Silly Idol

The Living IdolRobert SwitzerNew York: Signet, 1957128 pagesRobert Switzer's second book, The Living Idol is a novelization of a Hollywood film. I read a lot of these in my youth; Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), Earthquake (1974), The Omen (1976), It's Alive (1977), Star Wars (1977), and Damien: Omen II (1978) come to mind, but the one I hold most dear is an adaptation of the 1978 Goldie Hawn/Chevy Chase romcom adventure Foul Play. This is because I gave a copy to an older crush on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday.Before you judge, my next crush received David Bowie's Stage for her sixteenth (and it was a double album).I didn't realize then that novelizations where very much part of the hype. James Cass Rogers' Foul Play hit grocery store checkouts weeks before the film's release. The timing meant that it couldn't be based on the movie itself, rather the Colin Higgins screenplay. It's…