American Odyssey The Devil's Hand by B.F. Hess; Gripping Modern Day Faustian Supernatural Horror ..Or Is It?

 American Odyssey The Devil's Hand by B.F. Hess; Gripping Modern Day Faustian Supernatural Horror ..Or Is It?

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I guess there's no time like the present to read a modern day adaptation of the Faust story like B.F. Hess’ American Odyssey: The Devil's Hand. It has many of the usual tropes found in the adaptations: cocky ambitious protagonist, creepy and charming demonic figure, deal with the devil, naive troubled love interest, many good times of untold wealth and fame, terrifying supernatural moments, and the climax when it all goes horribly wrong and the devil comes to collect. What makes American Odyssey different is the blurred lines between fantasy and reality, sanity and madness, delusion and truth. 

Uriel Jacob Sullinger, the latest patient at the Clay County Home for the Mentally Ill, has an interesting story to tell his psychiatrist, Dr. Kessler. Jacob was once a rich, powerful, influential lawyer. During a case, Jacob receives an unusual offer from a friend to strike a deal with a M. Diabolus. When Jacob meets Diabolus, he can't help but notice that there is something mesmerizing but sinister about him. Dare we even say potentially demonic? 

American Odyssey is an interesting send up to the Faustian Legend. The modernized touches make the legend relevant and relatable to Readers. Instead of a demonic figure magically popping in and out from nowhere, Diabolus is dressed in fine tailored suits and has clandestine meetings in penthouses and limos. Instead of signing contracts written in blood, Diabolus like most businessmen rely on third parties and legal loopholes to get his souls.

It's similar to the movie, The Devil's Advocate which also depicts Satan (played by a deliciously diabolical Al Pacino) as a modern day businessman who uses the contemporary world to his advantage. 

There are some other touches that build on familiar tropes. Jacob was raised by an eccentric great uncle, who had a very loose definition of what is considered legal, and served as Jacob’s Wise Old Mentor. There's Fran, a married older woman who is ruined by her association with Jacob. There's Angelica, a sweet restaurateur who helps Jacob when he hits rock bottom and takes him to get the resources that he needs. Her name and personality might not be the only things angelic about her. Jacob is tormented by nightmares and visions of demons, fire, and torture that cause him to question his sanity and require medication to control.

Speaking of questions of sanity and requiring medication, there is another subtle more subversive element to this book that makes it more than a postmodern “Deal with the Devil.” There's an ongoing theme of mental health and the decline of it. The novel begins in a psychiatric hospital and Jacob recounts his story to his psychiatrist. Jacob spends the first few chapters detailing his upbringing by his great uncle and there are definite signs of inherited mental illness. Kessler even admits that he considers Jacob's great uncle a friend because of their time as philanthropist and beneficiary but also as doctor and patient. There are also revelations towards the end that Jacob is the latest in a long line of family members that have had psychological disorders and let's just say did not express them in the healthiest of ways. 

This background information casts the Reader in the role of a dubious skeptic wondering how much of the book is true in a literal sense, a figurative sense, or just a series of visual and auditory hallucinations. This question is never answered and leaves room for alternative possibilities and theories. 

Looking at his story from a more detached analytical perspective, it's possible that this is not the adventures of a man making a deal with the devil but the story of a man who is fighting a losing battle against his own sanity. His nightmares may not be supernatural but hallucinations. Seeing religious significance in real people like Diabolus and Angelica could be symptoms of paranoid delusions and they are neither diabolical nor divine messengers. His biggest battle might not be good vs. evil but instead madness vs. sanity.

If he's not damned by Satan, then Jacob is damned by his own mind. One can confront the Prince of Darkness, but can they ever really confront the darkness within themselves if they don't recognize it?