Conversations with the Devil

by Jeff Rovin

New York Times bestselling author Jeff Rovin has held readers in breathless suspense with his Tom Clancy's Op-Center novels. He has created compelling characters with vividly rendered emotions and actions. His page-turning thrillers have addressed questions of good and evil in our times. Now, Rovin confronts the question of Good and Evil on the ultimate battleground. A human soul hangs in the balance, and thousands of years of religious teachings depict only the beginning of the fight for dominion over man. Psychologist Sarah Lynch is stunned when one of her young patients hangs himself. Evidence reveals that Fredric had become a Satanist. Intending to solve the puzzle of Fredric's death, Sarah attempts to conjure the devil--surely then she will understand what the teenager was thinking. Sarah knows that belief in God and the Devil is a construct of the human mind and that people contain within them both good and evil. Her own family is the perfect example. Sarah's mother is still in denial about her dead husband's alcoholism, but acts as a wonderful grandparent to the son of the family's live-in housekeeper. Her alcoholic brother bounces from girlfriend to girlfriend and job to job, but always there when Sarah needs him. And Sarah herself? She lost her faith more than a decade ago, during a personal crisis. But she is dedicated to giving others the help she did not receive. Even the nun who is Sarah's best friend cannot break through Sarah's shield of cynicism. But Satan can. The Devil himself rises in Sarah's office, sometimes a being of dark smoke and sometimes a creature of all-too-perfect, seductive flesh. Most disturbing is Satan's claim that only by following him can people find real happiness. In the Devil's theology, God is a brutal, jealous bully. And as God and Satan battle for Sarah's soul, Sarah comes to believe him. She forgets that he is the Master of Lies . . . .

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Novels, Fantasy

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite a solid, creepy foundation and build-up, the book’s climax fell completely flat. Of all the fictitious Satans that I have stumbled across in novels, this was by far the most stereotypical. Rovin did not add anything extra to round out this demonic presence into an actually interesting character the way so many other authors are able to accomplish. Some of the almost political topics that the book broaches feel more like odd tangents and a way for the author to reveal personal opinions, as they do not move the plot forward at all. The overall premise of the novel definitely sounded interesting, but ultimately, the book quickly became ridiculous and trite. I had quite enjoyed Vespers, so I harbored hope that this would be the same level of fun and excitement, but I just did not enjoy reading this at all. The plot unfolded too slowly and ended too lamely.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a very interesting premise. A woman who is a lapsed Catholic and a psychoanalyst is disturbed by the suicide of one of her patients. When she finds out he was a Satanist, she conjures up the Devil while going through some of the Satanic rituals in an effort to find out what was going on with her patient. Then things start to go horribly wrong.

Sounded like a great story and I'm always interested in what I term "religious horror". I was disappointed, though, in many ways with this book. I felt like the conversations were stilted, especially those with her friend Grace, a Catholic nun. I never felt close to any of the characters and the story never got extremely scary. I knew this book would be more intellectual horror than scary horror but I felt like without realistic dialog it didn't ring true. The resolution at the end wasn't satisfying, either.

[OutlawPoet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid this was a tedious read. The characters are dull and unpalatable and it takes about 180 pages to get to any meat. However, not to worry...the meaty and interesting section ends quickly and within 20 pages you are back to plodding narrative and uninteresting characters. I would give this one a miss!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written just like a drama series. The only downfall was that it moved very slowly, and the bits where it was supposed to be climatic and exciting, they were very short, or gave the reader more to be desired. The main conflict wasn't involved enough for me. I craved more when I was done with the book.

[Jean Pierre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting concept. It was almost like interview with a Vampire mixed with a little bit of quid pro quo made famous by Hannibal. The ending leaves something to be desired and the story takes awhile to rev up but interesting read nonetheless.

[Nicole Doiron]

I found this book at Chapter's in a salesbin for $5. By its description, it sounded like an interesting read so i decided to give it a try. I have JUST started reading it and well, i have second thoughts. But i'm still willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good horror story but this one was not as good as I had hoped for it to be. The storyline was decent but the writing was very dry, way too detailed about unimportant things, and pretty unrealistic. I don't know about you but it I was face to face with Satan himself, I would be terrified.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected a lot more from this book! It was good up until the psychologist really tries to understand the reasoning behind the death of a patient of hers.

