Firstly - thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this opportunity to read and give an honest review of The Devil’s Best Trick by Randall Sullivan.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. It was a perfect mix of true crime, history and religious content. I would, however, like to preface that if you’re sensitive to subjects like ritual sacrifice (of both humans and animals) this may not be the book for you.

I will admit that I am quite ignorant of the colonization of Mexico and found Sullivan to be informative with the history cited in support of his exploration of the existence of the Devil. I felt that The Devil’s Best Trick read well and each chapter supported the overall readability and provided context for Sullivan’s personal experiences, which become pretty compelling by the end of the book.

I took my time with this one and approached it with an open mind, which I do with subjects that require that approach. I feel that The Devil’s Best Trick was very much worth my time and focus.

You know, of course, about the Devil’s best trick: getting people to believe he does not exist.

The irony of this statement is not lost on Randall Sullivan in The Devil’s Best Trick: How the Face of Evil Disappeared.

Overall the book represents the author’s investigative journeys, catalyzed by a friend and her experiences, into matters of evil and the occult. He started out dismissive; he ended up a believer.

The first section of the book represents a continual back and forth between the author’s investigation into suspicious deaths in Childress, Texas, right during the end of the “satanic panic” period of the 1980s and early 1990s, and an exploration into the history of beliefs about Satan and the demonic. While the “satanic panic” was mostly overblown, the events in Childress presented all kinds of evidence of satanic worship and occult behaviors. The author decently documented the history of how people understood evil, and most of his focus was placed upon the last 300 years or so and how belief in evil spirits has become seen as superstitious and irrational.

The second section of the book represents the travelogue of the author and his friend as they visited Catemaco, Mexico, and met with people there involved in both “white” and “black” magic. The author made his apologetic for the accounts of the conquistadors and early friars in Mexico about the prevalence of human sacrifice among the Mexica (aka the Aztecs) and his convictions about how offering such sacrifices to their gods really was satanic, demonic service. He then asserts Satan and the demons still have a stronghold in Mexico. The reader certainly understands how the author left all of those experiences believing in the existence of the forces of evil.

Does the author ultimately explain how the face of evil disappeared? Again, there’s some historical discussion regarding how it became less socially acceptable to believe in such things. But in the end the author makes a decent case, even on a secular level, to recognize the existence of dark forces which humans think they can manipulate but end up becoming their servants.

The Bible never denies the existence of Satan or evil forces; the consistent, continual warning is for Christians to have nothing to do with them at all. The option will always be there. But don’t mess with it, or it will mess you up.

According to Charles Baudelaire, who knew a thing or two about evil, the Devil’s best trick is convincing the trick that he doesn’t exist. Randall Sullivan borrows the troubled poet’s quote for the title of this book and, by the end of it, appears convinced that the Devil does exist.

As it happens, I had first read anything by Randall Sullivan only some months ago, when I came across The Miracle Detective. That book is, broadly speaking, an examination of the phenomenon of Marian apparitions, with a particular focus on the visionaries of Medjugorje. It is also, however, a personal exploration of faith and a description of the author’s idiosyncratic journey towards the Catholic faith.

As with his earlier “religious” book (Sullivan has also written several other works of non-fiction which have nothing to do with spirituality) it is quite difficult to pigeonhole the subject-matter of The Devil’s Best Trick. In the first part of the book, Sullivan alternates a cultural and philosophical history of the concept of the Devil (and, more widely, the “problem of evil”) with a “true crime” account relating to a series of mysterious murders in Texas with an occult backdrop.

Later in the book, there’s a surprising turn, as Sullivan turns adventurer and embarks on a hair-raising trip to Mexico to attend a witches’ convention, where the Devil is openly invoked. This also leads Sullivan to explain why, in his view, the Aztecs and indigenous populations, with their violent cults, were, actually, devil-worshippers. Throughout the book, as in The Miracle Detective Sullivan struggles with his doubts, and tries to come to terms with his faith.

This book is, in a sense, an ambitious and glorious mess – in the sense that it tries to be too many things at the same time. This notwithstanding, I found it engaging and interesting and, perhaps against all odds, it does add up to a sum of its parts.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2024/06/Devils-Best-Trick-Evil-Randall-Sullivan-Grove-Atlantic.html

The Devil, the problem of evil, and an attempt to understand both. It’s well written and worth the time if you’re interested.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atlanta Monthly Press for an ARC.

Ok I told myself I was going to push through and finish this one, but I'm at 60% and find myself constantly checking to see how much of the book I have left to finish (5.5 hours in audio)... so DNF it is!

