The bad seed

 

- The Bad Seed. William March. 

During a long summer while her husband is away, Christine Penmark finds herself puzzled by the behavior of daughter Rhoda. The eight year old is so clever, charming, smart —maybe a touch too much for her age. And then there is her innate capability to charm adults around her, though other children seem to dislike and fear her. And of course, all those strange incidents that sometimes happen around Rhoda, all those mysterious deaths… But it’s not until Christine starts a careful research that she discovers just how deeply evil runs in the family…

Classy psycho-thriller from 1954, the quintessential evil child story —this specific sub-genre was not invented by The Bad Seed, but it is the most classic, essential example of it. Rhoda in that sense is the grande dame of a venerable line of murderous tykes. But the novel is less interested in detailing her often shocking exploits as it is in the chilling, slowly unraveling obsession that consumes distraught Christine as the danger she and everybody around them is in becomes increasingly impossible to deny. 

A slow-paced novel peopled with convincingly realistic characters and spiced with the occasional lurid twist. Quite recommended. 

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