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Rosemary's Baby

by Ira Levin — 27 Mar 2023

Dark and twisted horror novel with a slow build-up of a sense of unease, with both the reader and the protagonist asking themselves, "Is there something ominous, or are we reading too much into nothing?"

Rosemary is a modern and fashionable young girl from a small town. She and her husband, an actor, move in to an old and elegant New York apartment house with a rather strange past — there have been several reports of unnatural deaths of residents in the apartment block.

Rosemary becomes pregnant, but after that, she begins to suspect the building harbours a diabolically evil group of devil worshippers, who had mastered the arts of black magic and witchcraft. The satanic cult even seems to have roped in her husband to their cause by propping up his career, but their sinister plans seem not to involve him, but her unborn baby.

Both the reader, and Rosemary, get the sense that something is not right, and that everyone seems to be hiding some sinister purpose, while gaslighting Rosemary (and indirectly, the reader) into thinking that everything is as it should be. Or is it….?

The book is easy to read, and there is a slowly building sense of unease, along with an eerie, unsettling feeling that something sinister is underfoot. The premise is simple, and it doesn’t over complicate itself with too much detail. The author has an elegant style of writing, with perfect flow and pacing. Definitely worth reading.