Cabal is a 1988 novella by British author Clive Barker. Like most of Barker's work it is a horror story. It was originally published in book form as a collection, comprising the novella and several short stories; the book title was also Cabal.
The novel
It features a man named Boone, who is suffering from an unspecified mental illness. Although this is not serious enough to institutionalize him, he is nonetheless seeing a psychiatrist named Decker.
To his horror, Boone is informed by Decker during one session that he is responsible for the brutal mutilation murders of eleven people that have terrorized the city recently. Boone is also told that he does not recall these horrors because his mind has blanked them out of his consciousness.
Before he loses all hope, Boone begins to believe salvation may lie in a place called Midian, a semi-mythical city that offers sanctuary to monsters; both the human kind and otherwise. He hurridly sets off to seek Midian without realizing the full truth of the insidious events that lead him to such a decision.
Midian, a necropolis-like refuge, is set in the wilds of Canada and it’s inhabited by monsters, the so-called nightbreed, hiding from the rest of the world.
The real monsters and their monstrous appearance clash with the fair one of Dr. Decker, the real evil hidden behind a human mask.
Cabal marks Barker's passion for the bizarre, the perverse, and the terrifying. But it is also a lovestory, as it narrates how Lori (Boone’s girlfriend) is willing to cross the borders of the human to be with the man she loves.
See also
Trivia
Movies
- The book was adapted into the 1990 movie Nightbreed, directed by Barker himself and with Craig Sheffer starring as Boone and David Cronenberg as Decker.
Movies
- British black metal band Cradle of Filth's fourth studio album, Midian, is loosely based on the book.