Modern Psychological Horror

It was the best-selling horror novel of the 1960s, selling over four million copies. This highly popular novel was a catalyst for a boom in horror fiction, which achieved enormous commercial success in its wake. Instead of the horrors being set in a dark castle or remote forest, the story is set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Levin makes the familiar scary by staging increasingly horrible “coincidences” there alongside apparently ordinary people living through the political, social, and cultural events of the day.

But that’s not all. Levin crafted in Rosemary’s Baby the most perfectly plotted thriller ever written.

Horror scholar Gary Crawford described Rosemary's Baby as "a genuine masterpiece". David Pringle described the novel as "this sly, seductive impeccably written horror novel ... an expertly constructed story… in which every physical detail and line of dialogue counts."

Rosemary's Baby was considered a forerunner to the fiction of Stephen King and Peter Straub. The novel and film were credited with inspiring the popularity of mass-market horror fiction in the 1970s and 1980s and later successful films such as such as The Exorcist and The Omen.

So, before reading another or writing your own psychological horror story, read this one to see what makes it a classic. I'll let you know when one of mine is released.