History Literature / TheGospelOfEvil

** What happens when one dies in the novel's universe? Caleb and his side are an UnreliableNarrator in this matter. [[spoiler:He first says all humans are condemned to Hell without remission because Satan rules alone this universe, but this clashes with his other claim that Father Jacomino's soul went to Hell for the specific reason that he was secretly evil. Later he changes completely his stance and tells Carzo that every soul gets reincarnated after dying, although it is conceivable that he's saying this only to mess with Carzo's head.]] Meanwhile, Parks's mediumnic powers [[spoiler:seem to prove all of this is false, or at least there is a cosmic alternative to it. Her talks with dead people like Crossman's wife point more to a classic TV afterlife where people simply rest in peace if they doesn't have any finished business on Earth.]]

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:A hospitalized Carzo reveals to Parks that he is still possessed by Caleb. What happens next is unknown. Did she pull her gun and killed him? Did she called the Vatican so they could exorcize him?]] Not even the next Marie Parks book reveals anything about it.

* SunglassesAtNight: In a flashback, Crossman puts on his shades during a party at night, although only to [[spoiler:hide his tears after Marie talks to him about his dead wife.]]

* AncientOrderOfProtectors: The Custodian Sisters.

Present day. Some years ago, a car accident destroyed the life of Marie Parks and gave her mediumnic powers in return. Now she hunts serial killers for the FBI, where she has the reputation of both a ruthlessly efficient agent and a troubled young woman. However, when she crosses paths with a mystic killer known as Caleb during an investigation of the latter's tracks in Maine, she gets thrown to a much, much darker revelation.

At the same time, an equally angsty Vatican exorcist named Alfonso Carzo is sent to the Amazonian forest, where he discovers an ancient evil has awakened in Earth. He will be forced to confront the collapse of his own beliefs and, after teaming up with Parks, to unveil a mystery whose chilling truth threatens to destroy Christianity.

** The Satanic cosmology here is a mismash of the real life schools of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}, an ancient Christian heresy that considered the world to be demonic. Like them, the Gospel of Satan includes a primal deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilidean Gnosticism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (same), human souls reincarnating (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines), Satan actively ruling this universe (ditto), the world having been created in a sort of competition between light and dark (as in Manichaeism, an ancient Gnostic religion) and an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (as in Mandaeism). The main difference is that this mix is given here a pessimistic, Satanic flavor, whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful. The fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan, so in a sense, it could be considered a ''Gnostic'' Satanic text rather than a Christian one.

** While it remains a very popular speculation since the craze of ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', the notion of the entire Christianity being threatened by a freaky gospel being made public is not a real possibility - this kind of revelation has happened countless times in history and keeps happening every time archaeologists find another piece of apocrypha, and its effects on Christianity have always been next to nothing. Even if a Pope himself [[spoiler:like Camano]] were to come out and claim that a Satanic text should replace the Bible, the consequences would be less about a bloody Satanic apocalypse and more about believers around the world immediately decrying that Pope as having gone bananas (not to mention Protestants, people from other faiths and atheists, who would probably find all the fuss either hilarious or sad), with the worst case scenario being a lot of schisms and reforms happening around the planet if the Vatican insisted on telling everybody that Jesus worshipped Satan. Although most characters seem convinced of the disaster, the truth is sort of pointed out by Giovanni at the end of the novel, as he says that faith is not supported by truth after all, but rather by what people choose to put their hopes on.

** Ganesh and Durga are mentioned as Hindu demons. This is extremely wrong, as in real life they are both Hindu ''gods'', and actually two of the most popular and worshipped in UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}}. Ganesh is a god of arts and wisdom whose father is Shiva, while Durga is a goddess of war and protection dedicated to fight demonic forces, sometimes associated to Shiva too.

** The Pope and Cardinal Ballestra are described to wear sandals instead of dress shoes. In real life, they would be the first high-level Vatican staff members in doing such in centuries.

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Cardinal Oscar Camano.]]

* DevilButNoGod: The Devil's influence is ever-present in the book, with all sorts of demons, visions and supernatural events, but God's is not, aside from hopefully real happenings from the past like Satan's sealings or the apparitions of the Virgin Mary (which only get mentioned at the background). Possibly subverted when Carzo theorizes God's way to deal with the problem is precisely through him, Parks and their allies, also implied by the scent of roses that appears in Parks' most helpful visions.

