Seven Footprints to Satan

Seven Footprints to Satan, published in 1927, is Abraham Merritt's most thriller-like novel. James Dorvington, a wealthy adventurer, is kidnapped and brought before a mysterious figure known only as Satan, who presides over an underground empire of crime from a mansion of impossible luxury. The guests must ascend seven steps in a diabolical game — and those who fail do not leave. Merritt combines the pace of a crime thriller with his trademark exoticism, creating a novel that reads like a fever dream of Jazz Age decadence and occult menace.