Though the same circumstance is probably attributed to most states, it may be true that politics actually are the damnedest in Kentucky. In any case, the setting of this story is Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, during the latter part of the last decade, in which officials were trucked off in significant numbers to the penitentiary. This novel has to do with the peccadilloes and the purveyors of same, along with their cohorts in the private sector (illegal and otherwise), who, for whatever reason, manage to place themselves in line for that trip to the Big House. The novel provides an approach that, while being fanciful and sometimes lighthearted, also furnishes a sort of “spiritual” context in which the actions are played out to an otherworldly beat.

In the book, Lucifer (Satan, or the devil, as biblically named) is ineligible for redemption, unlike human beings, and therefore doomed to eternal hell. Playing on God's sense of fairness, Lucifer appeals to the Archangel Michael for a chance to redeem himself by turning a person he has corrupted into a paragon of virtue. Against his own wishes but deferring to a higher power, Michael makes the deal. However, since moral perfection is impossible for anyone, he decrees that Lucifer must attain redemption by seeing that his subject does not break nine of the Ten Commandments politically, rather than morally. The agreement is struck and the target of Lucifer's effort becomes the corrupt, wealthy governor of Kentucky, who is gearing up for reelection and is hopelessly paranoid about his opponents. Besides engaging in the usual local corruption, the "Guv" worms his way into a deal to bring riverboat gambling to the state. Lucifer dispatches an imp disguised as a political consultant to infiltrate the campaign and influence the governor toward political righteousness. The imp and the governor's spokeswoman share a romantic attraction, which is also resolved in this rollicking, metaphysical muckraking of Kentucky politics. Read it, laugh, and weep.

Lucifer’s Hope…the Guv

ISBN: 9780595257980 (paperback)

ISBN: 9780595653430 (cloth)

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