Well, ready of not here's the latest Joe Bob review. As of yesterday they haven't posted my first one yet, even though my smiling (if bearded) face is there in the Reviewer section. This makes four down, if anybody is keeping track, with four more already sitting on the dining room table to be read. *sigh*

IN THE FOREST – by Edna O’Brien
Mariner Books; ISBN: 0-618-33965-5

Michen O’Kane lost his mother at a young age. His uncaring and rough father didn’t have much use for the boy and young Mich soon finds himself getting into mischief. It wasn’t long before he was sent off to St. Malachi’s, a ‘detention center’ for juveniles. It was there Michen suffered abuse and torture at the hands of both older boys and the guards, who were supposed to protect him. He couldn’t even turn to the priests, since some of them were more than happy to use a naïve boy for their own desires. You can hardly blame Michen for becoming a ‘monster’ in later life.

Mich hears voices and sees visions. The ‘horned’ man who walks beside him tells him to do things and sometimes he cannot resist. O’Kane is tormented by the ‘worms’ that eat at his brain and cause him to laugh or cry hysterically. Gradually growing more and more out of control it is only a matter of time before he does something horrible. The ‘horned’ man wants blood and Mich will not deny him.

O’Brien has taken an actual crime (or rather a series of crimes) and created a haunting work. She has brought to life not only O’Kane, but also the members of his family, those in the village who are terrified of him and the people whose lives he will eventually take. His victims are not faceless, since we come to know these people and are horrified when their paths cross O’Kane’s.

The story takes place in the Irish countryside, which O’Brien brings to life and almost turns it into a character. The woods and fields both tempt and threaten those who enter them. In the end it appears that there may indeed be something in the woods that talked to young Michen, as he slept amongst their branches as a child. Something that may not have gone with O’Kane to meet his final fate but remains to touch others.

I have to admit to initially being annoyed and sometimes confused by O’Brien’s style. A different character tells each chapter and the point of view rapidly changes from that of O’Kane to that of his victims. We sometimes see the same incident from several perspectives, plus O’Kane himself doesn’t seem able, at times, to actually tell reality from the madness that gradually overcomes him.

*********************
It really was difficult to get into the book, after the first couple of chapters. The book's initial focus is O'Kane and when it shifts to others it through me. In retrospect, I really did find the book fascinating, though obviously not the style I generally appreciate.

First, O’Brien makes us feel sympathy for the young Michen and then shows us the evil of which he is capable. Even after we witness his madness and the horrors he inflicts we can’t help but still feel sadness at what he has become. It’s never clear, even at the end if Mich was truly mad or was using madness as a guise for his twisted desires. Three stars.