num_pages: 285
description: A stolen child.An ancient evil.A fathers descent.And the literary masterpiece that holds the key to his daughters salvation. Professor David Ullman is among the worlds leading authorities on demonic literature with special expertise in Miltons Paradise Lost. Not that David is a believerhe sees what he teaches as a branch of the imagination and nothing more. So when the mysterious Thin Woman arrives at his office and invites him to travel to Venice and witness a phenomenon he turns her down. She leaves plane tickets and an address on his desk advising David that her employer is not often disappointed.That evening Davids wife announces she is leaving him. With his life suddenly in shambles he impulsively whisks his beloved twelve-year-old daughter Tess off to Venice after all. The girl has recently been stricken by the same melancholy moods David knows so well and he hopes to cheer her up and distract them both from the troubles at home.But what happens in Venice will change everything.First in a tiny attic room at the address provided by the Thin Woman David sees a man restrained in a chair muttering clearly insane . . . but could he truly be possessed? Then the man speaks clearly in the voice of Davids dead father repeating the last words he ever spoke to his son. Words that have left scarsand a mysterybehind.When David rushes back to the hotel he discovers Tess perched on the roofs edge high above the waters of the Grand Canal. Before she falls she manages to utter a final plea: Find me.What follows is an unimaginable journey for David Ullman from skeptic to true believer. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost David must track the demon that has captured his daughter and discover its name. If he fails he will lose Tess forever.
language: English
title: The Demonologist
publisher: Simon & Schuster