Rating: 
Summary: Had to throw the book away.
Review: I read the first edition of this book many years ago. Although a nominal Christian, I did not think much about the nature of evil, let alone demonic possession. The book made me think about these issues, particularly about the nature of the human soul and the gift/burden of free will.However, I had to throw the book away. For some reason I could not read this book at night, feeling frightened, much like a child when waking up in the middle of the night in a dark bedroom - afraid that something harmful might be out there. I had to leave the book outside the bedroom. Also, my wife could not bear the presence of the book - she never read it. She would glance at the cover and ask me to put it away somewhere. It got so bad with her I had to throw it away. We have no rational explanation for these feelings, perhaps some primordial awareness of potential danger. Sensitive readers should read the book in the mornings, never alone at night.
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Summary: A Hauntingly Dangerous Reading
Review: I was attacked by this book on more than one occasion. The first day I received the book it jumped out of the shipping carton and went straight for my jugular vien. I had to fight the book off. The very next day the book flew off the book shelf and caught me right at the bridge of my nose. I received 12 stitches to close the cut. Nothing happened for about a week, then one night the book clamped down on my head so hard I had a migraine. I do recommend the book, but I also recommend you put it in a safe place.
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Summary: Eye-opening!
Review: As a new Christian, I was thoroughly taken by this book. I am not one to easily believe in spooks and mysticism however, for me the overwhelming theme is, there always has been and always will be evil in the world. Being aware of this equips us to be on the alert. What scares me is not the clear overwhelming evil but, the subtle evil, the middle of the road, the gray areas. The gray areas are what leads to the more darker sides of evil.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book about demonic possession
Review: I read this book after reading People of the Lie, a book about the nature and origin of evil in the modern world. The case studies are very well documented, and even those of you who have never believed in possession, people like me, will be intrigued and think about this book a long time after you finish it. By the way, this is considered a classic on the subject.
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Summary: The premier work on possession.
Review: This work will open your eyes to the world of demons and angels that we live in. It takes away the fear factor for anyone who thinks they might become "possessed" by describing the process of possession. It is also realistic enough in the case studies that it describes that it should dissuade any casual dabblers from being foolish enough to "try" an exorcism. A page turner that can change your life!
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Summary: Frightening for its substance, not sensationalism
Review: This book will probably scare the daylights out of you, but that is clearly not the author's intention. There is very little that is sensationalistic in the book; what frightens most is the way in which the characters and events depicted ring so absolutely true. The essence of the fear is not that the events are so unusual, but rather that, apart from some strange occurrences, they seem so utterly normal. We watch in horror as each individual slowly sinks into darkness as he surrenders his will to another will he knows is not his own. It's the juxtaposition of the so thoroughly evil with the mundane, that makes the accounts so unnerving. If Martin made these characters up, I would find it difficult to believe in any characters. That is how lifelike and totally believable they all are. But this book is not for everybody. I sometimes felt "slimed" while reading it, that I was brushing up against something so insidious and foul, that I had to put it down for a time. Although a believing Catholic, I was concerned that I was becoming intrigued with the subject matter for less than pure motives. For that reason, I would often perform a "spiritual check" on myself before picking it up again. Even at the time, I remember thinking that this book could possibly do spiritual damage if not read in the right spirit and with the right motives. The "exorcism" itself is the tip of the iceberg; what is truly harrowing is the process of possession itself and the interaction between man and spirit. Do not read it at night. I did and often regretted it. And for those of you who think the earlier reviewer's mention of hearing "growling' in her house was just a fabrication or delusion, consider this. I lent this book to my older sister to whom I had recommended it. After reading it off and on for about a week and a half (because she was getting a little spooked), she woke up like a shot one night at 3 in the morning when she heard music absolutely blaring from her 3 year old son's bedroom. She entered the room to find a "boom box" stereo (which did not have an alarm function), on the floor blasting out the noise. Her son was sound asleep. They never found out what had caused it. The next day, she called me and asked me to pick up the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Concepts, great; Veracity, uncertain
Review: M. Scott Peck recommends this book in People of the Lie, which is darn good in terms of examining the concept of evil via psychological terms. Peck wasn't able to judge the book's veracity but it gave him a lot to chew on, and did support some of his experiences with evil. I highly anticipated reading it. On first read, the book seems very authentic. It's detailed, extensive, and offers five strong case studies that offer EXTREMELY likely ways that demonic influence could take hold of a person. (Usually, as with any evil, the victim is partially a willing one, trading his spiritual freedom for some form of emotional security.) Instead of choosing the hard and true road of healing, victims are enticed to go for the "quick fix." This truth and others lend a great deal of credibility to Martin's accounts. However, on second read, many of the resulting conclusions seem to possess mystical catholic elements (such as the transsexual's case study, where the priest expounds on God's view of gender). These concepts, promoted as spiritual truth, seem too neatly packaged and shed doubt on the authenticity of the events. For example, Martin even treats psychic phenomena apart from demonic influence (even to the point of casting one's spirit back in time) as spiritually feasible according to the Christian faith (see The Tortoise case), yet scripture has little to say of such things. It's purely speculative, yet cast as truth and common knowledge. (Has psychic phenomena TRULY been documented, anywhere?) Martin's psychic philosophy is so highly developed that it makes other similarly fleshed-out theologies in this book sound like the result of Catholic guesswork and mysticism. They're almost parables in function, rather than actual events. I do strongly recommend this book. I read it at night, and to be honest, it scared the cr*p out of me. If you've got the guts, read it at night; otherwise, you'd do better reading at noon. The case studies are a great read, and there's a lot of valuable conceptual truth that could easily conform to how possession occurs. But I would remain skeptical of the concrete truth of these accounts, or at least the Catholic mysticism attached to them.
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Summary: And We are Many!
Review: Of the hucksters who have cheerfully raked the suffering body of Christ for every piece of silver they can extort from those souls gullible and willing to fork Him over for the sake of keeping up appearances with friends in well-placed Catholic circles, none does a better job than the well known former Jesuit priest, Malachi Martin. Ever able to exploit his audience's appetite for clerical intrigue by publishers ever-anxious to mine screenplays from lumps of literary coal, he (like his subject) manages to wriggle and writhe his way through the backwoods of America in search of news of the weird. And he succeeds! The armchair Catholics barely feeble enough to turn the pages of the latest National Catholic Reporter (or flick the telecommando to EWTN!) will shiver as they contemplate Martin zipping his merry way through cults and covens aplenty. Too bad the author is a semi-defrocked character living in sepulchral splendor on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; too bad that his credibility is virtually nil in the ecclesiastical circles in which he claimed to occupy positions of power and prestige; too bad that this effort will probably ride the heels of future trends in things Satanic; too bad that it will end up loved and appreciated by those snake-handlers somwehere out in the boondocks of this country.
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Summary: THIS BOOK IS REAL
Review: WHILE READING THIS BOOK IN OCTOBER OF 96 THERE WERE "GROWL" SOUNDS COMING FROM MY DAUGHTERS ROOM. THIS IS TRUE!!!
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Summary: This book reads like fiction...but I believe it's true!
Review: This book is chilling. I wouldn't advise anyone who is faint at heart to read this book. I believe the cases in the book to be true because Malachi Martin presents too much detail about the lives of the priests and the possessed in each case for this book to be a work of fiction, a hoax, or a misdiagnosis of the victims. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a real interest in the subject and to psychologists and psychiatrists who have had patients that didn't quite fit into the diagnostic pegs of multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia. I'd also like to recommend the book "People of the Lie" by doctor M. Scott Peck.
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