Decent rendition, but largely censored

The Devil Rides Out is a horror classic from 1934, the second installment of Dennis Wheatley's Duke de Richleau series, and today largely remembered for its Hammer film adaptation starring Christopher Lee (whose own audiobook version is an abridged reading, unfortunately). To the modern reader, who has become accustomed to Satanic Horror having evolved into its own genre, the story might seem to lack inspiration somewhat, discovering nothing more than what has come to be known as the standard lore on the subject - much like Bram Stoker's Dracula seems to spend an awful lot of time establishing the rules of vampirism, which nowadays are expected to be the starting point of any decent vampire story, not some of its big reveals. However, while the spiritualist fad of the Victorian era was beginning to move from recent to more distant memory in the 1930s, outright devil-worship was still new and quite unthinkable for upstanding members of society - yet not unheard of due to the well-publicised life of occultist Aleister Crowley, who had become a public figure by the 1920s.

Bearing in mind this sensationalist undercurrent concerning a potential new, scandalous evil, Wheatley's sometimes long-winded and often inelegantly inserted, but accurately researched descriptions of occultist practise make somewhat more sense, providing the contemporary reader with a glimpse of a religious cult that was in some way real (in the sense that actual practitioners could be believed to exist), but also mysterious, frightening and potentially dangerous. The plot's suspense may not hold interest on its own, but it it sufficient for tying together one educational speech on occultism with the next, which form the true basis for shock value to a contemporary audience. As such, The Devil Rides Out is now both a useful compendium for the origins of satanist belief that has crossed over into popular culture, and a compelling glance at social views of the era. The upright Christian hero who defends virtue against the vices of blashpemy and debauchery may be hard to take seriously now, but apparently worked well for a popular audience at the time (Wheatley's work was rather successful in its day). Particularly curious is a description of unheard of music, lacking melody and order, being played to accompany an orgiastic Sabbat, which reads like a Conservative's take on Jazz taking over the music halls.

Nick Mercer gives a capable rendition, but lacks in giving life to many of the novel's characters. There is neither much aristocracy in his Duke de Richleau, nor, in consequence, much contrast to the more plainspoken Simon Aron. His attempt at an American accent for Rex van Ryn is half-hearted and unconvincing, leaving much of the character's idiosyncrasies falling flat. Amongst all this blandness, Madame d'Urfé jarringly receives a rather too broad old-hag comical treatment. All of this does not sit too well with a novel that relies heavily on dialogue. In terms of elocution, Mercer knows his trade though, which still makes for a pleasant listen overall.

My biggest gripes with this audiobook edition is its heavy censorship. Any reference that would be considered racist by modern standards to one of the villains' black servant is excised. Rex is no longer allowed to infer the forner being black from the Duke's comparing him to the bogey man. The "half-Negro, half-Polynesian" is now a "half-Black". The Duke's assessment of him - "A 'bad black' if I ever saw one" - is softened to "A bad sort". Also the "English Jew" Simon Aron is now a "Jewish Englishman". (This is merely a cursory overview of the alterations in Chapter 1). Obviously, this censorship renders one of the book's merits - attesting to social attitudes of the time - less authentic. Besides, philologists haven't made it a practise to account for every misplaced comma through the ages, just for modern sensibilities to do away with notions of integrity to a work. At the very least, this apparently being an Audible production, Audible should document the changes made and make buyers aware that they are purchasing an altered work.

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