Book Reviews : In Pursuit Of Satan: The Police And The Occult by Robert D. Hicks. Prometheus Books, 1991, 420 pp., cloth

• Published date: 01 December 1991
• Author: Randy L. Martin
• Date: 01 December 1991
• DOI: 10.1177/088740349100500410
• Subject Matter: Articles

357

the

strength

of

this

volume.

The

various

essays

underscore

the

difficulties

in

empirical

verification

of

systematic

racial

bias

in

the

criminal

justice

system.

Yet

one

comes

away

with

an

understanding

of

the

complexities

of

the

argu-

ments

as

well

as

with

the

knowledge

that

these

are

important

issues

in

the

field

of

criminal

justice-issues

which

will

not

go

away

without

long-term

and

conscientious

efforts

to

remediate

them.

Reid

M.

Golden

Hartwick

College

In

Pursuit

Of

Satan:

The

Police

And

The

Occult

by

Robert

D.

Hicks.

Prometheus

Books,

1991, 420

pp.,

cloth.

In

Pursuit

of Satan

presents

a

very

detailed

(almost

to

a

fault)

coverage

of

what

the

author

perceives

as a

serious

problem

facing

American

law

enforce-

ment

and,

on

a

broader

scale,

our

entire

society:

the

preoccupation

of

many

police

officers

and

others

with

satanism

and

occult-related

crimes.

Through

chapters

with

catchy

titles

like

&dquo;Believing

in

Hell&dquo;

and

&dquo;Yukky

Secrets!&dquo;,

Mr.

Hicks

offers

a

far

ranging

review

of

satanism

and

the

occult,

of

the

wide

array

of

(purportedly)

related

criminal

activity,

and

of

the

general

decadence

and

subversion

that

accompanies

this

growing

menace

in

the

U.S.

His

coverage

is

decidedly

and

admittedly

slanted;

his

goal

is

to

debunk

the

conspiracy

myth

and

panic

concerning

the

satanic

underground

and

its

desire

to

dominate

our

society

that

he

believes

is

running

rampant

among

law

enforcement

officials

(referred

to

as

&dquo;cult

cops&dquo;)

and

their

clerical

and

civic

allies.

In

chapter

one,

Mr

Hicks

offers

the

basic

message

that

we

hope

to

impart

to

our

undergraduates

in

their

first

research

methods

course:

&dquo;If

you

go

looking

for

something,

you

are

likely

to

find

it.&dquo;

In

presenting

this

message,

the

author

pretty

effectively

develops

the

case

that

much

of

the

concern

over

satanism

and

its

role

in

criminal

activity

is

not

supported

by

scientific

evidence,

but

instead

is

built,

at

best,

upon

pseudoscientific

support.

All-in-all,

the

first

chapter

offers

a

decent

introduction

to

the

general

issues

and

to

Mr.

Hicks’s

basic

concerns.

Chapter

two,

while

providing

some

reasonable

definitions

and

descriptions

of

concepts

and

groups

associated

with

satanism,

comes

off

primarily

as a

somewhat

disorganized

hodge-podge

of

redundant

&dquo;facts&dquo;

and

observations.

The

chapter

offers

some

reasonable

and

supportable

points,

but

the

treatment

is

so

far-ranging

and

disjointed

that

much

of

the

potential

value

gets

buried.

A

more

concise

and

focused

treatment

would

probably

have

been

more

effica-

cious,

and

certainly

more

readable.

Mr.

Hicks

seems

to

feel

that

the

reader

must

be

beaten

over

the

head

to

get

one’s

points

across.

It

was

early

in

this

chapter

that

I

first

began

to

wonder

whether

Mr.

Hicks

was

not

in

fact

doing

in

essence

what

he

was

accusing

the

cult

cops

and

others

of

doing,

capitalizing

on

the

scare

value

of

this

topic

area

and

the

morbid

preoccupation

humans

seem

to

have

with

such

phenomena.

It

was

also

in

reading

this

chapter

that

I

began

to

realize

that

his

arguments

and

criticisms

never

seem

quite

to

rise

above

the

level

of