* HollywoodSatanism: It touches almost all the cliches, with a version of Satanism that is theistic, in contact with very real demons, and secretly [[spoiler:controlling the world.]] That said, this is also shown to be a cult based on a secret, very specifical set of beliefs, not your regular Satanism for Satan's sake.

** Immurement was not a form of execution used by the Catholic Inquisition, nor it was a form of capital punishment regulated in any Christian land. Ironically, it was much more popular among Pagans and Muslim governors.

** While it remains a very popular speculation since the craze of ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', the notion of the entire Christianity being threatened by a freaky gospel being made public is not a real possibility - this kind of revelation has happened countless times in history and keeps happening every time archaeologists find another piece of apocrypha, and its effects on Christianity have always been next to nothing. Even if a Pope himself [[spoiler:like Camano]] were to come out and claim that a Satanic text should replace the Bible, the consequences would be less about a bloody Satanic apocalypse and more about believers around the world immediately decrying the Pope as having gone bananas (not to mention Protestants, people from other faiths and atheists, who would probably find all the fuss either hilarious or sad), with the worst case scenario being one of Reforms and schisms of all kinds from the Vatican authority if the latter insisted on telling everybody that Jesus worshipped Satan. Although most characters seem convinced of the disaster, the truth is sort of pointed out by Giovanni at the end of the novel, as he says that faith is not supported by truth after all, but rather by what people choose to put their hopes on.

** Mastema also appears as a demon, while in real life he is a spirit from the Jewish Book of Jubilees (possibly even an angel, and not a fallen one) who supposedly works for God as a seducer of sinners.
** The Pope and Cardinal Ballestra are described to wear sandals instead of dress shoes. In real life, they would be the first high-level Vatican staff members in doing such in ''centuries''.

** Likely the same with UsefulNotes/TheCathars, who are mentioned in the prologue as being hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but as the Cathar creed was very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, this might be a clever InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well (or possibly that they ''[[HeroOfAnotherStory opposed]]'' them, being a sort of GoodCounterpart, thans to their privileged knowledge of the story's cosmology)

* HollywoodSatanism: It touches almost all the cliches, with a version of Satanism that is very theistic, in contact with real demons and secretly [[spoiler:controlling the world.]] That said, this is also shown to be a cult based on a secret, very specifical set of beliefs, not your regular Satanism for Satan's sake.
* LivingOnBorrowedTime: As seen in his autopsy, Caleb's [[spoiler:possession of a medieval cultist put the latter's body a sort of existential stasis. Not only it remains preserved young after so many centuries, but his stomach contains fresh medieval food and his lungs are impolluted of modern contamination.]]

** Same with her superior Crossman or "Cross Man".

* SadlyMythtaken: Kali, Ganesh and Durga are listed as Indian demons, when in real life they are all benevolent deities (there ''is'' a demon also named Kali, but it's more probable the book is referring to the goddess due to his comparative oscurity). Ganesh is a particularly strange choice, given that while Kali and Durga have both the excuse of being bloody, warring deities that might appear demonic to a western Christian, Ganesh is a peaceful, friendly-looking elephant god of wisdom.

** Marie's psychiatrist was named Music/HansZimmer, seriously.

** The Satanic cosmology here is a mismash of the real life schools of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}, an ancient Christian heresy that considered the world to be demonic. Like them, the Gospel of Satan includes a primal deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilidean Gnosticism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (same), human souls reincarnating (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines), Satan actively ruling this universe (same), the world having been created in a sort of competition between light and dark (as in Manichaeism, an ancient Gnostic religion) and an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (as in Mandaeism). The main difference is that this mix is given here a pessimistic, Satanic flavor, whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful. The fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan, so in a sense, it could be considered a ''Gnostic'' Satanic text rather than a Christian one.

** How much truth does the Gospel of Satan tell? [[spoiler:Christ's skull apparently proves that Jesus really disowned God and was not resurrected, and the supernatural spirits behind the Soultakers are very real, but that's all the physical proof of their cosmology. Their claim that God abandoned humanity is contradicted by His repeated sealings of Satan through history, which also imply that Satan and God are not equally powerful deities as the book says.]] In fact, Parks's afterlife knowledge implies [[spoiler:a lot of this, if not all, is just Satanist propaganda.]]

