When I think of Jeff Rovin, I think of joke books, trivia collections and Tom Clancy spin-offs – basically anything but horror novels. Yet here he is with CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEVIL, sort of a psychotherapist EXORCIST.
Its heroine is Sara Lynch, a shrink in the sleep town of Delwood. Her patient base is comprised of the typical mix of philanderers and in-the-closeters, save for a 16-year-old boy named Fredric. To say he’s withdrawn and outcast is an understatement – he dresses in all black and wears pancake makeup to school. And lately, he’s been really upset over something he read in the Bible.
Some 100 pages into the novel, Fredric kills himself by hanging – hey, it says so on the jacket flap; I’m not spoiling anything – which comes as a total shock to everyone, Sara included. Being “different” is one thing; being suicidal is another thing entirely.
Snooping around in Fredric’s room, Sara finds books and computer files that suggest he was into Satanism. (Having a tome around written by “the Dark Pope” is a definite red flag.) Struggling to unravel the mystery behind his death, Sara starts digging, leading her to an online chat forum for Goth kids (written in such ridiculous IM shorthand that you need a decoder ring to understand it all) and, eventually, a full-blown, seven-step Satanic ritual, part of which requires her to sexually satisfy herself within the pentagram.
Doing so calls up Satan in his true, beastly form, as opposed to the strange voices she’s been hearing just prior. They talk. A lot. Hell, it reads like a transcript of any given psychologist’s session with a patient, only that patient happens to rule all circles of Hell. The book’s title, it runs out, is truly apt.
Rovin’s tale presents some interesting ideas up front, but never quite brings them to fruition, or at least not in a manner we haven’t seen played out over and over before. CONVERSATIONS is predictable, but it’s not incompetent. Rather, you can have fun with the familiarity and enjoy it while it lasts. It won’t stick with you, but temporary gratification is better than none at all. –Rod Lott
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Probably Jeff’s best horror novel is VESPERS, a neat page turner about giant bats.
Perfect popcorn and much better than BATS which seems to be a staple on cable nowadays.