Lord Foulgrin's Letters
Hard on the heels of Don Hawkins's flambeau@darkcorp.com (LJ 2/1/00), where a demon offers advice to his subordinate via e-mail, Alcorn's repetitious and wordy new work (after Dominion and Deadline) offers homage to C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. As Foulgrin writes missives to his lackey Squaltaint, he comments on Jordan Fletcher, a businessman so busy looking for happiness that it's passing him by. Fletcher's story unfolds in tiny vignettes between letters as Squaltaint tries to follow his superior's order to corrupt Fletcher so that he will never have a chance at Heaven. While Foulgrin's signatory phrases are somewhat amusing ("The Devil's advocate," "Populating hell one image-bearer at a time," etc.), the basic message behind this book is beaten into the dust. Purchase where Alcorn fans demand, but for satire, flambeau@darkcorp.com cuts to the basics.Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.