I was really excited for The Devil's Best Trick! The blurb sounded so good, albeit pretty ambitious (so much breadth promised, and even a comparison to Patrick Radden Keefe) - but whoever wrote the book description did Sullivan dirty because this is wildly boring and has none of the intricate storyline weaving and humanistic reporting that I find characteristic of good narrative nonfiction. At the 2/3rds mark, there are three main storylines - a religious and literary history of the Devil that spans hundreds, if not thousands of years with pretty rote regurgitation of events, dates, names and quotes (this part is incredibly dull), a small amount of time on the author's own experiences/relationship with the Devil, and an inordinate amount of time on the 1988 murder of a Texan teen. The latter events were the impetus for the 1980 Satanic Panic, which I first learned about earlier this year in All the Lies They Did Not Tell, and is by far the most interesting part of the book, but definitely reads like some sort of true crime podcast. Unfortunately I feel like The Devil's Best Trick tried to do so much it ended up feeling like multiple books in one, and I've lost interest in reading any of them...

I got my eARC from Netgalley and Grove Atlantic Press.

This a weird book as there's travel, history, experiences. I appreciated the book about Oak Island by this author but i think that this one is a bit too much as it's a very complex topics and I felt this was sort of "look at what I did" or summarising 2k years in some chapters.
I wasnt a fun even if some part were interesting, in general not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Justin Martyr, early Christian philosopher and brief character in this book, is described as saying: "The worst evil of all, is to say that neither good nor evil is anything in itself, but that they are only matters of human opinion."

This is, to some extent, what this book grapples with. What, or who, is the Devil? What is, or who embodies, good and evil?

This book is split into two; it's getting four stars from me because the first part was five-star worthy, and the second part was, simply, not: it was so good, it set itself up for disappointment later on. The first part was half murder-mystery, half the evolution of Abrahamic (Jewish into Christian, with one mention of Muslim) theology on the devil. Buddhism and Hinduism were mentioned briefly, but not enough to characterize the subjects as anything but Abrahamic—which, of course, makes sense. This is about a uniquely Abrahamic, as this book shows, Christian entity.

The beginning portion of this book I enjoyed deeply, I learned a lot and was kept on the edge of my seat to find out what would happen next, alternating between vignettes set in a dusty town in Texas' panhandle—scene to a horrific death or two—and recalls to theologians, philosophers, and writers, from B.C. to the 1900s with a stop-over in discussing Freemasonry and the Illuminati. Plus, one very very creepy letter Sullivan received.

Still, the second half was uniquely interesting to me, given that one of my current interests has been Meso- and Central-American pre-colonial histories. The author travels to the "witchcraft capital of Mexico" to learn about the population's interactions with the devil, and witness their annual Black Mass. On the way, however (and featured more heavily in Appendix A), Sullivan makes some curiously opinionated statements about the Aztecs and the remaining native populations and traditions. Suffice to say, he's not an Aztec apologist; he doesn't think their gods (and, more importantly, their gods' demands for human flesh) deserve some sort of cultural respect. Coming off the heels from reading Camilla Townsend's Fifth Sun, a book that Sullivan would no-doubt describe as a revisionist, academic PR job for the Aztecs, I was a bit caught off guard. Is Sullivan wrong in his portrayal, though, or are the other authors that he denounces? I wasn't there. I don't know. But, yes, I would have to agree that human sacrifice is not a good thing. (Perhaps I'm doing what Justin Martyr is rebuking in my chosen quote.)

I like books that teach and engage me, in whatever manner that may happen. This book very much did that, with the added bonus of having less dense moments in the form of true crime tales, those expressions of evil we're all most familiar with, as opposed to Romantic philosophy on the subject. That—perhaps unintuitive?—combination worked wonders, and I devoured the book in a day. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the genres.

This seems to be several books in one volume. A true crime story, a travelogue and a history of the devil through time. These last two were fascinating to me. The author visits a city in Mexico where the devil is openly worshipped. He interviews people who pledged their souls to “el diablo” in exchange for favors and even attends a black mass (I would have been more scared of the humans he runs into than the devil). The historical content explores the different ways Satan has been viewed through the ages, including how he has been portrayed in art. The third part is, unfortunately for me, true crime, I genre I don’t like at all. It is also a big component of the book, which affected my overall enjoyment of it. The author also has a definite point of view about the actual existence of the devil, and that made me disconnect with the content. I was expecting more of the historical and cultural component, an impartial analysis without a specific viewpoint. I’m happy to see that other reviewers enjoyed this more. I was the wrong reader for it.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Grove Atlantic.

