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Ritual

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Ritual

By: David Pinner
Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
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About this listen

Police officer David Hanlin is asked to investigate the presumed murder of a child in an obscure rural village in Cornwall. During the protagonist's short stay, he is slowly subjected to a spectacle of psychological trickery, sexual seduction, ancient religious practices and nightmarish sacrificial rituals. Shrouded in the same brand of mystery and contradiction that forms its tangled plot, Ritual, the 1967 debut by playwright David Pinner, is commonly recognised to be the basis for the 1973 film, The Wicker Man, which has enthralled and inspired generations of film enthusiasts throughout the world.

©1967 David Pinner (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fantasy Ghosts Horror Scary Fiction Haunted Village

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All stars
Most relevant
I came to know of Ritual through the film that came to be based on it, the cult classic The Wicker Man. I was intrigued by just how different the two could be, and after listening to the audiobook of Ritual, I was left very much surprised and enjoyed the experience.
While the film loosely retained the book's premise - a policeman investigating what happened to a girl in a village whose religion clashes with his Christianity - the specifics are very different right off the bat. It's in Cornwall rather than the isolated Scottish island of Summerisle, for one. The atmosphere is dark yet with a sense of humour, and candidates are laid out nice and distinctively as the protagonist David Hanlin investigates.
Hanlin isn't like his counterpart Sgt. Howie in The Wicker Man; he's less composed and more expressive in his frustrations, possessing weaknesses that make him interesting and vulnerable. The plot does feel disjointed at times, but at the same time it does add to Hanlin's growing desire to solve the case.
Ric Jerrom does a fantastic service in his narration, providing the energy and flavour that helps bring the fleshed-out characters to life, from the cruel Fat Billy to the flamboyant hammy Cready. His performance makes the story all the more engaging, perfectly fitting the book's tone and atmosphere right to the end.
As for the ending itself, the only thing I'll say is that it's definitely unlike The Wicker Man; it wraps up the mystery and the hints throughout make sense, but it's its own unique shocking entity.
Overall, as a fan of The Wicker Man, I greatly enjoyed Ritual, and I definitely recommend it to fellow fans and lovers of crime/mystery thrillers.

An Engaging Inspiration for The Wicker Man

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I really hope David Pinner makes money from The Wicker Man. Fans of the film will enjoy hearing how Peter Shaffer crafted the wicker man film script. This book was obviously his blue print. If you don’t know the wicker man don’t worry. This novel is the original and is excellent.

The original- five stars-excellent

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The Wicker man film was loosely based on this book with deviations…
And the book is better than the film.
Well written and only found the book after seeing a social media post about someone reviewing the book and complaining about the vocabulary. It was good to find the book and read it as last time I saw the film I meant to look for the book.
It’s best to think of them as separate things as the deviations make them different in quite a few aspects

When the book is better than the film?

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Ritual (1967) is the original novel upon which the films The Wicker Man (1973 and 2006) and The Wicker Tree (2011) are based. Of the films, arguably the 1973 version starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt and Diane Cilento is the best and well worth watching. I found Ritual, the original book, to be an excellent read the detail of which added different perspectives to the story. The book is set in Cornwall rather than the Scottish Highlands but aside from the added remoteness of Scotland that is really neither here nor there. The book and the film run parallel until about two thirds through but the endings are markedly different. The ending of the film is 'a spectacular' and by and large what it is remembered for but the ending of the book is far more complex and a very well written examination of the police inspector's mental state. Despite the age of the book I am not going to engage in spoilers as I suspect that despite the success of the 1973 film relatively few below a certain age will have read it. I urge you to do this and/or listen to the Audible version as the narration of Ric Jerrom is excellent!!

The Source of a Dynasty of Horror

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An occult story that supposedly enspired the Wicker Man. It had certain similarities, but is also unique in its own right. An enjoyable story set in Cornwall during the 1960s.

A Strange One.

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