Novel Review: Devil’s Diary: The Coming by Anthony R Howard

Devil's Diary: The Coming.

What Would Happen If The Creator Returned Tomorrow?

In the current world plagued by war and civil unrest, the divine arrival of the Son of Man restores hope to mankind. Like most others, Oniva Mering is not prepared to face judgment or the violent threat of an ancient secret society. Left in the company of her smooth and streetwise high school friend, Oniva must bear witness to the most catastrophic turn of events humanity has ever experienced. The stage has been set. Sides are being chosen. Angels and their worst enemies prepare for The Coming.

Are You Ready?

Each reader will face their own internal journey as they are enticed to look inside themselves, and realize where they stand in the battle of Good versus Evil. We are all a part of the book of life. But what if there was another book..The Devil’s Dairy?

Perspective by Peter:

This is not your typical Christian fiction. From the guest post I had with Howard, on this blog in 2017, I knew it would never be. That guest post laid some of the foundations of why that was. This guest post and its follow-up post this year, have resonated with some Christian authors who feel the same way as he. I might deviate for a second and clarify the title, Christian author, with Howard's definition, as he quoted in the 2017 post,

One of the key purposes of literacy is to bring people to something new. Something great. One of my goals in writing is to broaden the experiences of my reader community and add to the literary art form. It’s key to not only present a fascinating story to the reader but to bring value to the reader aside from entertainment. I thought I was a Christian author. But that has very specific man-made rules (such as no aggression, no kissing below the neck, etc). Many of the rules prevent an author from being different, or fascinating. Then I became an author who is a Christian (which is different from a “Christian Author”) so I could keep writing fascinating stories and bring the Word to everyone.

I must say he has created a fascinating story and has brought the Word to the readers of this novel. And his style is what defines it as not your typical or expected form of Christian fiction. And this showed in how it became published, to quote the same post again,

Because of this decision to keep writing fascinating stories, I was banned from Christian bookstores and Church bookstores. This poses the question: If you are ONLY writing for the Saved (as the Christian Author rules dictate) – who are you ministering to? One of the primary purposes of ministry is to spread the Good News. The rules make many books in Christian fiction very similar, and less popular to wider audiences. I’d rather not be the same. This causes a disequilibrium, taking the storm to new heights. I write to take the reader deeper. Topics where you finish the book and want to know more. If a writer isn’t different, why should anyone invest the time to read the book? Christian writers cannot continue to recycle what is already out there as Hollywood does.

......My particular solution was to start my own publishing company to release Devil’s Dairy: The Coming, put my own capital behind it and produce my own cinema trailer.

In Devil's Diary, it is evident he is not writing to the Saved, as he describes those who have had the conversion experience of being born again as outlined in the Bible. And because of this, this novel contains elements that you would not expect to see in a typical Christian novel with its orientation to the Saved.

I am surprised that none of the reviewers on Amazon or Goodreads has been outspoken with outrage that a "Christian author" would include such descriptions as fellatio being performed by a Succubus to the main character, or a slightly graphic description of one of his female entourage, initiating sex with him or the many references to the availability women to whom this same character formicates with. These instances are few and form a minor part of the plot.

I can see this on the surface is where the reader would be aghast and not continue to read such "filth" and "erotica". However, if one steps back and questions why the author included this, they might see it relates back to the reason described above by the author in his quote. It ties in with the plot, it is not there to add more entertainment value to the story or to titillate the reader, but to show how easy it is to tempt a man on many levels of his fallen state and what the demonic will do to someone who has no protection of faith or being sealed by the Spirit through having faith in Jesus and a relationship with Him.

This novel is dark, gritty and could be classified as horror in its genre. Howard has classified this on Amazon as,

Supernatural Thrillers (Books),  Paranormal Suspense, Religious & Inspirational Fiction

I would not have a problem if this was classified as Christian Horror. But in doing so, would this detract from the fact that his main audience of the novel is not Christians (the Saved)? I don't know. It might not, as one of its classifications above is Religious and Inspirational Fiction. Maybe, he could get away with it.

In delivering the message of this novel, that our weapon of offence is Faith and Trust in God while using the armour of God based on Ephesians 6:10-12, Howard spends the large majority of the novel showing the deception, temptation, manipulation of the demonic entities towards mankind, through the main character of Esau, in laying out their plan to dominate mankind and destroy their souls by holding them captive from God.

In doing this, he also shows how deceptive and corrupt we are in ourselves, due to our fallen, sinful nature, in wanting power, recognition and total independence, being accountable to no-one, not even ourselves. Esau was willing to give up everything to obtain power, prestige, and be in control over everyone. He had an altered image of himself, largely inflated, but this was really a front to hide the pain of his childhood traumas. It showed how even with the counsel of his friend, Oniva and her warnings about taking the microchip (Mark of the Beast) and that Elijah is not whom he says he is, (Creator, Saviour and Son of Man), he still gave in to these temptations and set himself up to be manipulated and used by Elijah, this demonic entity/fallen angel in progressing the latter's plan to dominate mankind, take all souls captive and be in total defiance towards God.

Howard shows in this novel the nature of the demonic and their reasons for wanting to enslave mankind. He shows in enough detail how persuasive the enemy is in targeting the weaknesses of our mind, thinking, desires (physical, sexual, mental), to win us over, He also shows the way out, God's plan for this.  There is a lot of spiritual truth in this novel and it is this that is appealing. I could include chunks of paragraphs to illustrate this but that would be spoilers and make this review too long for the reader. (I am sure authors love reading long reviews though!).

This novel does have an explosive ending where all the plot arcs intersect together in a great clash and the aftermath is satisfying. The reader is left with a better understanding of the demonic attack on our lives, the nature of our fallen/sinful state, the history behind it all, going right back to Genesis and what Christians need to do to fight this offence. We are in a spiritual battle whether we like it or not. I pray that any unsaved reader will not just see this as an entertaining story but see the spiritual implications that affect their lives and their eternity and what God had to do to secure us for our future and His.

As I said in the beginning, this is not your typical Christian fiction. It goes outside the boundaries of Christian reader's expectations and what the rules of Christian publishing dictate.

I strongly recommend this novel, but readers need to be aware that there is a sex scene (fellatio) and a slightly graphic description of fornication being initiated. I feel the spiritual truth outweighs this and the depiction of how the demonic works in the battle for mankind's soul in their rebellion against God.

The Devil's Diary can be found here:

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