A fun and informative look at the devil in several cultures and humanity’s preoccupation with putting a face on evil. Not a deep dive into the subject but as an entertaining primer this is brilliant. Well researched and written in in an engaging manner

A fun exploration of the Devil in various cultures. Sullivan details the history of the Devil in Christianity, investigates a satanic murder mystery, and adventures to Catemaco, the center of witchcraft and deals with the devil. This book never lingers on one topic for too long, and is very fluid switching back and forth between history and first-person narrative. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. The author travels to Texas to look into a murder in an area that had a Satanic cult to Mexico with curanderas and brujas and everything in between. The author did his research and it was an interesting read.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic, Atlantic Monthly Press for an advanced copy of this history dealing with the darkness that haunts all of us, who some can deal with it, ignore it, or just give in completely.

The Louvin Brothers were a country bluegrass duo whose best known song still has the capacity to raise goose bumps, or make one want to take part in that old time religion, even 65 years later. Satan is Real" is a long with only two choruses, but a long section of spoken word about a sinner in church reminding the pastor to tell everyone that Satan. Is. Real. It has taken everything from this this old man, left him with nothing but hate from his family, and contempt from others. The idea of the devil might not be as strong today, especially among educated people who think of the Devil as inspiring metal bands they grew up with. However to many the Devil and his silver tongue still bring many to the dark side. Looking at the state of the world, doesn't the idea of a devil make more sense than just humans being human. Randall Sullivan in his book The Devil's Best Trick: How the Face of Evil Disappeared, has written a memoir about his experiences, a biography on evil, a bit of true crime reporting, and a history of the idea of evil from the past to today.

A little bit of a warning, this is a bit of a dark book. This is not just a history of the devil but much more than that. One does not go looking to understanding the devil in just books and ideas. One has to see both barbarity, talk to those who have touched and touched the darkness, and walk in some might bleak places. Mexico, Texas, the Balkans. The book begins in the previously stated Balkans, a time of ethnic cleansing, religious war, and religious events. Group exorcisms, come to Jesus meetings, in a land that was still at war. Sullivan heard stories of atrocities, and stories of the devil, something which might have carried over to a brief encounter in Italy, with something only he saw. Sullivan travels to Mexico to learn about the witches who work with cartels, and who according to most learn their arts by deals with the Devil, and finds himself being effected by the area. In Texas we read of a murder at the peak of the American Satanic Panic, about a boy, and later his sister who died, under mysterious circumstances, and the taint of police incompetence. Scattered throughout are discussions about the nature of evil and its physical manifestations throughout history, philosophy, religion, and even psychology.

A book that was nothing that I expected, but has been one of the best reading experiences I have had in quite a while. This book has travel, history, true crime, thoughts on many different things. Including first person reportage both from Texas and Mexico. There is so much to take in, to discuss and to think about. The writing is really good, one gets into the mind of Sullivan as he slowly comes to the realization that yes there is a devil, and here is why I believe it. The reportage is quite good too, from an exorcism, the true crime aspect, and even bit on serial killers. Even information on the Aztecs, and why witches are so prevalent in certain ares. There really is quite a lot going on in this book. Each page drops both knowledge and questions without answers.

The questions without answers are what I really enjoyed. There are no real answers for much that is brought up. Many of the religious discussions will start real discussions, especially detailing the serial killer who killed children, being one of the most religious and righteous people this pastor knew. There are questions about the weight of sins, and what a sin should be considered. An amazing book that I know I will be looking at and thinking about for quite a while.

I DNF at 18%, this was not for me. I am not into theology and in fact, I don't quite know how I got approved for this book.
I will not review on Goodreads.

Once upon a time, a man named Randall Sullivan went looking for the Devil. His journey took him far and wide, eventually resulting in this book. It also made him a believer in the process.
More or less bookended by real life exorcism accounts with a true crime thread strung out throughout, a chronological theological and philosophical narrative, and a particularly nightmarish travelogue account of Mexico, this book is all over the place in the best possible way. It’s fascinating, obviously well-researched, and, as one might expect, very, very dark.
I’ve never read the author before, an obvious oversight, but this was the most auspicious of introductions. Excellent writing that keeps your interest chapter to chapter no matter how bleak, clever observations, vivid descriptions make this book a very good read indeed.
Much was learned. If you ever get tired of the sunny side of the street and interested in exploring the darkness, this is a solid choice. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.