The Devil's Diary is Patrick McGinley's greatest tribute to his master Flann O'Brien, in this dark humoured portrayal of a harrowing Irish landscape in which lunacy reigns.Idealistic love and death, sibling rivalry and obsessive lust are themes familiar to McGinley's work, focusing here on Arty Brennan, who built factories, a supermarket and a noisy motel, trading a spiritually enriching culture for a "hippiedrome" of second-rate 20th century glitter.