Repossessed

This ingenious conceit allows Jenkins to explore both the wonders of the everyday and the metaphysics of sin, retribution, and the afterlife. His concept of the latter, in which the only punishment is what souls inflict on themselves by constantly reliving their sins, is intriguing, and should provoke much thought and discussion, as it seems intended to do. In fact, what misleadingly seems like a lightweight trifle of a story has layers of ideas that would make for some great class discussions -- if only there wasn't all that talk about sex.

Seeing normal life through the eyes of an ignorant innocent has been done before, going all the way back to David Hume. But a demon has a unique point of view -- he may not understand much of normal life, but he knows where the patterns he sees on earth will eventually lead. And being fed up with dealing with the torment of souls in Hell, he'd like to prevent a few from ending up there, if he can. So, while there is much he doesn't understand, there are some things he understands all too well, and better than ordinary humans.