The book did leave me with some great visuals I still remember from reading this though! It wasn't a total waste.

[Marc-Antoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I surprisingly actually really liked this one, and I had almost got scared off by the inconsistent reviews. Good story, sometimes disturbing and a worthwhile read.

[Michael Tenerowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! there's so much discussing, arguing, confirming and refuting satan that it feels they forgot to put the horror in the horror book. Don't get me wrong, this is fine pontificating. This is just the academic's outlook of good vs evil, God vs satan. Also Mr. Rovin got pretty involved with satanic rituals but skirted some issues which was fine with me. I didn't want to read a How To book about raising the devil. Still, all in all, the characters were sympathetic enough to make me want to finish the book. And Satan was interesting enough to follow through the progression of the story while still being believable in a Christian Bible kind of way. That's just it. The author wanted believability and just about got there.

[Sarah Giffen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book, thinking that the Devil would be more prominent in it than he actually is.
It took over half the book for the Devil to even make an appearance. And when he did, nothing really happened. Not until the last 100 pages in the book.
I will definitely not read this again, nor would I recommend it to someone.
It's not... bad, just disappointing.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun fast read. Some chilling moments for sure.

[Ramko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent conversation with devil is superb I thanks to the great writer

[Amanda Callahan-Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was more like 3.5 stars. I thought it was a decent read. There was some parts I think could have been a little bit better. It was entertaining.

[Hannah McLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it hard to put this novel down despite it not being the type of thing I usually go for. I enjoyed the dark themes, and the descriptions in this book really captured my senses.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally written. A little slow going in the beginning as context needed to be provided, but a thrilling story.

[Kenneth Hursh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conversations pleasantly surprised me for being about a person grappling with her own demons more than Satan himself. It was thoughtful and kept focused on the protagonist’s inner struggle rather than relying on horror and nail-biting action. Sarah is a psychologist who loses a young patient to suicide, which Sarah didn’t see coming. Trying to find out why the patient did himself in, Sarah discovers the patient had been involved in devil worship. Sarah follows the patient’s devil summoning routine trying to figure out her patient’s state of mind, and lo and behold she really does summon Satan. His Darkness never provides Sarah the answer about her patient, but tempts Sarah with promises of a better life if she will become a follower. In that process we learn about sins haunting Sarah from her past which have kept her spiritually wanting in this world.

Rovin does well keeping the reader in Sarah’s mind throughout and presenting her as a believably flawed character. Conversations could have used a stronger supporting character to reflect Sarah’s struggles through an avenue other than herself. Rovin tried to spread the supporting character function among a half dozen characters who were not in the story enough to forge dramatic relationships with Sarah.

The devil, physically, is basically what you’d expect with a few original touches, like his slow corporeal emergence and grotesque in some ways, beautiful in others, appearance. Rovin’s devil didn’t make me want to sleep with the lights on, but that was appropriate to keep the story’s focus on Sarah, who in the end learns more about herself than about the Prince of Darkness.

I wouldn’t call it a scary story, but I cared if Sarah would extricate herself from the trouble she brewed up.

[Nash Vinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag, for me . some parts of the book really spoke to me. I particularly enjoyed the psychological and spiritual exploration the protagonist goes through, especially in the latter half of the story. However I did find the climax of the novel to be a tad, well, anticlimatic. Not a book to actively seek out, but if you're interested in theological discussion and in playing the Devil's advocate (snicker), then worth a shot.

[Seth Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrifying book that will make you turn on all the lights in the house and keep you on the edge of your seat. This book really isn't a religious novel, but a question of why things happen in our lives. And besides, everyone's faith gets tested from time to time.

[Khrys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary! If you believe in the devil this book might shake you. Can't say I slept very well after this one!

[Beth Eagle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This turned out to be a pretty good book. Not a bad deal from the dollar store.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary and riviting a favorite of mine...

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked a lot of the conversations, the descriptions, the characters, the characterization, all of it. great read.

[Lizziepeps · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I've ever read.

[Jonathan Harrell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but slow...

[Steven Raszewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow and boring but I finish the bad books I start, don't know why....

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye opening. It definitely makes you reconsider things!

[Jbreezy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Very smart and thought provoking.

[Michelle]

It wasn't easy read interesting premise that fell flat about three quarters of the way. Took a while for the devil to make an appearance and I would've liked to have heard more from his character.