The Devil's Lieutenant is a dark supernatural thriller novella written by Shervin Jamali. The very best moment of Michael’s life had been when his wife gave birth to their infant son. He was everything to the young police officer who constantly marvelled at the tiny human who had come into his world and made it special. All that changed forever when he came home one night to find his five-year-old son dead from a gunshot wound, his wife kneeling alongside the tiny body, her eyes streaming tears. Michael’s instant reaction was disbelief at his wife’s action and then he experienced an insane rage, compelling him to raise his police revolver and aim it at her head. He watched, horrified, as she also raised the gun she was holding, and she killed herself a moment before his bullet hit her throat. After that, his drinking went out of control, and his career in law enforcement ended in disgrace. One year after his family was destroyed, a stranger appeared in his home. Michael was drunk, as usual, and still obsessed by his hatred for his dead wife, when the stranger gave him the awful and shocking news. Michael alone was to blame for his son’s death, who was now, along with Michael’s wife, in hell, and only by working for the devil could Michael save them.

Shervin Jamali’s dark supernatural thriller, The Devil's Lieutenant, is a taut and compelling tale about a good cop’s moment of carelessness with a gun and the tortuous path of redemption he must tread to save his wife and child from eternal damnation. And while we’ve all grown up knowing never to trust that the devil will keep his bargains, one can’t help but hope that Michael succeeds. Jamali spins a compelling story that touches on the conundrum of whether killing an infant Hitler is justified by his future acts versus a belief in the chance he may turn out differently. It’s also directly relevant to the tragic reality that improperly stored guns do end up in young children’s hands. All too often either the child or someone else is killed through ignorance, carelessness and innocence. Will Michael see his family redeemed from hell through his actions? Or is this just another contract with Lucifer that’s bound to fail? The Devil's Lieutenant keeps the reader wondering, and that’s a good thing. This compelling debut offering is most highly recommended.

The Devil’s Lieutenant by Shervin Jamali is about an American cop, Michael, who comes home from work one fateful night to discover his son lying dead on the floor, covered in blood, and his wife leaning over the body, sobbing bitterly. What transpires next will surprise you as one man and his family are destroyed in a matter of minutes. Life for Michael becomes a literal hell, as he is convinced to carry out vicious and gruesome acts on behalf of the Devil in an attempt to save his family’s souls; since he believes they are trapped in hell. Will Michael be able to save his loved ones from the fiery wrath of hell? Their fate now lies in the hands of The Devil’s Lieutenant.

The Devil’s Lieutenant is a well written, scintillating adventure with a solid plot, humorous language and never-ending twists that left me clamouring for more. Shervin Jamali depicts the Devil in the traditional sense that he has always been portrayed, but, with an innovative ingenious approach. Jamali rightfully bestows upon the king of evil his dreaded, dark, gruesome, vindictive, selfish, ungodly persona. However, in this prequel, the Devil appears to be trustworthy and is blessed with a sense of humour that is only equalled by Michael’s. “But make no mistake about who is running this horse and pony show.” The Devil’s Lieutenant is a fine manifestation of Jamali’s exceptional literary abilities and contains some of the most interesting and unexpected twists I’ve encountered in a novel.