Not many would have the guts to take a modern twist on a C.S. Lewis classic, but author Richard Platt has done just that with his first novel As One Devil to Another.

With equally as curious names, As One Devil to Another is the letter correspondence of Slashreap to his nephew Scardagger. The young devil is an outstanding “cadet” at Temptation University, and Slashreap is more than happy to take such a promising mischief-maker under this diabolical wing. It is his job to ensure that humans (also known as “clients”) are drawn away from God, their “Adversary”, and pulled closer to their own inherent knack for sinful self-destruction.

As One Devil to Another is virtually Screwtape Letters 2.0. Although we are dealing with different devils, different clients (in this version, the client is a university female graduate student), the similarities between Platt’s book and Lewis’s are abundant—even down to the similarly affectionate salutations. These devils are still up to manipulating situations, exploiting weaknesses and capitalizing on spiritual blindness... and their methods haven’t changed. What Platt offers is the same devilish disturbances brought into today’s world. For example, the reader gets to see this devil boast in corrupting God’s design for sexuality with the “Sexual Revolution” and the dangers of allowing mass media to tell Christians how to live.

At the end of the read, you have to tip your hat to Platt, because As One Devil to Another is enlightening and causes any reader to look inward at the presence of God that is already within him or her. It also provokes readers to see the abundance of ways in which the Enemy is desperately trying to get them away from knowing such a power exists in them.

For obvious reasons, this book will appeal to ravenous C.S. Lewis fans, although, chances are, they will read it with a critical eye in light of their devotion of the original. New readers to the genre will enjoy As One Devil to Another merely for its interesting take on the spiritual life.

As One Devil to Another: A Fiendish Correspondence in the Tradition of C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters