The Wicker Man: The Wicker Man: A Novel

by Robin Hardy, Robin Hardy, Anthony Shaffer

Book Overview

First published in 1978, five years after the release of the classic horror film from which it is adapted, The Wicker Man is a gripping horror classic. It is the tale of Highlands policeman, Police Sergeant Neil Howie, on the trail of a missing girl being lured to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle. As May Day approaches, strange, shamanistic and erotic events erupt around him. Initially he is convinced that the girl has been abducted for human...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307382761
• ISBN13: 9780307382764
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

For diehard fans only

This is a fairly pedestrian novelization of the movie by Robin Hardy and Anthony Schaffer. If you have seen the movie, it won't really enhance the experience much. There are a few lines which give some insight into Detective Howie's character but its nothing you can't extrapolate from Edward Woodward's performance in the film. If you are, as I am, a devoted fan of the film, you will want to have this as a memento - but don't expect it to reveal anything profound about the film.

A Personal Favorite! Classic Horror!

I won't bore you with details since someone has essentially given you most of the plot. The film as well as the book adaption are absolutely brilliant, a believable Horror story hasn't been done better before or since. Get ready for the American film remake/reimagining starring Nicholas Cage/aka The Wooden Indian, The man who acts the same, sounds the same(monotone) in everything he's ever made and it will probably have a rap or hiphop soundtrack even though it takes place on an island off the coast of Scotland, EEWWWWW!...God! I dread it. This is almost guaranteed to suck s#!t out of a Horses A$$!!, read the book or see the classic original movie before the new one spoils it for you.

As good as the movie, and then some.

Robin Hardy and Anthony Sheffer, The Wicker Man (Crown, 1978)The emergence of a rabid cult following for the film version of The Wicker Man prompted the publication of the novel on which it was based. And a good thing, too. As fine as the film is, the book has its own special charm.If you've been living in a cave the past thirty years, the plot of The Wicker Man goes as follows: Neil Howie, a Scots police Sergeant and fine upstanding Christian fellow, receives an anonymous letter saying that a girl has gone missing on Summerisle, a small island only barely under Scot protection, thirty-eight miles west of the last of the Outer Hebrides. Howie goes out to investigate, and finds that, while all the inhabitants of the island are seemingly quite forthcoming with what they know (save the none of them acknowledge the missing girl so much as exists), Howie is torn between his desire to see the case through and his offense at the various heathen goings-on on the decidedly non-Christian island. The movie does an absolutely lovely job in detailing the various conflicting emotions of Neil Howie throughout, and in this it lies faithfully close to the book. Where the book does the movie one better is in the expanded opening (even the opening to the 104-minute version of the film, rarely seen, leaves quite a bit unanswered about the whole mess) and allowing us to get inside Howie's head for a few of the harder-to-understand decisions he makes over the course of his time on Summerisle. The downside of it all is that the same strengths one can get from a book opens up its weaknesses, and while The Wicker Man does handle sudden emotional changes with a more deft hand than most novels of its ilk, there are still some embarrassingly jarring ones (from offense to affability in an instant simply isn't convincing, no matter how you dress it up it still looks like an ogre). Still, it's obvious Hardy spent a lot of time thinking and plotting this one out before coming up with a final draft, and what finally got released is a pleasure. This is not at all easy to find these days, but whether you've seen the film or not, this is definitely one to pick up. **** ½

Fairly Compelling

The book makes for enjoyable, easy reading. I've never seen the movie, so I cannot comment on its resemblance to it. The plot is interesting and moves fluidly. The books only weak points are its somewhat lackluster prose and the main character's self-righteousness, which becomes nauseous at times. Also, I wish the author would've delved a bit deeper into the pagan rites. Overall, its a good read.