Burn, Witch, Burn!

BURN WITCH BURN! is an eminently readable book in the best Merritt tradition. It begins with a forward by the first-person protagonist, a neurosurgeon who renounces his lifelong dedication to science in favor of “energies whose reality is recognized in folk-lore…which, to justify our ignorance, we label myth and superstition.” He introduces himself as Lowell but admits the name is a pseudonym, the reasons for which “will become increasingly apparent.” Wasting no time, Lowell describes how he was confronted one day with a corpse whose face bore “the most extraordinary expression of terror I had ever seen.” Our insanely rational-minded protagonist undertakes an investigation which uncovers a number of other similarly afflicted murder victims, and eventually a small doll shop owned by a mysterious old woman. Can it be that the coot is a witch using dolls for own nefarious purposes? Are the dolls animated killing machines that take on the likenesses of their victims? And what is the old woman’s true guise? Lowell eventually decides to pay a visit to the doll shop on his own, an experience that severely challenges his deeply held beliefs.

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