It's a classic premise: someone of wealth gathers together a number of people who need money, and puts them through hell to get it. This book managed to bring a few new tricks to the idea. Simply reading the cover blurb and the first couple of chapters, one might think that the seven people are simply going to represent the seven deadly sins and their host the Devil. Reading along, though, it's clear that the characters are far more complicated. They each embody a number of sins and virtues. No one is black and white. Everyone is a shade of grey, a very dark shade of grey. By the end of the story, one wonders just who the host was playing Devil to. The fact that the author never fully reveals the exact nature of the being calling himself Samael might be cause for some readers to question categorizing this book as "fantasy." But I am not one to care too much about such things. The author also never promised anywhere along the way to reveal the truth of Samael (quite the opposite really). That was very smart.
Found this book through the Goodreads "What's the title of that book?" forum, and, to be fair, no one said it was excellent, just that it was about a group of people on an island playing a dangerous game for a chance at a million dollars (this was the 70s, so it was a lot of money). I love books like this so I thought I would take a risk and give it a try. Unfortunately it was very dated and the sexism hard to swallow (the women are only going to get ahead by crying and/or by sleeping with all the men. Hard to swallow. See what I did there?), plus parts were a bit non-sensical. If you absolutely adore this genre it might be worth your time, but otherwise just go re-read (or read) And Then There Were None.
What do You think about The Devil's Game (1985)?
I'm giving this book 3 stars mainly for the concept. I personally thought this book was lacking in many areas and was confusing or annoying to read. Overly described settings, changes from third person to first between chapters, and a long "main" character list that made it difficult to remember qualities of individuals since we are constantly learning something new about someone from all different perspectives and plots. Really wanted to learn more about Samael and wished more development on that plot point.
—Steven
