Written in 1962 before the term "exorcist" was as ubiquitous as it is today, The Case Against Satan is the story of a Catholic priest tasked with saving a young girl who claims to be possessed by the Devil himself.
In much the same way that Peter Benchley's Jaws (and Steven Spielberg's movie) brought the potential danger of sharks into the paranoid consciousness of the general public, so Ray Russell's The Case Against Satan reopened the door for the almost-forgotten Catholic practice of exorcism to become a media phenomenon.
While Russell's book shares some similarities to William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel and 1973 screenplay of The Exorcist, the parity is largely from the set-up rather than the execution.
Young priest Father Gregory Sargent - who may have a drinking problem, but definitely embraces modern, scientific ideas - is moved to a new parish in the city, where one of his first encounters is with widower Robert Garth and his oddly-behaving teenage daughter, Susan.
After a lifetime as a "clean-talking sweet little girl", she has suddenly developed an aversion to churches, a penchant for foul language, and - on one occasion - stripping in front of a priest and violently sticking her nails into his throat.
Garth refuses to take his daughter to a psychiatrist, and so Fr Sargent, aided by his superior, Bishop Conrad Crimmings, try talking to the girl instead.
Eventually, they are led to believe she may be possessed and so Crimmings instructs Sargent to conduct an exorcism on her.
Clearly The Case Against Satan lays the groundwork for The Exorcist, but unlike that game-changing movie, it is far more cerebral and less cinematic in its approach.
That's not to say there aren't horrific descriptions of the restrained Susan's contortions and pleas as the holy men try to exorcise the "demon" from within her.
But here the dynamics are delivered through dialogue, as the priest and the Bishop discuss their different takes on the situation, while verbally jousting with the "demon" (if that's even what it is).
Along the way we are introduced to a number of side characters, who all have their own input on the scenario, ultimately creating a tone more akin to a hardboiled crime novel than an out-and-out horror story.
Coming in at 140-pages, this is an engaging - and fascinating - read, like discovering a story about an island under siege from a predatory shark before Benchley's bestseller saw print.