** The Satanic cosmology here is a mismash of the real life schools of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}, an ancient Christian heresy that considered the world to be demonic. Like them, the Gospel of Satan includes a primal deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilidean Gnosticism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (same), human souls reincarnating (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines), Satan actively ruling this universe (same), the world having been created in a sort of competition between light and dark (as in Manichaeism, an ancient Gnostic religion) and an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (as in Mandaeism). The main difference is that this mix is given here a pessimistic, Satanic flavor, whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful. The fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan, so in a sense, it could be considered a ''Gnostic'' Satanic text rather than a Christian one.
** Jesus [[spoiler:somehow becoming the son of Satan after losing faith in mankind evokes another heresy, Adoptionism, which postulates Jesus was a regular man merely adopted by God (or in this case the BigRedDevil) instead of His Son.]]
** The book establishes "Janus" name given to Jesus by Satanic cultists after [[spoiler:disowning God]], and it being a reference to the ancient Roman god of duality makes it a MeaningfulRename as well. However, unless they had this specifical meaning in mind, why would Hebrew cultists choose a preexistent foreign god to name their own deity-founder is a never explained oddity.
** The book explains Janus's cult spread through lands and countries and had to be excised by the Catholic Church. However, in real life, it would be truly a sociopolitical oddity that an apocalyptic cult whose message amounts to [[spoiler:"we are all going to Hell forever and there is nothing we can do about it, period"]] became not only accepted, but even successful. Basic sociology says that [[spoiler:in order for an apocalyptic doctrine to thrive, it must also offer some kind of salvation only they could give instead of just telling everybody that they are screwed whatever they are; Christianity itself became so popular in the Roman Empire to begin with precisely because it was so simple and open and promised a heavenly afterlife relatively easy to reach.]] (Unless, of course, that as said in Ambiguous Situation above, the reason behind the Janus boom was all the Gospel of Evil brainwashing people left and right.)

** UsefulNotes/TheKnightTemplar were [[spoiler:Satanists, or at least became such after finding the Gospel of Satan.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Black Smoke of Satan is destroyed and Novus Ordo is given a heavy blow, but both will probably remerge again, especially given that the Cross of the Poor is presumably recovered by them. Also, Parks and Carzo are alive and well, but the latter is still possessed by Caleb and nothing is revealed about his fate. Finally, there is a possibility that the Gospel is telling the truth and humanity is cosmically screwed, but Crossman's dead wife shows it is possible to escape that fate.]]

* DevilButNoGod: The Devil's influence is ever-present in the book, with all sorts of demons, visions and supernatural events, but God's is not, aside from hopefully real happenings from the past like Satan's sealings or the apparitions of the Virgin Mary (which only get mentioned at the background). Possibly subverted when Carzo theorizes God's way to deal with the problem is precisely through him, Parks and their allies, but this is never proved to be anything other than a religious rationalization.

** Forensic technician Mancuso's surname, the setting of Parks's home in Pittsburg, the finding of a new gospel with a truer story of Jesus which threatens the Church, and Carzo being a miracle-specialized priest who travels to Brazil (along with a Brazilian priest being named Alame[i]da) are all references to the 1999 ReligiousHorror film ''Film/{{Stigmata}}''.
** Caleb's character and dialogue evokes strongly Azazel from another religious horror film from TheNineties, ''Film/{{Fallen}}''.
** The Black Smoke of Satan comes from a throwaway comment made in real life by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1972 that there might be a Satanic cult inside the church ("from some crack the black smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God"). In the book, [[spoiler:this is proven true.]]

* SunglassesAtNight: Crossman seems to wear shades at all times. A flashback has him wearing them in a party, which is presumably hosted at night.

The novel was followed in 2008 by ''Literature/TheApocalypseAccordingToMary'', which featured Marie Parks again.

The novel was followed in 2008 by ''The Apocalypse according to Mary'', which featured Marie Parks again.

Not for the faint of heart, nor for excessively devout Catholics, but for those who enjoyed ''Literature/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'' and would like a DarkerAndEdgier story.

* AbortedArc: Carzo's investigation of Maluna's possession in the Amazonas is strangely LeftHanging after he is called back. While we later discover that [[spoiler:a spirit passed from Maluna to Carzo and deleted his memories of it ]], what happened to her or why her possession turned her into a weird bat-monster (which doesn't happen to any other possessed in the book) is never explained.

