I don't think I'd be wrong in saying that people of all faiths talk to their preferred Higher Being, but how many people actually sit down for a chit-chat with the king from the other camp? Well, that's just what Lance Baylor does in E. Aubrey Smith's book, Interview With The Satan.
For various reasons, journalist Lance decides to tackle the job of interviewing The Satan (author's capitalization). His family doesn't want him to do it, and his coworkers find it to be a joke. But he feels he has something to prove and, furthermore, he feels that a successful interview will allow him to prove to his family that he was sexually abused when he was a child, though I'm not sure how the two are supposed to tie in together.
While I found Interview With The Satan enjoyable enough, I was also disappointed that more time was not devoted to the interview. The majority of the book covered the lead-in to the interview, including interactions with Lance's family and the aftermath of the interview. The earliest scenes with this family were difficult for me to read, as he felt like an outcast, and I too never felt accepted by my family, causing those scenes to hit too close to home. The post-interview scenes were more palatable, though they also included some difficult moments.
As to the actual interview, I quite enjoyed it and wished it had been longer. The being, who preferred to be known as Heylel, which means "Light Bearer," was quite intriguing. For some reason, he did not like the name Lucifer, which means the same. And he definitely did not want to be referred to as Satan, the adversary, as that's not how he saw himself. He was arrogant, which wasn't surprising, and justified everything he did in The Bible, twisting it so that all of his actions were geared towards helping humans rather than thwarting us.
Interview With The Satan was not a lengthy book, so it had a small cast. Aside from Lance and Heylel, the only other person who really captured my attention was Lance's sister, Lara, who had always accepted him. Since I never had anyone like her in my corner when I was young, I clung to her like a point of light.
Even though this was a shortish book, it was chock-full of grammatical errors, including punctuation mishaps, incorrect verb tenses, homophone issues, and extra or missing words. The author also had major issues with paragraphs, as he'd often start a new character's speech without changing paragraphs, and this could go on through several characters' speeches. There were also several blocks of text that would have stood out more if they'd been italicized or blocked off. Additionally, I found one thing just unbelievable. Due to all these typographical issues, I am rating Interview With The Satan 4 out of 5 stars.
Despite its few negatives, I do recommend this book to fans of spiritual fiction; while parts can get a little preachy, I don't think it's enough to turn off potential readers. I do have to warn that there's a little profanity in the book, but it's not major or graphic. Also, this book ends on a cliffhanger, which I was ill-prepared for and am still smarting over. It really would have been nice if the author had indicated that it would be the case.
- Lance Baylor, Interview With The SatanLadies and gentlemen of the world, he exists.
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Interview With The Satan
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