One of the cast of red herrings is an outrageously-realised feral child, who at times seems more a spirit than a living boy, created from the collective imagination of the inward-looking community. The recurring images of the power and danger of games is one of the storyвЂ™s strengths, recalling the disturbing вЂweird childrenвЂ™ cycle of films like The Bad Seed and The Innocents. The local cultureвЂ™s descent from the pagan past is no coincidence and it is obvious that Pinner researched (or already knew?) his subject well, before embarking on the story. The womb-like atmosphereof the village is further enhanced by the constant references to childrenвЂ™sвЂ™ games, songs and pastimes. Taking into account the otherworldly setting and subject matter, this is not entirely incongruous. Our detective finds himself in the unenviable position of the stranger with authority over the locals, generally mistrusted, attractive to the young unattached women, despised by the local men and watched wherever he goes.ДЄlthough вЂRitualвЂ™s pacing has a pedestrian feel, its language is unconventional, flowery, and times, irritatingly twee, with its awkward adverbs, sudden halts and a tendency to mix pastoral whimsy with pulp-style erotica. The close proximity of the highly-sexed daughter of a local family is another character reflected in the famous film. His arrival in the small rural community piques immediate adverse reaction, as he sets about finding suitable temporary accommodation with access to those who knew the child.

The figure of the police detective, Inspector David Hanlin, detailed to investigate the death of a child, has a lot in common with his film counterpart, the puritanical Sgt. The novel is set not in Scotland, but in the equally remote Cornish countryside, where the very air seems to reek of sex, death and secrecy. It is even thought that the modest sum Pinner received for the rights to his novel made him the only person connected with the film who ever got paid, but thatвЂ™s another story. Many reading this article will already know that Ritual was the inspiration behind perhaps the greatest horror film ever made in the UK The Wicker Man, and certainly the most debated, sought after and loved. The gap since original publication in 1967 and this yearвЂ™s re-release by Finders Keepers may not be the publishing worldвЂ™s longest, but it must be one of the least understandable.

David pinner ritual