Entertaining Demons (2017) by Daniel I. Russell - Horror Book Review

Daniel I. Russell's Entertaining Demons is a horror book that felt a little bit different from others of it's type. In fact a lot of this book feels more like a twisted adventure story in the vein of Neil Gaiman, while the other half is more familiar. It is the meeting up of these two styles that really makes this something unique in feel.

Fifteen year old Molly is the unwitting star of a reality TV show called PI: Paranormal Investigations due to her home being seemingly haunted by a ghost. She is unable to stop being in it though as the show provides the money her and her grandfather need to keep her mentally ill mother in a good nursing home, while she hopes the show's host; paranormal expert Samuel will be able to find a way to stop the hauntings. However things are not what they seem with the spirit haunting the house actually a demon, and worse two more demons are travelling to her sleepy English town with the aim of shutting down the show using whatever means they can...

When I first started reading this I wasn't immediately hooked, I've seen the demonic presence haunting a house so many times in films over the years that it has gotten to be quite a dull subject. It was the introduction of the sub plot involving the two demons that my interest got heightened. I found everything about these two characters to be fascinating. They ride around in the bodies of humans but are able to come out at will, one of them is like a huge shaggy beast, while the other one is made up of snapping teeth on stalks and that can turn its fingers into deadly needles. The descriptions for these two were endlessly descriptive, Russell is fantastic at providing vivid images of these creatures. They are anti-heroes in that they are looking to disrupt the events playing out but are in no way whatsoever good people, these are demons who care absolutely nothing for humanity and this shows in their actions. Much of the really violent stuff happens around these two and much of it is so over the top crazy that aside from a couple of torture scenes it comes across as quite fantastical. There is a lot of descriptions about destroyed and eaten people, and of the aftermath of victims of these two (with a strange focus on sex organs), yet it is always captivating, again in the vivid way it is all described. Around half of the book is focused on these two and Entertaining Demons is all the better for it. These are not the only demons of the book though with the others also receiving enough attention to really make them stick in the mind, whether it be the skull crown wearing demon stalking Molly, or the demon of TV; Audience who was a fantastic creation with some David Cronenberg Videodrome style moments of repulsive organic technology.

The Lost Level (2015) by Brian Keene - Fantasy Book Review

As anyone who has ever sent me an eBook for review knows I am terrible at getting around to reading the blasted things, I'm old fashioned in that if a book is not a book then I find it hard to get into. Brian Keene is mainly a horror author, I have read a few of his ace zombie books in the past (The Rising and City of the Dead) and while The Lost Level is not a horror title I felt confident enough I would actually get around to reading it.

Aaron Pace is an occultist whose research leads to him discovering the ability to summon doorways to alternate realities. He goes on many different adventures to these bizarre worlds until one day he discovers the place he has travelled to has got no exit, he has accidentally gone to a realm known as 'the lost level', a place that is said to be impossible to escape from. As he struggles to come to terms with his predicament he sets out in the hope of finding a way back home from this most bizarre world.

Keene wrote The Lost Level as a tribute to the lost world/man out of time genre of pulp fiction fantasy, as such it does read as very simple and without anything resembling depth. Having never read anything from this genre before I can only assume this is a accurate picture of what these books read as but I was at first disappointed before coming to accept it for what it was. The actual premise I found to be quite fascinating, the book itself is set out as a written recollection from an older Pace of his journey that led him up what appears to be a tragic end. 

The realm he finds himself is in perpetual sunlight and features a complete mash up of different genre types with the premise of the lost level being that it is made up of things from every different type of dimension possible. There are dinosaurs battling robots, Nazi UFO's, a dying cowboy who speaks of a horrific zombie plague, monsters of different fantasy types, forbidden temples, alien abductions and reptilian pursuers, really everything but the kitchen sink is included here. These different elements usually end up with a chapter to themselves each which makes it seems like a giant check list of different ideas but also help in keeping you never knowing what is around the corner.

The actual plot is quite simple with Pace befriending a woman named Kasheena after rescuing her from a roving band of evil reptiles. They, along with a Chewbacca type creature they name Bloop go on a journey to get to the woman's village where she suggests the village Shaman might hold the answer to escape the world. There really is not much more to it with the three main characters being under developed but again I assume this is a facet of the genre. Pace has little of the book that explains his past, it is glossed over how he  came to get the weirdly useful skills he has that lets him be the hero of the story (with certain flaws), while the love story that blossoms between him and Kasheena is cheesy and predictable but again I am sure it is a facet of the genre.

While as stated (many times) I do not know the genre what I do know is that Keene is a great writer so based on that knowledge I am confident that any complaints I have are due to the fantasy elements rather than his skill. There are many enthralling moments in The Lost Level, I loved the mash up of different elements, as well as comments relating to real world phenomena such as the Bermuda Triangle and the Philadelphia Experiment., while the initial panic Pace has when he realises he is trapped is tangible.

Overall as a tribute this book works well, for me personally though I just found it all a bit too simple and cliched for it to really keep my attention. Saying that there are a lot of good well written ideas here and with a sequel and prequel also planned I would not be adverse to revisiting this strange world.

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