Malicious Maledicus

Malevolent, malignant, malicious. A purposeful play on words? Maledicus by Charles F. French is about the horrendous and spiteful acts an evil spirit commits upon an aunt-niece duo. This paranormal story employs thematic elements of mystery, suspense, horror, gore, and to one’s surprise – including mine – love.

And no, I’m not talking about love as in the romance novels which have a beautiful woman and shirtless, muscular man on the front cover of the book. I’m talking about platonic, sacrificial love – a love so powerful that it can defeat even the most evil beings to exist.

The novel follows the story of three elderly men, Roosevelt, Sam, and Jeremy, who are members of their own group called the Investigative Paranormal Society (IPS). Together, the team responds to calls regarding “unusual activity” – whether it be squirrels in the attic; a grumpy, senile spirit; or a joke played on them by a fraternity. The IPS’s work is small and simple – until they get a call from Helen Murray. Helen and her niece, Helena, are bothered by a spirit which young Helena often sees. Eventually, Helena falls severely ill due to Maledicus’s heinous doings. As the story progresses, the reader follows the work of the IPS in identifying and battling this unknown spirit.

Beneath the gruesome and gory scenes, the dense and substantial suspense, and the strange and peculiar mystery, Maledicus is filled with the underlying theme of love. While reading the book, one may overlook this simple, yet powerful force. It is a force so strong, so real, so raw, that it can defeat and overpower even the darkest darkness. Love is what drives the characters, the plot, and the hence the story.

One scene in Maledicus particular made me remember a similar scene in Khaled Hosseini’s novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns. In Hosseini’s novel, a woman named Mariam kills Rasheed with a shovel. Rasheed had beaten Laila, his wife, to near-death, thus Mariam saves Laila by killing Rasheed. Keep in mind that both Afghani women are living in territory under Taliban rule at the time. If Mariam’s act were discovered, she would certainly be killed for killing a man, regardless of how abhorrent the man was. In this scene, Mariam demonstrated the most powerful love in the universe – an act of sacrificial love. Mariam had risked her freedom, and essentially her life, for the protection and love of her friend, Laila. The three old men in Maledicus demonstrate the same act of sacrificial love when they make the commitment to fight Maledicus to save the ill and fragile Helena. Sure, the men were old, but despite that fact, they still made the promise to fight and protect a little girl they had never met before. The three men were willing to sacrifice their lives because of the overflowing love and compassion they had.

I am not a super-duper religious person, but growing up Roman Catholic, the same scene in Maledicus reminded me of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made. Jesus had sacrificed himself for the forgiveness of sins of the people of the world. His actions were not for attention, nor for admiration, rather, he gave up himself in a simple, humble act of sacrificial love. You don’t have to believe in religion to at least agree that the symbolism behind Jesus Christ’s act is that of sacrificial love. He gave up his life for others. The actions of the men in Maledicus are somewhat comparable to the act that Jesus Christ had made. Both demonstrated the act of sacrificial love – the most powerful form of love.

Maledicus is a superb and stellar novel. The novel touches on a spectrum of elements including action! I got through the book rather fast, as every end of each chapter made me inclined to read more. And yes, although my English professor wrote this book, I write this blog post with no bias whatsoever. I truly enjoyed the book and recommend it as a nice, leisure read. Oh and ooh, I do plan to purchase and read the sequel to this book, Gallows Hill. I am currently running low on funds, but I shall make a blog post upon reading it! Until then!

P.S. Stay safe and stay healthy during this pandemic! We are all in this together!