The Exorcist (novel) The Exorcist (novel) The Exorcist is a 1971 horror novel by American writer William Peter Blatty. The book details the demonic possession of twelve-year-old Regan MacNeil, the daughter of a famous actress, and the two priests who attempt to exorcise the demon. Published by Harper & Row, the novel was the basis of a highly successful film adaption released two years later, whose screenplay was also written and produced by Blatty, and part of "The Exorcist" franchise. The novel was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in
Exorcist II: The Heretic with flashbacks in "Exorcist II". Although this same exorcism becomes the central plot line for the most recent "Exorcist" movies "" and "", little effort was made to keep the stories consistent. The boy is not named Kokumo, and the locations and circumstances of the exorcism do not resemble "Exorcist II: The Heretic" even remotely. Ultimately it is revealed from "Exorcist: The Beginning" that the African boy is not the one actually afflicted; it turns out to be another character entirely that is possessed. However, "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" does show the African boy being the person who was