Happy October!Īfter being wounded in a military training exercise, Dean Howell returns home to his wife and mother in a vegetative state, his face hidden behind layers of bandages. Highly recommended for horror fans, especially fans of early Stephen King. The narrator, Julia Whelan, was excellent. This was a fantastic first Halloween read/listen of the month.

The amulet causes 'accidents' which start off horrible and increasingly become more and more macabre with each victim, until the final horrific scene of the novel.

Somehow the amulet finds its way from person to person, seducing them with some kind of evil allure that makes them want to own it. Whoever is in possession of the amulet is doomed to a horrible death. Back home in Pine Cone, his few-screws-loose mother decides this accident is the town's fault. It's one of these rifles that misfires and maims Dean Howell, who loses an eye and suffers severe brain damage. Most of the town works at the factory making and assembling Pine Cone rifles. In this case 'there' is the fictional town of Pine Cone, Alabama during what is probably the '60s. He makes you feel like you are right there. This is my fifth Michael McDowell novel and I can't get enough. Originally published as a pulp paperback, now scarce and long out-of-print, McDowell's grimly humorous and delightfully horrific novel returns in this edition, which features a new introduction by Poppy Z. Michael McDowell (1950-1999) is best known for his screenplays to the films Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he was also the author of several excellent and underrated Southern Gothic horror novels, of which The Amulet (1979) was the first. As the inexplicable murders continue, Sarah and her friend Becca Blair have no choice but to track down the amulet themselves, before it's too late. Sarah believes the amulet has something to do with the rising body count, but no one will believe her.

Jo blames the entire town for her son's mishap, and when she gives a strange piece of jewelry to the man she believes most responsible, a series of gruesome deaths is set in motion. After long and tedious days on the assembly line, she returns home to care for her corpse-like husband while enduring her loathsome and hateful mother-in-law, Jo. When a rifle range accident leaves Dean Howell disfigured and in a vegetative state, his wife Sarah finds her dreary life in Pine Cone, Alabama made even worse.

The amulet by michael mcdowell