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Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as it should have been
Review: I never thought the day would come when I gave a Peter Kreeft book a poor grade. But the day has come.This book is written in the style of the classic "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. I don't fault Kreeft for falling short of the brilliance of Lewis, for almost any author is going to miss so high a mark. But I do fault Kreeft for failing to tell a consistent story over the course of this book. In "The Screwtape Letters" Lewis shows you the life of a young man (from the perspective of his tempters) from the time he becomes a Christian, all the way through to his death. We see him while he is a baby in his faith. We see him fall into sin, and then repent. We see him struggle in World War II and then follow him to his death. Finally we get to see a glimpse of him as he rises into Glory. We can see in this young man our own lives, our own struggles and our own temptations. And we can hope for his reward. "The Snakebite Letters" fails utterly to imitate this style. The man in this book has just converted to Christianity. Then, out of nowhere, he's sleeping with some girl we never even heard of. Then, just as suddenly, she's having an abortion. Then we never hear about her again! Then there's several chapters about him attending classes at a liberal Catholic university. Then the book just ends. What a disappointment! The chapters don't flow at all. It is as if each chapter was written independently and then hobbled together into a book. Peter Kreeft is one of my favorite authors. I get the feeling that either he didn't spend much time on this book, or that it was heavily edited by someone else. It's a pity. Kreeft is one of the few authors that could pull off a legitimate update of "The Screwtape Letters." But he missed with this one...
Rating: 
Summary: Rather clever overview ...
Review: of the general themes Prof. Kreeft covers in his other, more "serious" academic works. As a former government bureaucrat (recovering nicely, thank you!), I particularly enjoyed the narrative of what happens to various tempters who fail in their missions - they get assigned to Hell's version of "sensitivity training." I am inclined to recommend the reader to stay with Prof. Kreeft's academic work, and leave the related "stirring fiction" to one of his favorite writers, C.S. Lewis. If Amazon had a half-star rating, I'd give this 3.5 - a B grade, as a 4 star would be an A-.
Rating: 
Summary: Laugh and Cringe at the same moment
Review: This is a fabulous read. I could not put the book down until I knew just how the advice from one of the devil's hench-men to an underling would turn out. Kreeft is witty, out-right funny and deadly serious all at the same time. I was simultaneously laughing out loud and horrified to recognize my own behavior. How does an author make that possible? How could I not have known about this book earlier? The book is also full of truth and moral lessons, helpful in any age, but particularly difficult to find in the modern world and impossible to find in such an enjoyable manner.
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