Customer Reviews

Demon Lover

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This is a tale of melodramatic romance across many lifetimes between infantile but sensitive Veronica, who is unaware of her psychic abilities and past initiations into the occult; and Justin Lucas, her employer who hires her as his secretary and to unknowingly carry out his evil and unscrupulous desires to attain the top-secret Words of Power. Lucas's plan backfires when he recognises his past life connection with Veronica and that 'tie' to another human being sabotages his journey along the 'left hand path'. This tale conjurs up many a bad 'bodice ripper' with it's silly plot twists and instant emotional connections. Very formulaic with the 'all knowing, brutish but seductive male' and the 'utterly innocent heroine' who is the only one who can teach him to love. Swoon! And as expeceted, they're all terribly alone.

The only thing that stops this novel from holding up the crook leg of my desk is the probable accuracy of the occult refernces. For any student of the unknown forces, Ms Fortune is a well known and credible figure, thus this work of fiction, however crudely exceuted, deserves it place as a reference in any occultist's library. A final note, beware all who may find the many references to Christianity as the true saviour of man distasteful and unnecessary for an occult piece of fiction. It often feels that Ms Fortune is attempting to justify her travels along the occultist path by reminding us of her faith in Jesus.

Dion Fortune was an Amazing woman.This book was first published in 1927. Dion was heavily involved in the Occult community of that century England. Prior to her involvment with the Occult she was a psychologist. In this book she reveals her wisdom of human nature along with her great knowladge of the Occult. I suggest this book to those who either really enjoy a good supernatural story, Or those versed in psychic, occult, Wiccan, or paranormal studies. To explore this book is to go back in time to the days of secret societies, when magic was Magick.

Veronica is a young woman who is innocently plunged into a world of occult intrigue and danger.She becomes the secretary of Lucas who uses her psychic abilities to further his own ambitions.He is caught out by his own secret fraternity and escapes with Veronica as a hostage.She falls in love with him, and it is only her love which saves him from the Abyss into which he has fallen as a result of his abuse of occult forces.This is Dion Fortune's first novel, and it introduces a number of the occult themes that appear in her subsequent novels.This novel has the authority of someone who knows what she is writing about, and it is an exciting read.

Dion Fortune, for those who may not know about her, was not only a 1920's "horror" writer, she was also involved in the esoteric arts, being a member of the Theosophical Society. She was very well versed in the Qabalah and Western Mystery Tradition.

With this kind of background, her work takes on new meaning, as we see Ms. Fortune apply in her fiction what she practiced in her life. She offers special insights into the workings of the occult and her books have a quality about them that lifted them above the other works of that time.

The Demon Lover is typical of her work; a fine example of her style of writing that also provides some of her deeper insights into the questions that were being asked in the Occult Community at that time.

The story involved two main characters; Veronica Mainwaring and Justin Lucas. Veronica is a recent grad from a proper secretarial school, and is looking for a position. Justin Lucas is a member of a local Occult Lodge and is as ambitious as he is naive about the ways of the occult. The youngest member of the Lodge, he has become entranced by power and feels he is ready to take the position he feels he deserves.

He needs a medium, and his way of finding one is to advertise for a secretary. With many young women looking for work in the mid 20's, he feels he will find a young medium he can train to do his bidding. Enter Veronica Mainwaring. It appears that she is an unaware medium, which Lucas spots right away, and he hires her and has her move in with him. What follows is a nightmare for Ms. Mainwaring, who becomes bound to the aspiring Mage by an invisible collar and chain.

What is interesting is Ms. Fortune gives us some background into the English world of the mid 1920s. We are introduced to the culture and social structure of that time; much like Dickens gives us a picture of Victorian England. There is the disapproval of the superintendent of the Woman's Hostel where she had lived while in school. Her moving in with Lucas is frowned upon and she is turned away. Veronica decides she has nowhere else to go but back to Lucas' home. There is no escape from the entrapment she has fallen into.
The story continues with Lucas experimenting with his learned skills on Veronica. But what he is doing is condemned by his colleagues, and he gets caught. Punishment for his abuses is death, but rather than suffer at the hands of his peers, he kills himself. All that he owns is left to Veronica.

We are introduced to Occult practices, the quest for power and illicit knowledge. While there is no mention of a sexual relationship between Veronica and Justin, there appears to have been some romantic stirrings between them. The lusting for power, the learning of the mysteries, and the chain of command at that time are clearly laid out and provide a good basis for the story.

Veronica keeps Lucas' home after his death and settles in, only to find Lucas has never really left, but remains as a self evoked spirit. And now it is up to Veronica to stop him. She has learned much from him, and she is the only person standing between the Lucas Vampire and certain death of his innocent prey.

There is more to the story, with sub plots of past lives, the intertwining of the lives of the main characters, the deep despair Veronica feels as she is trapped, the feeling of freedom when Luca dies, and then the shock at what Lucas has become.

The book is an easy read. Ms. Fortune weaves an interesting story without taxing the readers ability to follow along. Overall, it is an interesting and pleasant read. While it probably raised a few hairs on the necks of the readers of the time, I found some of Fortune's insights and concepts of the occult interesting and of course, the setting of the mid twenties gives this story and almost "film noir" feeling. I pictured this as a movie done in black and white directed by Orson Wells, and it would have worked very well at the time.

If you like period pieces and occult mysteries, this is a great book for a weekend read. Its content is not as dated as some other works of the time, and it provides food for thought as well as entertainment. Well worth picking up.

One thing you have to take into consideration when reading this book is the time it was written in - when you take your head out of the modern day way of thinking and let yourself go back to a time when you didn't outwardly speak about occluded designs, yet Dion did so more than many people would have liked. She was also very good at superimposing that which is only seen to those who wish to see or whom are seeking it. It may seem like a sappy romance novel by the title but it's nothing of the sort. Actually, I've read some sappy romance novels, albeit very few as they are not my style, and this book has nothing of a formulae to compare to those "types" of books. It's obvious to me why this book was written with the title it was given, it catches your attention.
I enjoyed picking out the details.

I don't believe in having any books in my library that I don't read more than twice. I love this book so much that I wore it out and had to get a new one. I read it at least once per year (have had it for about 15 years). I especially like the art work on this one; it conveys the message of the book much better than the cover I used to have. Dion Fortune wrote this book to show what real vampires were as opposed to the Hollywood version. She also wanted to shed some light on the mystery religions especially in modern times. She makes this clear in her autobiographical book, Psychic Self Defense. If one is not interested in magic, this book can be read as a psychological thriller.

A secretary seeks to serve her employer, but not in this way. "The Demon Lover" is a classical fantasy novel telling the story of Veronica Mainwaring, a secretary hired by Justin Lucas. She soon finds Lucas uses her not for typing and coffee, but instead as a medium for his own unique quest for power, with Veronica unable to escape. A riveting story sure to please, "The Demon Lover" is very highly recommended.

I liked this novel a lot. Though not as good as her own Sea Priestess and even The Winged Bull, this novel, typical of Fortune's fiction, as a darkness and occult wisdom to it without pigeonholing herself or its audience into it. The problem with today's generation is that they got progressively worse as time went on, and more and more incompetant. The occult fiction genre reached a bad low around these times with the dread Necronomicon recieving a new release. Fortune didn't make pompous aspirations like any Necronomicon, didn't codify the occult into a religion like the Church of Satan, it wasn't a hoax like Crowley. Basically, I like it because it keeps it more reality based with an engrossing plot and believable characters while retaining the humor of suckering you out of money for enteratinment. Fortune and this novel is to be commended with knowing the occult and not just walking on thin ice.