Before Regan MacNeil, There Was Susan Garth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Yes, darlings, a good eleven years before William Peter Blatty crystallized demonic possession for us all, in his landmark novel, "The Exorcist," Ray Russell had gone and done almost the same thing with his first novel, published in 1962, "The Case Against Satan."

                                            I just love the cover, girls!!!!!!!!!!!  Doesn't she look like a young Kyra Sedgwick??????????

                                              Even more, Russell explores issues such as anti-clerical behavior, vulgarity, sex between priest and parishioner, even father-daughter incest in bold ways, without resorting to the almost pornographic level of vulgarity that made Blatty's book such a sensation in 1973.  I was there for that one, but, when this came out, I was still a wee thing.

                                                What a difference time makes.  Russell's book will never be remembered, like Blatty's, but it merits recognition for the precedent it set.

                                                    And in almost novella form, to boot.  Russell was an economist, when it came to his writing, avoiding the excesses of Blatty or Anne Rice.

                                                     This is simply a must, darlings.  It can stand on its own, but it will serve as a context for many out there who have read "The Exorcist."

                                                       In so many ways, this is the better book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!