The Bookworm: 'Creature'

Creature, by John Saul. 377 pages. Bantam Books. June 1989.

“And you believed it,” Ames replied, his voice hard. “You believed it because you wanted to believe it. You wanted to believe in magic—in a miracle with no price—but there isn’t any such thing! There’s only science, and experimentation, and a lot of failure before you find success. And there’s always a price, Collins.” (p. 313)

Creature is a book that has stuck with me since I read it when I was 12 or 13. Though I could only recall a few details and scenes, the title, cover art, and premise were embedded in my memory for whatever reason. I wanted to reread it for a long time, so I tracked down this well-used copy on Amazon a few years ago and fittingly read it this fall during football season.

When the Tanner family moves to Silverdale, it looks like the small Colorado town nestled against the Rockies is perfect. Fresh air, tree-lined streets, everything within walking distance, and everybody knows your name. And the high school football team is good. Really good. With bigger, stronger players, the Wolverines dominate their opponents. It’s the mountain air and sunshine, locals say. They help boys like Mark Tanner, whose growth was stunted by a bout of rheumatic fever, overcome their impairments and grow big and strong. And having the high-tech sports clinic on the edge of town helps. Mark and the rest of his family find out how.

As I said, I think I was in seventh grade the first time I read Creature. I am pretty sure I read the hardcover version from the South East library; I remember the cover art being protected by the clear plastic that wraps a lot of library books. I vaguely recall a requirement to read so many pages or books each trimester for my Language Arts class, and Creature was one of the books I chose to read. Having just reread it, though, I wonder how much I actually read word for word. I had a bad habit of skimming when I was younger; I “read” Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Congo, and The Andromeda Strain back then. (TIL: Michael Crichton directed Westworld.) Some of Creature was likely over my 13-year-old head and understanding of life, especially the details about Tarrentech, the corporation that has revived and taken over Silverdale. The book is very critical of corporate power, but I doubt I picked up on that back in the day.

Regardless, two scenes stuck with me after that first reading: one toward the end, which I mistakenly thought was the end of the book, and this one:

A flagpole stood in the center of the lawn. As Mark watched two boys slowly ran an American flag up the pole, as the strains of “The Start-Spangled Banner” began to sound. Next to him, Linda stood still, facing the flag, and a moment later Mark realized that on the lawn in front of the school and on all the pathways, too, the other students had stopped as well, as though frozen in place, their eyes fastened on the flag. It rose slowly in the morning sun, then, as it reached the top, it began flapping in the breeze just as the last notes of the anthem sounded from the public address system. Only when the music had died away did the school come to life once more. (p. 48)

It reminds me of a similar scene in Rebel Without a Cause, the one where James Dean’s character unknowingly steps on the school’s emblem. (I can’t remember if the flag and anthem are involved, too.) It is a poignant scene that plays into Silverdale’s image of a perfect American small town. I especially liked Mark’s bewildered response, one that is telltale of the book’s era:

 

He was trying to picture the kids at San Marcos High—the ones with their hair dyed green and orange, and rings through their nostrils—stopping their talk for the raising of the flag. But of course they wouldn’t have: They would have turned their ghetto blasters up louder and kept right on with whatever they were doing. (p. 48) 

 

Creature is Fear Street on steroids—literally and figuratively. It is adult horror. The writing is better, the story is better (no insane conveniences or deus ex machina here), and the characters are well developed and the scenes are richly detailed. Saul does a great job of inner monologue and conveying characters’ thoughts and emotions. It is not so much scary as it is disturbing. Saul does a great job of building suspense and culminating it with unsettling details.

Men dominate in Creature. It is a very paternal world—(hopefully) another telltale sign of a bygone era. Men dictate and everyone listens and follows, sometimes begrudgingly. It plays into the themes and perceptions of dominance, weakness and strength, and masculinity. Mark’s relationship with Blake, his father, is an example of that. Blake has expectations of who his son should be and is always disappointed and disapproving of who Mark really is. It pissed me off.

Despite its age and the antiquated references here and there, Creature does not feel old or outdated. I feel like the story’s criticisms and warning are still valid, fresh. The story seems very advanced and well-researched for the time, and that may be why it feels so grounded, sound, and believable—to a point at least.

A couple other noteworthy items:

• The Tanner’s dog is named Chivas. The name did not pique my curiosity until late in the first chapter when Blake Tanner is offered a drink by his boss and requests a “Chivas and water” (p. 11). Is the dog named after the whiskey?

• Both Mark and Sharon Tanner hear an eerie, “high-pitched scream of fury,” something they had never heard before, from the mountains near Silverdale. I was very eager to learn the source but it is unfortunately never revealed.

• Inside the back cover notes that an audio version of the book is “read by Robert Englund (Freddy of Nightmare on Elm Street).” That sounds epic! I might have to track it down.

• There is very little football in the book, which surprised me. I expected games and the team to be more prominent.

• Speaking of football, the only game described in the text takes place on Saturday, which I thought odd. Friday is the traditional day for high school football, though some games take place on Thursday and Saturday. I would assume Friday would be game day in a town like Silverdale.