The End is nigh, and Lucifer has come to walk among us. On holiday.
The Prince of Darkness has been given one last shot at redemption, if he can live out a reasonably blameless life on earth. Highly sceptical, naturally, the Old Dealmaker negotiates a trial period - a summer holiday in a human body, with all the delights of the flesh.
The body, however, turns out to be that of Declan Gunn, a depressed writer living in Clerkenwell, interrupted in his bath mid-suicide. Ever the opportunist, and with his main scheme bubbling in the background, Luce takes to the chance to tap out a few thoughts - to straighten the Biblical record, to celebrate his favourite achievements, to let us know just what it's like being him.
Neither living nor writing turns out to be as easy as it looks. Beset by distractions, miscalculations and all the natural shocks that flesh is heir to, the Father of Lies slowly begins to learn what it's like being us.
Glen Duncan's wickedly funny new novel is an investigation of the world of the senses - the seductiveness of evil, and the affection which keeps us human.
