THE OMEN

By David Seltzer

 

The Omen by David Seltzer will always hold a special place in my personal history with books. I found it sitting on a shelf in my school library when I was in junior high. Why I picked it up, I honestly don’t remember. What I do remember is that once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. It was the first book I can remember reading simply because I wanted to read—not because a teacher assigned it or there was going to be a test afterward. The story follows a diplomat and his wife whose seemingly innocent young son, Damien, is surrounded by increasingly disturbing and inexplicable events. What begins as uneasiness gradually becomes something far more terrifying as the truth about Damien and his origins emerges. Seltzer builds the story around a wonderfully unsettling idea: What if evil didn't arrive looking like a monster? What if it looked like an innocent little boy?

 

The funny thing is, after all these years, I can't really separate my memories of the book from the movies that followed. I don't remember analyzing its character development, pacing, prose, or plot structure. I was a kid. I just knew I was completely absorbed by the story. And maybe that's the most important lesson The Omen taught me as a writer, long before I ever thought about becoming one. A story doesn't have to announce what it's doing to you. Sometimes it simply grabs hold and refuses to let go. Decades later, I may not remember every page I read in that school library, but I remember how the book made me feel. It showed me that reading could be exciting, suspenseful, frightening, and—most importantly—fun. There would be many books after it, but The Omen was the first one that made me want to keep turning the pages. For that reason alone, its influence on me is immeasurable.