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The Case Against Satan (1962)

by Ray Russell

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2298125,061 (3.7)9
Before The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby, there was The Case Against Satan   By the twentieth century, the exorcism had all but vanished, wiped out by modern science and psychology. But Ray Russell--praised by Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro as a sophisticated practitioner of Gothic fiction--resurrected the ritual with his classic 1962 horror novel, The Case Against Satan, giving new rise to the exorcism on page, screen, and even in real life. Teenager Susan Garth was "a clean-talking sweet little girl" of high school age before she started having "fits"--a sudden aversion to churches and a newfound fondness for vulgarity. Then one night, she strips in front of the parish priest and sinks her nails into his throat. If not madness, then the answer must be demonic possession. To vanquish the Devil, Bishop Crimmings recruits Father Gregory Sargent, a younger priest with a taste for modern ideas and brandy. As the two men fight not just the darkness tormenting Susan but also one another, a soul-chilling revelation lurks in the shadows--one that knows that the darkest evil goes by many names. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.… (more)
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» See also 9 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
This was an excellent book. While reading, it is important to remember that this book was written and published prior to The Exorcist because otherwise it may seem like a derivative work. In fact, it seems that many aspects of this novel are repeated in The Exorcist and similar books that have been published since then. It was also a quick read and I have determined that I will definitely read this book again which is only true of a few books that I read. ( )
1 vote GrammaPollyReads | Apr 25, 2024 |
Maybe a bit dated now, it was considered shocking in 1962 but seems almost quaint by today's horror standards. A good ol' devil in the soul story that probably has a little too much Roman Catholic baggage for the average reader today. It's still a good story well told but the deep questions it wrestles with don't really seem so important when you are faced with berserk fanatics in the streets every day, It partakes of a simpler time when stories like this could really make you think. Now it's just a jolly good read and appropriately for Christmas time. ( )
  Gumbywan | Jun 24, 2022 |
This was an interesting story, though, really, despite the excellent cover, it's not really that much of a horror novel. It starts reasonably strong, and with a scene that's somewhat shocking--bearing in mind it was published 53 years ago, so most of its shock factor has been superseded over the years--it then gets a bit tangled up in religion and belief for a bit. It doesn't circle back around to the matter at hand, the exorcism of Susan Garth, until about halfway, and doesn't really get started on it for another two-dozen pages past that, and it's over fairly quickly, leaving the rest of the novel a bit of a police procedural.

I believe this may be the crux of the issue for me. For such a slim novel--weighing in at 140 pages--it doesn't quite seem to know exactly where it wants to go. Ultimately, I agree with Laird Barron in his introduction to the novel: This is a story about truth. But it takes a few different paths to get there.

It's a well written novel with, at times, a bit of a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits feel to it. As I read this, going through the dialogue and the descriptive areas, I couldn't help but see it in black and white, with that slightly overdramatic music in the background.

It's a good story, but don't go in expecting scares. There's some horrible things contained between its covers, but not a lot of scares. ( )
  TobinElliott | Sep 3, 2021 |
My memory of [b:The Exorcist|179780|The Exorcist|William Peter Blatty|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375168676s/179780.jpg|1945267] is clearer on the film—which I've watched at least once per decade since I was old enough to view it—than it is on the best-selling novel, which I read only once in high school, a few years after it was published in 1970. That said, [b:The Case Against Satan|24612020|The Case Against Satan|Ray Russell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1439904470s/24612020.jpg|44223119] from 1962 seems more cerebral than Blatty's novel or Friedkin's film, and less lurid. Although present in the story, The Case's action doesn't come from showers of vomit and flurries of curses; the action is in the struggle between scientific rationality and theological faith within the mind of local parish priest Father Gregory. He and his Bishop perform the rites of exorcism on a troubled young girl who exhibits signs of either mental illness or demonic possession. Along the way, the novel touches on conflicts and concurrences between Catholic doctrine and Freudianism, religious rapture and sexual ecstasy, crimes of commission and sins of omission, parental incest and clerical rape, the oddness of celibacy and the normalcy of small-town gossip, private failings and public faces, religious dogma and civil law. Without spoiling anything, I can say that in the end, both the committed atheist and the devoutly religious can walk away from this story with their pre-conceptions of the nature of Evil unchanged. Or, as I'm certain Mr. Russell intended, they may close the book, yet find the barest hint of doubt remaining. ( )
  evano | Feb 23, 2020 |
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Before The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby, there was The Case Against Satan   By the twentieth century, the exorcism had all but vanished, wiped out by modern science and psychology. But Ray Russell--praised by Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro as a sophisticated practitioner of Gothic fiction--resurrected the ritual with his classic 1962 horror novel, The Case Against Satan, giving new rise to the exorcism on page, screen, and even in real life. Teenager Susan Garth was "a clean-talking sweet little girl" of high school age before she started having "fits"--a sudden aversion to churches and a newfound fondness for vulgarity. Then one night, she strips in front of the parish priest and sinks her nails into his throat. If not madness, then the answer must be demonic possession. To vanquish the Devil, Bishop Crimmings recruits Father Gregory Sargent, a younger priest with a taste for modern ideas and brandy. As the two men fight not just the darkness tormenting Susan but also one another, a soul-chilling revelation lurks in the shadows--one that knows that the darkest evil goes by many names. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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