The Demonologist (2013)

David Ullman, a Columbia professor with a Paradise Lost fixation, must study John Milton's epic poem to save his daughter from a genuine demon. It's a paint--by--Da Vinci Code setup, but this supernatural potboiler is simultaneously more and less than a Dan Brown rip-off. More, because Pyper pushes Ullman to the brink of madness and despair. Less, because the story itself is a momentum-free meander. The Demonologist is about a skeptic becoming a believer, but it's tough to have faith in Pyper's plotting when he depends so much on inexplicable coincidences and silly clues. C+