Book Review: "Demon" by Tosca Lee

Clayton's life is stuck in the mud. His wife has been cheating on him for years, his literary career is uninspired, and his job as an editor is mediocre at best. But when he walks into a restaurant and finds a mysterious dark-haired stranger waiting for him, his life dramatically changes. The stranger claims to be Lucian, one of Lucifer's fellow fallen angels, come to tell Clay his story of the angels' dramatic fall from Heaven, Adam and Eve's Eden, and Christ's triumph on the cross - from a demon's perspective. This seems just the thing to get Clay's career jumpstarted, but it could mean his ultimate success or failure as Lucian's story seems to become more and more like his own.

Talk about your non traditional Christian fiction novel. This book definitely would have not existed back when Christian fiction started. Writing a book about a demon and telling his story would have been taboo subjects when Christian fiction was just beginning. Now, it's just commonplace and adds to the edgy genre. This story is incredibly powerful. Demons have always been portrayed or perceived as evil creatures, little minions of the devil who almost quite as powerful as he is. People who are possessed by demons tend to to go crazy, be rabid, or try to kill themselves. Either way the traditional conception of a demon is not a positive one by any means. This story takes that POV and changes it around 180 degrees. The demon portrayed in this story, Lucian, is a suave and handsome as one can get and spins a tale to Clay that is both fascinating and horrifying at the same time.

Clay's character is also multi-dimensional as the reader goes along a journey with him. From his sad lifestyle to the boring odds and ends of his job, this interview with Lucian is the thing that could drive him out of his slump, but the consequences could be dangerous. One of the perks I liked about this book was the background details about how a book becomes published. The reader learns about the publishing process from writing to marketing to sending out query letters. It's a fascinating process and for those who have always wondered what happens after you finished writing, these tidbits help fill out the blanks.

While I didn't find the story to be preachy, there is a lot of talk about events that happen in the Bible albeit from a different perspective. Therefore some background knowledge of the stories would probably make it easier to understand what Lucian is talking about. If there is any problem with the book, I felt that the beginning is a bit slow. From just the back cover description, the reader already knows that Lucian is a demon and having to wade through Clay's discovery of the truth is bit tedious at times. Overall though, I enjoyed reading this book as it's a definite eye opening read. I found it fascinating to read the "other version" of the story and found it to be a most thought provoking read. I'll be looking forward to reading other works from this author.

Demon by Tosca Lee is published by NavPress (2007)

This review copy was provided by the publicist