The Bad Seed (Film Ink S.)

by William March

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

"Later that summer, when Mrs. Penmark looked back and remembered, when she was caught up in despair so deep that she knew there was no way out, no solution whatever for the circumstances that encompassed her, it seemed to her that June seventh, the day of the Fern Grammer School picnic, was the last day of her happiness, for never since then had she known content or felt peace."

This paragraph opens The Bad Seed and immediately sets the tone of the novel: An unthinkable tale of deception.

William March's The Bad Seed examines the root of all evil. Are persons born as a "bad seed" having it genetically in their blood or is it environmental? The novel examines this hypothesis through a fictional account of a young girl, Rhoda Penmark.

Rhoda is eight years of age and already a very independent child quite capable of taking care of her needs. She has an old fashioned appearance, always wearing dresses as they are thought to be more ladylike and pigtails ironically drawn up in precise hangman-nooses.

Because of her efficiency in everything Rhoda does she is very upset when the coveted Penmanship Medal is awarded to Claude Daigle. Later, during the Fern picnic Claude is found dead, supposedly falling off the forbidden wharf having drowned with the penmanship medal missing. While named as a very unfortunate affair, suspicious circumstances are brushed aside including Rhoda being seen skipping off the wharf.

As the story progresses both her mother, Christine Penmark and the reader become more convinced of her association in the matter and fear for those around her while watching the Penmark's world unravel.

This book was hard to put down while reading about this devilish girl. The novel unfolds with skilled slow suspense of this chilling tale about the original Reagan.