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:A hospitalized Carzo reveals to Parks that he is still possessed by Caleb. What happens next is unknown. Did she pull her gun and killed him? Did she called the Vatican so they could exorcize him? Not even the next Marie Parks book reveals anything about it.]]

** What happens when one dies in the novel's universe? Caleb and his side are an UnreliableNarrator in this matter. [[spoiler:He first says all humans are condemned to Hell without remission because Satan rules alone this universe, but this clashes with his other claim that Father Jacomino's soul went to Hell for the specific reason that he was secretly evil. Later he changes completely his stance and tells Carzo that every soul gets reincarnated after dying, but it is apparent that he's saying this only to mess with Carzo's head.]] Meanwhile, Parks's mediumnic powers [[spoiler:seem to prove all of this is false, or at least there is a cosmic alternative to it. Her talks with dead people like Crossman's wife point more to a classic TV afterlife where people simply rest in peace if they doesn't have any finished business on Earth.]]
** How much truth does the Gospel of Satan tell? [[spoiler:Christ's skull apparently proves that Jesus really disowned God and was not resurrected, and the supernatural spirits behind the Soultakers are very real, but that's all the physical proof of their cult. Their claim that God abandoned humanity is refuted by His repeated sealings of Satan through history, and their belief that Satan and God are both twin sons of the Eternal Abyss might be perfectly false too.]] Parks's afterlife knowledge implies [[spoiler:a lot of this, if not all, is just Satanist propaganda.]]

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The Satanic cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan is a mismash of the real life schools of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}, an ancient Christian heresy that considered the world to be demonic. The story given here includes Gnostic elements like an original deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilidean Gnosticism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (several schools, most notably UsefulNotes/TheCathars), the world having been created in a sort of competition between (roughly Manichaeism), an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (Mandaeism), human souls reincarnating (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines), and Satan actively ruling this universe (same). The main difference is that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful), and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan (so in a sense, it could be considered a ''Gnostic'' Satanic text rather than a Christian one).

** UsefulNotes/TheKnightTemplars were [[spoiler:Satanists, or at least became such after finding the Gospel of Satan.]]
** Possibly the same with UsefulNotes/TheCathars, who are mentioned in the prologue as being hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but anyone knowledgeable would know real life Cathars/Gnostics believed in things very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, implying by a clever InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well.

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The Satanic cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan is a mismash of the real life schools of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}, an ancient Christian heresy that considered the world to be demonic. The story given here includes Gnostic elements like an original deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilidean Gnosticism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (several schools, most notably Catharism), the world having been created in a sort of competition between (roughly Manichaeism), an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (Mandaeism), human souls reincarnating (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines), and Satan actively ruling this universe (same). The main difference is that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful), and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan (so in a sense, it could be considered a ''Gnostic'' Satanic text rather than a Christian one).

** The Knight Templars were [[spoiler:Satanists, or at least became such after finding the Gospel of Satan.]]
** Possibly the same with the Cathars, who are mentioned in the prologue as being hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but anyone knowledgeable would know real life Cathars/Gnostics believed in things very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, implying by a clever InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well.

* BiTheWay: Both Parks and Carzo are bisexual. She claims so openly, while he acknowledges to Caleb to have had a crush on his male best friend during his teenage years.

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The Satanic cosmology and history given in the Gospel of Satan are basically a mismash of the real life Christian heresies of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}. They include many Gnostic elements, like an original deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilideanism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (Catharism and others), the world having been created in a competition between them (Manichaeism), an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (Mandaeism), human souls reincarnating (several, if not all Gnostic doctrines), and Satan actively ruling this universe (pretty much all of them). The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful), and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan.

** The book establishes "Janus" name given to Jesus by Satanic cultists after [[spoiler:disowning God]], and it being a reference to the ancient Roman god of duality makes it a MeaningfulRename as well. However, unless they had this meaning in mind, why would Hebrew cultists choose a preexistent foreign god to name their own deity-founder is a never explained oddity.

** What happens when one dies in the novel's universe? Caleb and his side are an UnreliableNarrator in this matter. [[spoiler:He first says all humans are condemned to Hell without remission because Satan rules alone this universe, but this clashes with his other claim that Father Jacomino's soul went to Hell for the specific reason that he was secretly evil. Later he changes completely his stance and tells Carzo that every soul gets reincarnated after dying, but it is more or less clear that he says this to mess with Carzo's head.]] Meanwhile, Parks's mediumnic powers seem to prove all of this is false, or at least there is a cosmic alternative to it. [[spoiler:Her talks with dead people like Crossman's wife point more to a classic TV afterlife where people simply rest in peace if they doesn't have any finished business on Earth.]]

