Ray Russell is an American author born on September 4, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. Despite Russell’s massive success in the literary world, he did not always work as a writer. After graduating high school, he served in the Air Force and subsequently studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He then worked for the United States Treasury to make ends meet.
In 1963, Russell published his first novel, The Case Against Satan, which tells the story of a teenager named Susan Garth who starts behaving in malevolent and demonic ways. Father Gregory Sargent of the local Catholic Church weighs the moral repercussions of performing an exorcism on such a young girl. Is she merely mentally-ill, or legitimately possessed by the Devil?
Upon its publication, The Case Against Satan received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Kenyon Ellefson of the Portland Book Review praises Russell for creating a “well-written and accessible work that is delightfully full of careful nuance, yet free from weighty judgments and pesky dogmatic diatribes.” Ray Russell has also been praised by the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Stephen King for his captivating work in the horror genre.
