The Boy Who Killed Demons (2015) by Dave Zeltserman

-

If ever a novel’s title nailed its content, The Boy Who Killed Demons by Dave Zeltserman is that novel as it sums up the plot quite perfectly. This was my introduction to Zeltserman and I most definitely want to read more from him based on the contents of this book. This is a fast-paced read, punctuated by some unexpected sex and strong violence. I say unexpected because on the surface this could easily be misunderstood as being an example of Young Adult horror fiction with its teen protagonist and his travails with not only demons, but also the threat of bullies and navigating his first serious romantic relationship while attending high school.

15-year old Henry Dudlow divides his life into 2 distinct time periods, BSD (Before Seeing Demons) and ASD (After Seeing Demons). Henry began seeing demons when he was 13, starting with a neighbor down the street, Mr. Hanley. Now he sees them with greater regularity and fears they may be on to him and his unique ability. The entire book is presented in the form of an ongoing journal written in first-person by Henry detailing his day to day efforts in combating the demons and determining their nefarious plan for mankind.

As I said, all of this could easily be formatted into a YA novel. Except that Zeltserman subverts those expectations by then adding in some decidedly non-adolescent elements into the mix, such as children being abducted and tortured in the demons' apparent plan to open a doorway to hell. Then add in some strong language, sexual antics between consenting 15-year old kids, the aforementioned neighbor, Mr. Hanley, being a pedophile (whether demonic or not) and some pretty gory violence (including beheadings), and you have a very adult horror novel that just happens to be narrated by a teen.

My favorite thing about the book is the use of the faulty narrator. Since Henry is telling us his firsthand account of his journey of discovery into the world of the demons and their plans for humanity, we are unsure of how reliable his version of events might be. Has he really been gifted with a supernatural ability to see through the disguise of demons among us? Has he really forged a demon-proof supernatural blade capable of killing the otherworldly foes? Or is Henry a very disturbed and delusional young man on a righteous crusade that is escalating into wholesale murder? I won’t spoil the revelations to those questions in this review.

Overall, I would recommend The Boy Who Killed Demons in spite of some minor reservations. There are times where Henry’s narrative voice is a bit too mature and smooth to believably be a 15-year old and sometimes his hunches play out a little too perfectly. But then again, that could also just be another element of the unreliable narrator coming to the fore. Regardless, the book builds a nice atmosphere of dread and suspense while also juggling some pretty dark humor at times. It’s been a while since I read a book over the course of a couple of days and to do it over the busyness of the holiday season is a testimony to the author’s ability to hook me in.

Review by Steve Carroll

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants (2023) Edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle

-
Image
Through the tireless efforts of pulp-renaissance men Robert Deis   and Wyatt Doyle, the world is once again a brighter place for those with a predilection   toward the Men’s Adventure Magazines   (MAMs) of a bygone era. The duo’s ability   to mine the depths of the MAM archives to pull together these themed editions   is unparalleled and the riches of their efforts is a gift to those like myself,   who generally missed out on these magazines in their original incarnation. The hook this time around is an entire edition built around   stories that are much more clearly fictional with supernatural overtones. This   makes it similar in some respects to the authors’ earlier   Cryptozoology Anthology . Whereas much of the popular MAM stories at   least dipped a toe into the real world, albeit it in greatly exaggerated tales   of manly men and their adventures, often while at   war, this collection revels   in tales of sci-fi and...
Read more

The Horror! The Horror! Diving into the Folk Horror Sub-Genre

-
Image
The following column was originally printed in Justin Marriott's Paperback Fanatic 47, which was published in July of 2023. You can buy a copy of it  here. There is something inherently unsettling about being in deeply rural locations where we, considering ourselves as enlightened and educated intellectuals, find ourselves confronted with beliefs and superstitions that seem backward and downright uninformed to our modern sensibilities. It can sometimes be as simple as walking into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and suddenly feeling like we’ve stepped into another era of history and speaking to a representative of the local citizenry feels like navigating a wide gulf of both colloquial language and seemingly alien culture. It leaves us feeling decidedly ‘off’ and somehow inadequate. This discomfort lies at the heart of folk horror. Though the term ‘folk horror’ didn’t enter into the modern vernacular until...
Read more

The Paperback Kung Fu Phenomenon Part 1 – The 1970s!

-
Image
The following column was originally printed in Justin Marriott's  Paperback Fanatic 46 , which was published in January of 2023. You can buy a copy of it  here . While   the martial arts have been a deeply ingrained part of various Asian cultures   and their literature for centuries, their influence in western culture was   a   direct result of military exposure to Eastern fighting forms during World War   II in both China and Japan and later during the Korean War. Servicemen   brought   an interest in these esoteric fighting styles back home with them and soon   their influence found its way into the collective psyche. Shortly   thereafter,   the Hong Kong movie scene exploded in the late 60s and spilled over into the   rest of the world in the early 70s. Suddenly Kung Fu was   everywhere from the suburban   neighborhood cinema to TV screens, comic books, and even Top 40 commercial pop   radio ( Everybody w...
Read more