Now this book has real meat to it. I think I’ll be chewing over it for some time. The prose is lyrical—it’s very apparent that Webster is a poet—and full of arresting scenes and images and characters. (I think the character of The Failed Artist, gently cradling the bleeding fawn, will live in my imagination for a long time to come.)

The novel casts a vision of hell as humanity left to its own devices. Hell is the natural conclusion—the inevitable end point—of human will to power. This is vividly portrayed throughout Joe’s journey: as he encounters hell’s diabolically egalitarian version of “justice” (the abacus scene will haunt me), hell’s mockery of truth, and hell’s utter incapacity to accommodate beauty. As aptly stated in the novel, “We either reside in the source of all life or find ourselves diminished in hells of our own making.” Joe, still decidedly committed to the hell of his own making, must tour hell’s vision of the good, the true, and the beautiful, and the resulting journey is both haunting and, ultimately, hopeful.

It's the subtle undercurrent of hope—how even in the midst of hell, Heaven’s perfume lingers—that makes this novel stunning. Even while we slog through the muck of hell with Joe Muggeridge, the novel subtly but continually points our attention back to what is divine: grace, mercy, unselfish love. In the very act of portraying a world impoverished of same, the novel throws them—their absolute necessity to us—into greater relief. “Hell is perfectly rational,” says the demon character Morte Magari, “It’s Heaven that strains credulity.” The novel’s denouement and the end of Joe’s journey satisfyingly echoes the truth of that.

Even on the road to hell, redemptive love can still be encountered. ( )

Follow the Devil / Follow the Light is the story of a walk through hell. Joe Muggeridge comes home to his Seattle apartment, only to find a demon waiting for him. The demon, Morte Magari, pressures/lures Joe into hell to see his deceased sister Nora. What follows is a journey where Joe encounters the sins and illusions of our modern society, both played out in hell and reflected in his own life. What he is slow to notice, however, is how the grace and power of God also pervades the adventure.

I enjoyed the book. It reminded me of some of C.S. Lewis' stuff and, of course, Dante's Inferno. While Follow the Devil / Follow the Light isn't quite as good as those classics, I did appreciated a vision of hell that illustrated our current era and culture. I saw myself in more than one of Joe Muggeridge's failings, but also had that constant reminder of heavenly love and forgiveness.
--J. ( )