cover image The Singing Teacher

The Singing Teacher

Renee Guerin. St. Martin's Press, $21.95 (295pp) ISBN 978-0-312-11891-4

Guerin's debut novel, a horror yarn that draws loosely from the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, would have done better by succumbing more to the campiness embedded in its premise. Madeline Stocker is a Svengali-like singing teacher who draws her powers from a shadowy being called ``the guest,'' who years ago rescued her from imminent death by fire. The guest, an otherworldly manifestation of pure evil, has come to Earth to subvert humanity by controlling its cultural icons. Now Madeline is a successful guru to would-be Broadway and Hollywood stars, in whom she instills tremendous confidence but whom she controls through strange teas, bizarre chants, ritualistic exercises and hypnotic domination. Enter Sandra Marsh, a once-successful actress who, while trying to regain her old magic, is introduced to Madeline and enrolls in her class. The first to smell a rotten alien is Sandra's longtime friend and recent love interest, Chet Hawkins, an actor whose astuteness leads to fatal results. Meanwhile, events conspire to put another friend of Sandra's at the mercy of Madeline and the guest, prompting Sandra and a deep-cover government agent to set out to rescue her. Guerin, a former Broadway actress and acting instructor, makes good use of her show-biz experience in rendering the dialogue of her thespians. She manages to ratchet up some suspense through frequent shifts in point of view as well, but familiar, flat characters take the edge off the thrill. A nicely disturbing touch of evil on the final page suggests a sequel. (Apr.)