The Bad Man

You know, I love the idea of bad guys. It's one of the reasons I like King as much as I do: King is very good at writing crazy people, or just bad people. If someone told me Mr. Straub writes the evil in men and women as well as King does I would pick up some of his books right away.

I guess I should regardless, since I like the Talisman so much.

Anyway still only about 200 pages in. I think the personality that strikes me the most is one Uncle Morgan, a.k.a. Morgan Sloat, who is a Bad Man. He stands in contrast to other bad men because he's an incredibly evil character in a lot of ways, and he's also very believable, but at no point does the book try to portray him as being sympathetic in any way. He's not just rotten, he's also petty, but he's a petty man who can do enormous harm. He would bring down a country for the sake of controlling more money, would murder people with his own hands if it meant he had more influence. There's something fearful in that, something visceral and raw, and in spite of the fact that he's the least physically intimidating man on the planet his presence still communicates a very real danger. The idea is that there's a divide, a big line that separates the people who will not harm people overmuch - like our good friend Jack - and then people on the other side of the line are very bad indeed, and can't be fought on their own terms by the good guys.

I don't think the story would be able to convey this dichotomy of evil action vs. good restraint nearly as well if it weren't for the fact that Jack Sawyer is, in many senses, completely defenseless. He's too good at heart to really hurt anybody if he can just get away from them, and he can't defend himself if the other guy doesn't quite think the same way. Constant tension.

Man, about the 200 page mark? That bit that takes place in Oatley? People talk about fear as a product of cities, but nothing seems quite as soul-gobbling as a small town that has set out to do you harm.