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The satanic cosmology and history given in the Gospel of Satan are basically a mismash of the real life Christian heresies of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}. They include Gnostic elements like an original deity named Abyss with a system of beings and no-beings (as in Basilideanism), God and Satan being eternal opposites (Catharism), the world having been created in a competition between them (Manichaeism), an [[spoiler:evil Jesus]] (Mandaeism), human souls reincarnating (several doctrines), and Satan actively ruling this universe (pretty much all Gnostic doctrines). The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful), and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan.
** Janus's name is trickier. The book establishes it as the name given to Jesus by Satanic cultists after [[spoiler:disowning God]], and it being a reference to the ancient Roman god of duality and two faces makes it a MeaningfulRename as well. However, while it is not impossible they had this meaning in mind, why would Hebrew cultists choose a preexistent foreign god to name their deity-founder is a never explained oddity.
** Related to the first point, the book explains Janus's cult spread through lands and countries and had to be excised by the Catholic Church. However, in real life, it would be truly a sociopolitical oddity that an apocalyptic cult whose message amounts to [[spoiler:"we are all going to Hell forever and there is nothing we can do about it, period"]] became not only accepted, but even successful. Sheer logic says that [[spoiler:in order for an apocalyptic doctrine to thrive, it must offer some kind of salvation or chance only they could do, not to tell everybody that they are screwed whatever they are; Christianity itself became so popular in the Roman Empire to begin with precisely because it was so simple and open and promised a heavenly afterlife relatively easy to reach.]] (Unless, of course, that as said in Ambiguous Situation above, the reason behind the Janus boom was all the Gospel of Evil brainwashing people left and right.)

* LivingOnBorrowedTime: As seen in his autopsy, Caleb's [[spoiler:possession of a medieval cultist put the latter's body a sort of existential stasis. Not only it is preserved young after so many centuries, but his stomach contains fresh medieval food and his lungs are impolluted of modern contamination.]]

* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:Gaal-Ham-Gaal was this many times.]]

** The Black Smoke of Satan comes from a throwaway comment made in real life by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1972 that there might be a Satanic cult inside the church ("from some crack the black smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God"). In the book, this is proven true.

** Related to the first point, the book explains Janus's cult spread through lands and countries and had to be excised by the Catholic Church. However, in real life, it would be truly a sociopolitical oddity that an apocalyptic cult whose message amounts to [[spoiler:"we are all going to Hell forever and there is nothing we can do about it, period"]] became not only accepted, but even successful. Pure logic says that, [[spoiler:in order for an apocalyptic doctrine to thrive, it must offer some kind of salvation or chance only they could do, not to tell everybody that they are screwed whatever they are]]; Christianity itself became so popular in the Roman Empire to begin with precisely because it was so simple and open and promised a heavenly afterlife relatively easy to reach. (Unless, of course, that as said in Ambiguous Situation above, the reason behind the Janus boom was all the Gospel of Evil brainwashing people left and right.)

* DevilButNoGod: The Devil's influence is ever-present in the book, with all sorts of demons, visions and supernatural events, but God's is not, aside from hopefully real happenings from the past like Satan's sealing or the apparitions of the Virgin Mary (which only get mentioned at the background). Possibly subverted when Carzo theorizes God's way to deal with the problem is precisely through him, Parks and their allies, but this is never proved to be anything other than a religious rationalization.
* FantasyKitchenSink: God and Satan are forces here, but apparently Thutmose III's Egyptian magic, PsychicPowers, Amazonian shamanism and some unspecified pagan exorcism rites do work as well.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Camano [[spoiler:being a covert Satanist]] is hinted at his very introduction, where he casually utters a rather scandalous blasphemy to a Swiss Guard while going to see the Pope.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: TheMafia, at least most of its families, are solidly against Satanism too.

** Janus, the god of two faces. Also, Caleb, whose name in Hebrew means "devoted", reflecting his devotion to Satan.
** Marie is French for "Mary", as in the Virgin Mary, and like her, she plays the role to save the world. Same with her superior Crossman or "Cross Man".

