Review

Memnoch The Devil is the fifth novel in The Vampire Chronicles which was first published in 1995 and has to be my least liked of the series as it is one long discussion about who has humanity’s best interests at heart: God or Satan. It is an excruciatingly dull read and this is only the second time I’ve read it even though I have read the other books countless times.

The story begins in New York where Lestat is meeting David at an hotel and we learn Lestat is once again alone after the companionship of David, Louis and Lestat came to end by mutual agreement. In New York, Lestat has been trying out a new way of hunting by focusing on one victim and stalking him for months before finally killing him. The victim in question is Roger, a mobster and drug dealer, who also likes to collect rare religious artefacts in the hope that his daughter, Dora, will have a use for them. However, Dora, a beautiful televangelist, will not take anything from her father because of his criminal activities. When Lestat tells David about them, the other vampire rightly accuses Lestat of falling in love with them which is why he has yet to kill Roger.

However, the real reason Lestat wants to talk to David is that he feels he is being stalked himself by a powerful spirit and genuinely believes it to be the Devil himself. After pages and pages of pointless discussion, David more or less tells Lestat to get a grip which leads to Lestat finally killing Roger in his luxurious apartment. Later, Lestat is horrified when the ghost of Roger visits him in a cafe and asks him to look after Dora. Lestat gets David to help him move all Roger’s religious artefacts to keep them safe for Dora as he believes Roger’s enemies will take them once they learn of his death.

When Lestat reveals his true identity to Dora and confesses to having killed her father, she sees his existence as the sign she has been awaiting and her religious fervour is renewed. The spirit finally makes an appearance and tells Lestat that he is indeed Satan and he wants Lestat to be his helper. Lestat accompanies Memnoch (the name Satan prefers) on a whirlwind tour of humanity’s history and reveals how he is against God’s notion that people have to suffer. Memnoch reveals he spent time amongst humans, experiencing life as they do, so he could convince God that they were worthy of a place in Heaven as they were passionate creatures. However, God disagreed and banished Memnoch to the realm of Sheol, where confused souls gather after death, and he is given the task of finding those worthy of going on to Heaven.

As part of his tour, Lestat believes he has witnessed the Crucifixion and been invited to feed of the blood of Christ himself, before being given the Veil of Veronica, a piece of cloth said to bear an image of Jesus’s face. Increasingly confused by what he is being shown, Lestat realises he is likely being deceived by Memnoch and manages to break free from him. Lestat tells the whole tale to David and Dora, producing the veil as proof it actually happened. While David remains sceptical, Dora reveals the existence of the veil to the world and creates a new religion. Lestat’s worst fears that he has been used are confirmed when Maharet gives him a note from Memnoch thanking him for a job well done. Lestat flies into a rage and has to be chained up by Maharet and imprisoned until she believes he has calmed down enough not to be a danger to himself or others.

While some aspects of Memnoch’s story are fascinating, I just don’t believe it fits well into The Vampire Chronicles and should have been explored elsewhere. Anne Rice did go on to write the Christ the Lord series, as well as the Songs of the Seraphim series, neither of which I’ve read. Not a book I’m likely to read again.