The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

The phenomenal #1 bestseller that inspired the classic motion picture—the most terrifying and unforgettable horror novel ever written—now available as a Harper Perennial Olive Edition. “A page-turner par excellence. Poe and Mary Shelley would recognize [Blatty] as working in their ambiguous limbo between the natural and the supernatural . . . hair-rising.”—Life “Read the book. It's an experience you will never forget.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch  Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist was a bestselling literary phenomenon and one of the most frightening—and controversial—novels ever written. Based on true events—a child’s demonic possession in the 1940s—it is the story of eleven-year-old Regan MacNeil, whose sudden disturbing, and often violent, behavior drive her desperate mother, Chris, a famous actress, to eventually seek help from two Catholic priests, men who will risk everything—including their own souls— to free the girl from an ancient malevolent force possessing her. Purposef