The Devil S Evidence

A stunning new thriller from the critically acclaimed author of The Devil’s Detective. When a violent outbreak of fires plunges his city into chaos, Thomas Fool, commander of Hell’s Information Men, finds himself outsmarted by a shadowy new department called the Evidence. Sent away to Heaven on a diplomatic mission he discovers murder has come to paradise, yet no one is willing to admit it. As tensions mount on both sides of the afterlife, can Fool solve the ultimate paradox?

Thomas Fool is a detective from Hell--literally. Having survived the wrath of both angel and demon, and still without memory of his life on earth, Fool is currently spending his damnation as a bureaucrat heading up the Information Office of Hell. But when mysterious fires begin spooking higher-ups in the Bureaucracy--homicidal arson, it's believed--and a series of unexplained murders plagues Heaven, Fool is dispatched north to investigate. But Heaven is not what Fool imagines. In fact, it's not so different from Hell. And friction between the two afterworlds is only beginning to mount as Fool conducts his investigation. The Devil's Evidence is a thrilling ride through the spiritual realm, and a welcome return for the dead's most endearing private eye.

Ninety-five years ago the enormous interplanetary space vehicle, the Pacifica, with a numerous crew, suddenly and inexplicably disappeared as it neared the planet Pluto. None of the probes directed towards the planet after the disaster found any evidence that the vessel and its crew had ever existed. Now, a century later, the wreck of the huge ship has been sighted, lying shrouded in the hazy-black starlight on the Plutonian surface. A shuttle has been fitted for the dangerous journey to the seventh planet, and with three crewmembers aboard, has made the first attempt to reach Pluto since the loss of the Pacifica. As the shuttle approaches the planet, it also 'suddenly and inexplicably' disappears and is lost. Although the crew of three is believed to have perished, they have not, and will carry on with their mission: to determine how the Pacifica met its fate. The truth, however, may be found only beyond reason, or even beyond imagination, and the three astronauts may wish that they never sought answer to this great mystery.

" The following extraordinary account of the "Cause Célèbre" of Urbain Grandier, the Curé of Loudun, accused of Magic and of having caused the Nuns of the Convent of Saint Ursula to be possessed of devils, is written by an eye witness, and not only an eyewitness but an actor in the scenes he describes. It is printed at "Poitiers, chez J. Ftoreau et la veuve Ménier, Imprimeurs du Roi et de l’Université 1634." I believe two copies only are known: my own, and the one in the National Library, Paris. The writer is Monsieur des Niau, Counsellor at la Flèche, evidently a firm believer in the absurd charges brought against Grandier. Magic appears to have had its origin on the plains of Assyria, and the worship of the stars was the creed of those pastoral tribes who, pouring down from the mountains of Kurdistan into the wide level where Babylon afterwards raised its thousand towers, founded the sacerdotal race of the Chasdim or Chaldeans. To these men were soon alloted peculiar privileges and ascribed peculiar attributes, until, under the name of Magi, they acquired a vast and permanent influence. Their temples were astronomical observatories as well as holy places; and the legendary tower of Babel, in the Book of Genesis, is probably but the mythical equivalent of a vast edifice consecrated to the study of the seven planets, or perhaps, as the Bab (court or palace) of Bel, to the brilliant star of good fortune alone. Availing themselves of the general adoration of the stars, they appear to have invented a system of astrology the apotelesmatic science by which they professed to decide upon the nature of coming events and the complexion of individual fortunes..."

The most openly political of Dostoevsky's four major novels, The Devils has left literary scholars intrigued with its difficult narrative structure which veers back and forth between first and third person, and fascinated by the political overtones and social commentary it includes. For these reasons, The Devils often anchors courses on Dostoevsky's works. This critical companion contains essays that shed light on both the tricky literary structure of the novel as well as its social and political components.