carlotta moran, a young single mother with three children, suddenly has her life turned upside down when she begins to be attacked in her bed each night by a spectral entity. this brutal unseen force makes attempts on her life and terrorizes her children, but the worst part is that no one believes her. among the skeptics is psychiatrist dr. sneidermann, who believes carlotta is psychotic, a danger to herself and her children who should be committed. but two graduate students in parapsychology have a different theory: that carlotta is being tormented by a powerful force from beyond our reality, outside space and time. the tension builds to an electrifying conclusion, and the truth may be far more frightening than any of them ever imagined ... based on documented real-life events that happened to a california woman in 1974, frank de felitta's provocative and disturbing novel the entity (1978) is a classic of occult literature. like de felitta's audrey rose (1975), which sold more than 2.5 million copies, the entity was a worldwide bestseller, and was also adapted for a 1982 film starring barbara hershey. this edition features a new introduction by gemma files. "you'll find this novel a compelling, frightening read ... a truly terrifying tale ... careful plotting, well-wrought characters, and lots of scientific detail - along with the surefire appeal of sex, violence, and the paranormal - add up to a wonderfully scarifying experience." - library journal "a totally unique work of art ... one of the outstanding novels of the year." - bestsellers "readers will be white-knuckled ... a scary, intensely dramatic story of a woman rendered powerless by a potent and devastating adversary." - publishers weekly "a blockbuster of its genre ... a skillfully told tale of modern day horror that will have you sleeping with the bathroom light on." - detroit free press "harrowing ... a thriller which pits psychiatry against parapsychology ... tightly written and well-researched ... disturbing, even thought-provoking." - cincinnati enquirer "the entity takes the reader beyond reality, the reality of psychiatry, even the reality of parapsychology. it probes beyond fiction into the nightmare realm of truth." - chattanooga news & free press