The Case Against Satan by Ray Russell - Book Review

 The Case Against Satan (1962)

By Ray Russell 

Genre:  Paranormal, supernatural, fiction, good-evil, god-demon, possession, exorcism, classics, priests, monasteries, 2021-read, horror, suspense, mystery, detective.

Rating: 4.5/5 🎈💃💃

Some of the scenes and episodes in the book had me shaking with fear and gave me serious goosebumps. I conjured black shapes out of thin air in my imagination and had to put the book away to distract myself with something like light reading. This book is a story on demonic possession and exorcism but with many other elements added to the plot. 

A sixteen year old girl Susan Garth is brought to consult a priest Halloran because she has started acting odd of late. She shuns visiting the church, calls her father slanderous names and when alone in the presence of the priest, she attempts to seduce him and strangle him. Horrified and disturbed, the priest chooses to get transferred to an orphanage. His replacement, Father Gregory , when presented with this case, thinks it fit for psychiatric treatment rather than the holy church. But his superior Bishop suggests it's a case of demonic possession and requests Gregory to perform exorcism on the girl - despite the consequences whatever they might be. They lock her up in a room above the rectory and perform exorcism six full times without reaching their desired result. While this is all going in the rectory, people who hear screaming and loud laughter coming out of the place during day and night start inventing and spreading their own versions of the truth. It pulls in a homicidal detective into the loop as well. Susan/the entity that possessed her eventually accepts who it is and discloses why Susan became the target for possession. What happened so bad in Susan's life that she was cursed to be damned to hell? 

The devil is soon cast out and the person responsible for her condition meets a tragic end. But it leaves serious questions as to the hand of God or hand of Satan in this act of retribution. Is it Satan or a natural cause that could well explain the case of his death?  Also is it possible that Susan was never possessed - it all being an act of masquerade - and never in fact cured as a result? This is not a book where possession-exorcism becomes the central theme. It's only a side track to an otherwise suspense/mystery, detective story and this sets it on a different footing from the books like 'The Exorcist' by Peter Blatty, Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin which were released later on. 

I found the discussions on the existence of devil/diabolical entities vs God, the benefits of exorcism vs psychiatric treatments very informative and enlightening. It's a short book but a classic in no less terms!! 🎈🎈🎉🥰