** The Black Smoke of Satan comes from a throwaway comment made by Pope Paul VI o June 29, 1972 that there might be a Satanic cult inside the church ("from some crack the black smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God"). In the book, this is proven true.

* SunglassesAtNight: Crossman seems to wear shades at all times, including a party, presumably at night.

* ArcWords: "God is in Hell. He rules over the demons. He rules over the condemned souls. He rules over the spectres who roam the darkness."

** The ''Tuberculis perennis'' found in Caleb's stomach during the autopsy is a fictitious species (and one whose Latin name is absurdly vague for scientific standards, by the way). Why would have he swallowed it whole instead of masticating it is another point.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Jesus's INRI ''titulus'' is changed from "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum" to [[spoiler:"Ianus Rex Infernorum" following his rename to Janus. As anybody can see, this apparently divides randomly the first word to "Ia Nus" in order to make it fit the acronym.]]

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan, Caleb's claims about reincarnation, and even the revelation of [[spoiler:Jesus as evil]] are all basically a mismash of real life doctrines of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} (mainly Basilideanism, Manichaeism and Bogomil/Catharism), which were considered heretic by mainstream Christianity in ancient times. The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful) and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan.

** Related to the first point, the book explains Janus's cult spread through lands and countries and had to be excised by the Catholic Church. However, in real life, it would be truly a sociopolitical oddity that an apocalyptic cult whose message amounts to [[spoiler:"we are all going to Hell forever and there is NO salvation, period"]] became not only accepted, but even successful. Logic says that, in order for an apocalyptic doctrine to thrive, it must offer some kind of salvation or chance only they could do, not to tell everybody that [[spoiler:they are screwed whatever they are]]; Christianity itself became so popular in the Roman Empire to begin with precisely because it was so simple and open and promised a heavenly afterlife relatively easy to reach. (Unless, of course, that as said in Ambiguous Situation above, the reason behind the Janus boom was all the Gospel of Evil brainwashing people left and right.)

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:A hospitalized Carzo reveals to Parks that he is still possessed by Caleb. What happens next is unknown. Did she pull her gun and killed him? Did she called the Vatican so they could exorcize him? The next Marie Parks book reveals nothing about it.]]

** How much truth does the Gospel of Satan tell? [[spoiler:Christ's skull apparently proves that Jesus really disowned God and was not resurrected, and the supernatural spirits behind the Soultakers are very real, but that's all the physical proof of their cult. Their claim that God abandoned humanity is refuted by His repeated sealings of Satan through history, and their belief that Satan and God are both twin sons of the Eternal Abyss might be perfectly false too.]] Parks's afterlife knowledge implies [[spoiler:a lot of this, if not all, is Satanist propaganda.]]
** Does people who read the Gospel really GoMadFromTheRevelation and no other reason? The fact that all of them react the exact same way (becoming apathetic loons) and speak with identical expressions (calling repeatedly their interlocutors "poor madmen" and rambling about "the death of their faith") despite being people of varied stance and education (from medieval knights to modern priests) implies the gospel actively brainwashes the reader with its supernatural influences rather than it being a natural psychological reaction to its contents. However, no explanation is given on this, and the book's status as a literal cursed item is treated as an ElephantInTheLivingRoom even for the more skeptical characters.

** [[spoiler:Our universe is a CosmicHorrorStory and Jesus became the son of Satan before his death, which the Church knows, yet it is kept secret to keep the world from being overcome with apocalyptic Satanist movements.]]

* AncientOrderOfProtectors: The order of custodian sisters.

** The ''Tuberculis perennis'' found in Caleb's stomach during the autopsy is a fictitious species (with a rather vague Latin name, by the way). Why would have he swallowed it whole instead of masticating it is another point.

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan, Caleb's claims about reincarnation, and even the revelation of [[spoiler:Jesus as evil]] are all basically a mismash of real life doctrines of UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} (mainly Cathar and Bogomil, though with a bit of Manichaeism thrown in), which were considered heretic by mainstream Christianity in ancient times. The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful) and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan.

** Possibly the same with the Cathars, who are mentioned in the prologue as being hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but anyone knowledgeable would know real life Cathars/Gnostic believed in things very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, implying by a clever InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well.

