Author: Glen Duncan
Nationality: British
Year: 2003
Publisher: Scribner
Length: 200+pp
Rating: 6/10
Summary: Not bad enough to be good
The outline
God gives Lucifer a chance at redemption, but the Devil must spend a month in human form in contemporary London to get his ticket back to Heaven.
Sample
I, Lucifer, Fallen Angel, Prince of Darkness, Bringer of Light, Ruler of Hell, Lord of the Flies, Father of Lies, Apostate Supreme, Tempter of Mankind, Old Serpent, Prince of This World, Seducer, Accuser, Tormentor, Blasphemer, and without doubt Best Fuck in the Seen and Unseen Universe (ask Eve, that minx) have decided - oo-lala! - to tell all. All? Some.
The verdict
I, Lucifer is an entertaining novel, undoubtedly, and Glen Duncan is a talented writer, but it’s also a novel saddled with a major flaw that stops it from fulfilling its potential.
The problem is Lucifer himself. He simply isn’t bad enough to be a convincing Devil and his exploits on earth are somewhat adolescent. He has sex; he takes drugs; he eggs people on; he plots much worse things but never carries them out. This might have worked if the book was about a minor demon, but Lucifer himself...?
Duncan’s Lucifer is on a par with an annoying rock star rather than the nastiest villains of literature. Think Patrick Bateman, think Hannibal Lecter, think Clockwork Orange’s Alex – he doesn’t even come close. At best – or worst – he’s like a cruder version of Lestat at his most needy and irritating... but lacking the bite. Duncan tries to make him witty and intellectual, but if you know as little as a spattering about poetry, the Bible and Christian history his comments aren’t going to tax you. He’s Humbert Humbert lite, which is a shame because a self-justifying Humbert-inspired Devil would have been a really good proposition.
Still the novel kept me reading, it was just a shame that it missed out on much bigger and better things.
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