The Other - Softcover

Tryon, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449240886 ISBN 13: 9780449240885

Publisher: Fawcett, 1981

Synopsis

Entranced and terrified, the reader of The Other is swept up in the life of a Connecticut country town in the thirties—and in the fearful mysteries that slowly darken and overwhelm it.

Originally published in 1971, The Other is one of the most influential horror novels ever written. Its impeccable recreation of small-town life and its skillful handling of the theme of personality transference between thirteen-year-old twins led to widespread critical acclaim for the novel, which was successfully filmed from Thomas Tryon’s own screenplay.

This edition features original artwork by surrealist artist Harry O. Morris.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Tryon was a noted actor before turning to novels. His first novel, The Other, was successfully filmed in 1972. Other novels include Harvest Home, Crowned Heads, and The Night of the Moonbow. He died in 1991. The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as "Britain's most respected living horror writer". He has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association.

Review

“It is perhaps unfair and a little inaccurate to typecast The Other as a horror story. It is so ingenious and well-written that it transcends that—or any—label. The setting is the small Connecticut town of Pequot Landing, which under other circumstances, might be idyllic.  But the people who inhabit Tryon’s New England are just as haunted as O’Neill’s, and a lot more violent...His [Tryon’s] characterizations have depth and subtlety, the narrative is well-paced and suspenseful. Where he really excels is with mood and atmosphere. Rarely have such commonplace surroundings been made to seem quite so dark and menacing and chillingly evil.” – Chicago Tribune
 
“A lyrical, impressive horror story that is a cross between The Bad Seed and John Cheever’s The Wapshot Chronicles.” – Los Angeles Times
 
“This first novel from Thomas Tryon is a distinguished one, it may well leave you blenched with horror, but it is beautifully, even poetically, wrought, and within its boundaries there would seem an actual divination into the spirit of murderess insanity....In due time The Other will doubtless become one of the classics of horro tales, comparable to The Turn of the Screw.” – Dorothy B. Hughes Los Angeles Times
 
“Like most professional writers, I resent Tom Tryon’s The Other, since Tryon should get on with the job of being a good actor and not write good books as well. Enough is enough already. The Other is a highly readable chiller.” – Anthony Burgess
 
“If you're looking for a good scary book to enjoy this Halloween, here is a suggestion: The Other by Thomas Tryon. The 1971 horror classic is a tale of a seemingly bucolic farmhouse in a small Connecticut town in the 1930s. There are no vampires in the story, no ghosts, no swamp monsters or ghouls or zombies or witches. There are two little boys, twins Niles and Holland, the picture of innocence. Or so it seems. The story is told in the voice of one of the boys, now older and a resident of a sanitarium. Insanity, it seems, is a family inheritance, and insanity is at the core of the chilling story that slowly unfolds and culminates in some horrifying deaths.” – Advocate (Baton Rouge)
 
“Truly extraordinary! One of those books over which everybody will take leave their senses, all seven of them...” – Kirkus
 
“A smashing suspense-horror novel.” – Minneapolis Tribune
 
“A humdinger...A whirlpool of Oh-My-God horror. Please congratulate Mr. Tryon for me. What a marvelous job he’s done.” – Ira Levin, author of Rosemary’s Baby
 
“Tryon succeeds in creating a story that cast a subtly savage spell.” – Saturday Review
 
“The Other is an all-out war on reality.” – Chicago Sun-Times
 
“The most memorable chiller-thriller to come along since Rosemary’s Baby....A tale of evil obsession with surprises and shockers.” – Hartford Courant
 
“Thomas Tryon has unfolded a horror story of supreme proportions.” – Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
 
“A psychological thriller that you read a second time to see how the author did it.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer
 
“Thomas Tryon’s The Other will scare the hell right out of you....You’re almost afraid to turn the next page.” – Rocky Mountain News

Edition details

• Publisher: Fawcett
• Publication date: 1981
• ISBN 10: 0449240886
• ISBN 13: 9780449240885
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288