* ShoutOut: Forensic technician Mancuso's surname, the setting of Parks's home in Pittsburg, the finding of a new gospel with a truer story of Jesus which threatens the Church, and Carzo being a miracle-specialized priest who travels to Brazil (along with a Brazilian priest being named Alame[i]da) are all references to the 1999 ReligiousHorror film ''Film/{{Stigmata}}''.

The novel was followed by ''The Apocalypse according to Mary'', which featured Marie Parks again.

** Does people who read the Gospel really GoMadFromTheRevelation and no other reason? The fact that all of them react the exact same way (becoming apathetic loons) and speak with identical expressions (calling repeatedly their interlocutors "poor madmen" and rambling about "the death of their faith") despite being people of varied stance and education (from medieval knights to modern priests) implies the gospel actively brainwashes the reader with its supernatural influence rather than being a natural psychological reaction to its contents. However, no explanation is given on this.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: According to the narration, Valentina removes her shoes in the Vatican archive in order not to destroy any proof. This is a strange procedural belief for a police inspector, given that her bare feet would precisely contaminate the scene with her DNA rather than avoiding any other disturbance.

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one might think. The cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan, Caleb's claims about reincarnation, and even the revelation of [[spoiler:Jesus as evil]] are all basically a mismash of real life [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] doctrines that were considered heretic by mainstream Christianity in ancient times (more specifically, Manichaean and Bogomil, with a bit of Mandaeism thrown in). The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (whereas in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful) and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than a propaganda text for the Gnostic version of Satan.
** Janus's name is trickier. The book establishes it as the name given to Jesus by Satanic cultists after [[spoiler:disowning God]], and it being a reference to the ancient Roman god of duality and two faces makes it a MeaningfulRename as well. However, while it is not impossible they had this meaning in mind, why Hebrew cultists would choose a preexistent foreign god to name their deity-founder is a never explained oddity.
** The Pope and Cardinal Ballestra are described to wear sandals. If this was real life, they would be the first members of high level Church staff in doing such in ''centuries''.

* BiTheWay: Both Parks and Carzo.

* FantasyKitchenSink: God and Satan are forces here, but apparently Thutmose III's Egyptian magic, PsychicPowers, Amazonian shamanism and some unspecified pagan exorcism rites work as well.
* HealingFactor: Possessed people seems to have one while their demon is not exorcised, although a firefight with Valentine shows that they ''can'' be killed the conventional way with the right amount of damage.

* MeaningfulName: Janus, the god of two faces. Also, Caleb, whose name in Hebrew means "devoted", reflecting his devotion to Satan.

* ShoutOut: Forensic technician Mancuso's surname, the setting of Parks's home in Pittsburg, the finding of a new gospel with a truer story of Jesus which threatens the Church, and Carzo being a miracle-specialized priest who travels to Brazil (along with a Brazilian priest being named Alame[i]da) are all references to the 1999 ReligiousHorror film ''Film/{{Stigmata}}''.

* AbortedArc: Carzo's investigation of Maluna's possession in the Amazonas is left strangely hanging after he is called back. While we later discover that [[spoiler:a spirit passed from Maluna to Carzo and deleted his memories of it ]], what happened to her or why her possession turned her into a weird bat-monster (which doesn't happen to any other possessed in the book) is never explained.

** What happens when one dies in the novel's universe? Caleb and his side are an UnreliableNarrator in this matter. [[spoiler:He first says all humans are condemned to Hell without remission because Satan rules alone this universe, but this clashes with his other claim that Father Jacomino's soul went to Hell for the specific reason that he was secretly evil. Later he changes completely his stance and tells Carzo that every soul gets reincarnated after dying, but it is more or less clear that he says this to mess with Carzo's head.]] Meanwhile, Parks's mediumnic powers seem to prove all of this is false, or at least there is a cosmic alternative to it. [[spoiler:Her talks with dead people like Crossman's wife point more to a classic TV afterlife where people simply rests in peace if they have not unfinished business on Earth.]]
** How much truth the Gospel of Satan tells? [[spoiler:Christ's skull apparently proves that Jesus really disowned God and was not resurrected, and the supernatural spirits behind the Soultakers are very real, but that's all the physical proof of their cult. Their claim that God abandoned humanity is not coherent with His repeated sealements of Satan through history, and their belief that Satan and God are both twin sons of the Eternal Abyss might be perfectly false.]] Parks's afterlife knowledge implies [[spoiler:a lot of this, if not all, is Satanist propaganda.]]
** Does people who read the Gospel really GoMadFromTheRevelation and no other reason? The fact that they are often people of very varied times and education, yet all of them react the exact same way (becoming apathetic loons) and speak with identical expressions (calling repeatedly their interlocutors "poor madmen" and rambling about "the death of their faith") implies the gospel actively brainwashes them with its supernatural influence, as Yseult proves it to have, rather than being a natural psychological reaction to its contents. However, no explanation is given on this.

