Utterly gripping. I love learning the true stories behind our fictional favorites, and this one was intriguing and frankly scarier than the fiction! The writer takes a deep dive into the twisted dynamics of the people involved, from the boy believed possessed to his family and the local religious community. I would recommend this roller-coaster ride of a book to anyone who loves horror, with the caveat that sometimes real life is more creepy and haunting than anything a novelist could dream up.

I’m a sucker for these kind of books apparently. A genre I never knew I liked but ended up loving this genre. The subtle fact in between the fiction and the possibility of all this being a reality slightly tugs at me. The whole thing managed to intrigue me.

Certainly a most interesting read. I enjoyed The Exorcist immensely and the look into the 1949 possession that inspired it makes for a truly interesting read.

I am not a fan of William Peter Blatty's 'The Exorcist' or the film that followed it. Both were very disappointing for me. However, this book, 'Confrontation With Evil' was a much more interesting read for me.

Confrontation With Evil by Steven LaChance

Millions of readers of a certain age harbor vivid memories of The Exorcist, a groundbreaking movie that cast permanent shadows in millions of minds (1973) . The film placed the blame for the horrific possession on the actions of an imprudent teenage girl who invited a demon into her life by daring to use an Ouija board.

Confrontation with Evil documents LaChance's quest for the truth, for what really happened and why. Instead of taking an academic approach, the author chooses to write in a personal style. Readers will feel that he is near, addressing them in intimate conversation. Using the diary of one of the priests involved with the exorcism, LaChance walks readers, step-by-step, through the actual events, explaining the typical phases of possession along the way.

Unlike the movie, the author does not place the blame for the possession on the victim, a young, unnamed boy. Instead, he looks deeper, focusing on the people around the boy, thus uncovering disturbing, heartbreaking, alternate possibilities. The text strips away the Hollywood hype that includes spinning heads and such. Even so, the events of the real story are far more horrendous because they really happened.

The author does not stop with the events of the possession. Decades after the actual events, shadows still haunt the places where the exorcisms took place. LaChance guides readers through visits to each haunted location, some which have been preserved and held in secret for many years.

In order to supply readers with the basic information needed to understand this historic event, LaChance discusses and explains the significance of occult elements that include the power of numerical and geometric components. He also defines the tenets of classic demonology and includes elucidating quotes from adepts such as Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley.

LaChance does not profess one absolute answer, but instead offers various views and allows the reader come to come to their own conclusions.

Readers still haunted by The Exorcist should give this book a read.

Rougeski Reads

Very informative.. I enjoyed the comparisons between what had happened and the bible. There are several bible references. Amazing there are so many facts that I never knew before.

The nonfiction detailed study of the 1949 possession is a curious book. While I did read the story of "The Exorcist," I had no idea at that time it was based on a true story. I didn't see the film at the movie theater when it came out. I saw it for the first time on tv. When I discovered it was based on a true story I was surprised. After learning that, I did try to find out about the case but couldn't find anything. It has only been the last few years that I discovered it was a boy and not a girl.

The author was able to read the diary of the priest who did the exerocism and discovered that it was vague in its descriptions. In this book, you will follow the author's research of this case. I found it quite a learning experience for me. Most of the time, I felt that the book could had used some photographs of places he visited. I would had like to have seen the inside of the church with the twelve stations. I am giving this book 5 stars as near the end of the book the author discusses how one can strengthen themselves from becoming possessed. I am glad that I had the chance to read it. It does give you an nsight to this possession that I have not had before.

I picked this up as it seemed interesting and I wanted to know if the actual exorcism was like it was described in the book and film by William Peter Blatty, this gives a lot of insight into what really happened and what the author has come across during his years of research.

I could give you reasons to read this and my thoughts on the various things he brings up but I think the author says it better himself:

"I cannot and will not tell you what you should believe. My place is to share ideas and theories for you to consider, and if somewhere in your self reflection you figure out what you actually believe then I have done my job properly"

Wouldn't it be a much better place if everyone thought that!?

Great book! Looking forward to reading more by this author. Highly recommend!

I found this to be a very quick and interesting read. IF (and that's a big if--no proof = didn't happen) Steven's research is true, then it certainly sheds a new insight to the case behind The Exorcist. His reveal at the end is pretty fantastic. The writing is good, however, I found it a bit petty at times, whining about old friends that did him wrong, etc. Also, if I wanted to learn about Steven's past, I would have read a book on Steven's past. His constant need to go back and talk about himself and his experiences was off putting at times--like his own story was greater than the one we were supposed to be reading about.

Outside of that, the reveal at the end (true? who knows) was pretty...err...revealing.

Confrontation with Evil is absolutely worth the read for any fan of the paranormal or curiosity behind the true story The Exorcist was based on.

Confrontation with Evil is a frightening book, but what's more frightening is what happens when one begins to delve into it. LaChance is very upfront about making sure to pray and ground yourself before reading the book, and boy does he mean it. The book discusses demonic possession, with most of the focus on the case that ended up as the basis for the Exorcist.

