, our library system does have a variety of Millar’s books, mostly the newer ones as you’d expect but also a few from the ‘forties. It does have THE FIEND, for instance, but not WALL OF EYES or HOW LIKE AN ANGEL or THE IRON GATES. But it has EXPERIMENT IN SPRINGTIME and IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY, so who knows?
Oh, and it has 22 different Elizabeth Bowen titles in the catalog.
My library has 5 Millar novels, 4 of them newer ones. We also have 8 Bowen books.
I’m glad my library has computers, since a surprising number of people don’t have one at home. But I do wish they would purchase more books. The only new ones we get these days seem to be Lee Child potboilers and that 50 Shades of Grey thing.
I’m on good terms with the librarians, Drongo. They pretty much order anything I ask for. But one of the librarians told me that 50% of their total Acquisition budget goes to DVDs.
Happily I have an almost complete collection of Millar’s work. This is a good reminder of why I kept them. Yet another book to reread. You have a lot to answer for, George!
Patti refers to me as George the Tempter, Beth. Yes, rereading Margaret Millar reinforces what a wonderful writer she was. I used to run across Millar’s books all the time in the Madison, WI bookstores. Now, most of them are gone.
Drongo –
I donated a bunch of near mint 70s and 80s mystery hardbacks to my local library. I had checked the catalog and they had none of them. I was saddened to see they put them out for sale. They told me they do that for any book over 5 years old.
Stan
Your story illustrates why I donated my book collection to SUNY at Buffalo, Stan. They’ve promised me that they’ll keep those books “in perpetuity.”
And, Patti, I love Elizabeth Bowen too. Again I have almost all of her books but haven’t read them in years.
I swear, like all of us, if print books disappeared tomorrow, I have enough to read and reread into the next century.
Stan, I think our local library just automatically puts donated books on the sale racks. If it’s old, it can’t possibly be good.
Public libraries have space issues, Beth. If a book isn’t circulating, it’s discarded. Like you, I have enough unread books in my basement for the next 100 years.
George, this Margaret Millar FFB is really opening my eyes. I had three of her books on my shelf, but had read none of them, nor any others by her.
Stan, sell any book over 5 years old? They aren’t really “libraries” any more, they are just holding places for books until they can sell them, meanwhile providing free internet for the cheap and lazy. BAH !!
Our local public library has 20 computers, Rick. They are in use constantly. Free internet is the big attraction. And, the first thing you see as you walk into our library are racks of DVDs. I kid the librarians that they’ve become BLOCKBUSTER-LITE.
I would guess that rather than sell every book that’s over five years old, the library probably runs circulation statistics and sells books that haven’t been checked out in over five years (which, to me, is still a shame because I’m always “discovering” new to me writers and would love to be able to find their books at the library). I found THE INVISIBLE WORM in the large-print section of my library. As I commented on John Norris’s blog, for the first time in years, I was able to read a book without wearing my glasses!
Right you are, Deb. I just picked up a fistful of LARGE PRINT books at a book sale this week. When I read a book on my iPad, I choose a LARGE PRINT font. I have a friend who regularly takes out Jane Austen, Trollope, and Dickens books so the circulation statistics are positive and they won’t be discarded.
When you walk into our local branch there is a wall of DVD’s followed by a bookcase filled with “holds” that people have ordered.
Now the Central Branch is still a treasure trove. I’ve recently gotten two of Lord Dunsany’s Joseph Jorkens books from their “storage” area, both editions from the 1930’s and 1940’s. They don’t have as much stuff out on the shelves as they used to when I was there once a week but they have it in storage.
You’re lucky to have a library system that still has “storage,” Jeff. I’ve read those Jorkens books…great stuff!
Stan, I sometimes get the feeling that my library doesn’t want people donating items of any kind for any use. They almost seem to discourage the act.
George, it is pleasant and satisfying to think of your SUNY Buffalo collection still being extant and complete a century or so from now. One can certainly hope for the best.
The Kelley Collection is kept in hermetically sealed boxes, Drongo. The books should look as good in 100 years as they do today.
As long as the acid in the paper doesn’t express itself too forcefully.
I suspect this novel would make an interesting contrast with LITTLE CHILDREN.
The acid in the paper of the books and magazines is the ticking bomb, Todd. Hopefully, the crafty Special Collection librarians and Archivists can find ways to preserve the texts over the years. Part of the Kelley Collection has been digitized.