** [[spoiler:Our universe is a CosmicHorrorStory and Jesus became the son of Satan before his death, which the Church knows, yet it is kept secret to keep the world from being overcome with Satanist movements.]]

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Jesus's INRI ''titulus'' is changed from "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum" to [[spoiler:"Ianus Rex Infernorum" following his rename to Janus. As anybody can see, this apprently divides randomly the first word to "Ia Nus" in order to make it fit the acronym.]]

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one could think. The cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan, Caleb's claims about reincarnation and even the revelation of [[spoiler:Jesus as evil]] are all basically a mismash of real life [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] doctrines that were considered heretic by mainstream Christianity (in this case, Manichaean and Mandaean, with a bit of Bogomilism thrown in). The main differences are that this mix is given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful) and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than what would write someone in the side of the Demiurge, Gnosticism's BigBad.

** The Pope and Cardinal Ballestra are described to wear sandals. In real life, they would be the first members of high level Church staff doing such in centuries.

** Possibly the same with the Cathars, who are mentioned in the prologue as being hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but anyone knowledgeable would know real life Cathars/Gnostic believed in things very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, implying by an InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Valentina removes her shoes in the Vatican archive, according to the narration in order not to destroy any proof. This is a strange belief for a police inspector, given that her bare feet would precisely contaminate the scene with her DNA rather than avoiding any other disturbance.

* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:Gaal-Ham-Gaal was this many times.]]

* AMythlogyIsTrue: Abrahamic mythology.

* CrossoverCosmology: God and Satan are forces here, but apparently Thutmose III's Egyptian magic works as well.
* DevilButNoGod: Played with. The Devil's influence is everpresent in the book with all sorts of demons, visions and supernatural events, but God's is not at all.

** Does people who read the Gospel really GoMadFromTheRevelation and no other reason?

** A lot, but surprisingly not as much as one could think. The cosmology given in the Gospel of Satan, Caleb's claims about reincarnation and even the revelation of [[spoiler:Jesus as evil]] are all basically a mismash of real life [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] doctrines that were considered heretic by mainstream Christianity (in this case, Manichaean and Mandaean, with a bit of Bogomilism thrown in). The main differences are that those beliefs are given here a pessimistic, overly Satanic flavor (in real life, even the darkest Gnostic sects were humanistically hopeful) and that the fictitious Gospel of Satan is less a manual on ''gnosis'' than what would write someone in the side of the Demiurge, Gnosticism's BigBad.
** Janus's name is trickier. The book establishes it was the name taken by Jesus after [[spoiler:disowning God.]]

** Possibly the same with the Cathars, who are mentioned in the prologue asbeing hateful heretics. The book doesn't explore them further, but anyone knowledgeable would know real life Cathars/Gnostic believed in things very similar to what the Gospel of Satan says, implying by an InsideJoke that they were in the conspiracy as well.

* DevilButNoGod: Played with.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler:The Knight Templars were Satanists.]]

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Cardinal Oscar Camano.]]

Some years ago, a car accident destroyed the life of Marie Parks and gave her mediumnic powers in return. Now she hunts serial killers for the FBI, where she has the reputation of both a ruthlessly efficient agent and a troubled young woman. However, when she crosses paths with a mysterious mystic killer known as Caleb, she gets thrown to a much, much darker revelation. She will be forced to team up with Alfonso Carzo, an equally angsty Vatican exorcist, to unveil a mystery whose chilling truth threatens to destroy Christianity.

Not for the faint of heart, nor for devout Catholics.

* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:Our universe is a CosmicHorrorStory and Jesus became the son of Satan before his death, which the Church knows, yet it is kept secret to keep the world from being overcome with Satanist movements.]]

* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:Our universe is a CosmicHorroStory and Jesus became the son of Satan instead of resurrecting, and the Church knows it, yet it is kept secret to keep the world from being overcome with Satanist movements.]]

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [[spoiler:The Templars were Satanists.]]