Steven A. LaChance is a great story teller with wonderful research, but I promise you that when you read this book you will start to feel like something is watching you. I found strange things began to occur and I eventually put the book aside. If you're fascinated by demonic possession, this book is very interesting. Just make sure to take the right precautions.

In the beginning there was THE EXORCIST, a book I couldn't finish but managed only to read few chapters of it: THE EXORCIST was too scary for me, I always related it to old stories of demonic possessions and exorcism and weird scary tales I heard while growing up. Therefore, When I saw the title of CONFRONTATION WITH EVIL on Net Galley, I was intrigued and curious! I never knew that THE EXORCIST of William Peter Blatty was based on a true story and felt compelled to read it and know better about the exorcism of Roland Doe(pseudonym) that took place in 1949 and which inspired Blatty to write his masterpiece.

In CONFRONTATION WITH EVIL the author approaches his “in-depth review of the case” from two angles: the infamous diary of Father Raymond Bishop, one of the priests who performed the exorcism, and the dissection of the many places affected in this ordeal before he reaches to the “shocking conclusion” about the case, the possession and where the evil still resides.

Starting with the diary that recounts in details the boy’s strange behaviour that kept degrading into violent tantrums, spitting, throwing things, spewing profanities and developing unexplained scratches on his body in addition to the weird things that were happening with the family like things moving, scratches sounds, bed shaking, levitating and other scary stuff. The diary tells thoroughly as well the rituals of the exorcism and the reactions of Roland’s family. Based on this diary, the author builds his interpretations, forms his accusations and stretches his interpretations of the cause of the possession, the odd behaviour of the parents, the origins of evil, all this accumulated with Bible scriptures, tedious information about the occult, the possession, the Ouija board, etc. I cultivated mixed feelings toward this part of the book, it definitely has its scares and frightening moments and to imagine the horrible ordeal the boy lived is unfathomable regardless a possession happened or not. What I didn’t like is the lack of cross- examination of the case, the doubt, the possibility of mental illness, a detailed background of the family, more research to be inducted and less speculations to give. I have an open mind when it comes to paranormal but I can never underestimate logical explanations, mental issues, having said that, I found that the author's ideas and interpretations are based on pure speculations without having any room for a different approach. And I should also add that a question annoys me with regards to the diary ending up in the public hand. How did that happen? Shouldn’t the diary be kept protected in the Roman Catholic Church that conducted the exorcism ?

As for the second part of the book, well, that was a hard thing for me to follow. Although, I liked the way the author dissects the places that witnessed the act of exorcism, but Person X and a location kept unknown and all this secrecy surrounding the climatic shocking conclusion fit more in the fiction land than reality. As a non-fiction book about such controversial story, withholding key information means that those information are not reliable. And what is a ghost box and that recorded message, does it really exist and what is the proof?

Honestly, I expected this book to be more interesting and original but unfortunately failed to live up to my expectations, it was rather speculating, tedious, repetitive more than informing. It failed to deliver the” in depth examination” of the case and left me more doubtful than believer, it only educated me bits about the Exorcism rituals, the origins of Ouija board, that the Exorcist was based on true story and how notable are the differences between the actual facts surrounding Roland’s case and the cinematic frights produced in the book and the movie.
I take the chance here to express my thanks to Net Galley and Llewellyn Publishing for giving me an advanced copy of the book to read and review.

This book is not what I thought it was so wasn't to my taste

(Lengthened review to come shortly... Stay tuned...)

The author ‘investigates’ the original case which inspired the 1970s film ‘The Exorcist’. In 1949, a 14-year-old boy begins exhibiting strange behaviour which was associated with demon possession. His mother contacts the Catholic church to help the situation, leading to a long process of exorcisms and church intervention.

This would have been fascinating to me if the author wasn’t so hellbent on pushing his own agenda – instead of taking a balanced approach to his investigation and even entertaining the possibility that demon possession wasn’t the case (even if you believe in the idea of demon possession, you would have to consider whether or not this was the case in this instance), he bends all of the supposed facts to prove his point.

Early on in the book, I knew that I wasn’t going to get on with the ideas that I would be reading when the author states that demon possession is often mistakenly diagnosed as mental illness.

The author estimates that he was seen by 48 different priests during the period of his ‘possession’, during this time he was physically restrained, slapped and even ‘slugged’ which I assume to mean that a priest punched him in the face.

I’m pretty open minded when it comes to the supernatural, I believe that there are indeed more things in our heaven and earth than dreamt of in our science… but I think that in this case, I would struggle to believe in demon possession unless the poor boy had been fully evaluated by a mental health expert.

All this said, the writing style is compelling and well paced – it’s the content that got me riled up. Had I known ahead of time that this was a religious read, I would have given it a swerve. If you’re a believer or a fan of religious investigations, this may well be the book for you.

This was easy to read and flowed nicely. Some of LaChance's ideas are bizarre. I had problems with him basing many facts about the case on a diary with an unprovable author. The spiritbox session with the dead Priest turned me off. I do believe in hauntings and possession, but the author's methods of proof were not something I would stand behind.