Beatty was a family friend when my family lived in Beirut in the early 50s, when he and my dad worked for USIA. The first of his books that I read is Which Way to Mecca, Jack? , a comic novel that couldn’t be farther from his Exorcist. Part of it took place on an airplane, see, and the Muslims needed to pray toward Mecca . . . I think he wrote other comic novels, if you need a break from his horror!