Demon: A Memoir

Title: Demon: A Memoir
Author; Tosca Lee
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Christian Fiction (though not marketed as such),
Source: Paperback
Rating:  2.5 out of 5 paws




Clay had a mysterious meeting on his calendar that no one knew about.  He stayed late at work only to  have no one show up.  One his way home he stops for some dinner when a man in the corner begins speaking with him, as if he was waiting for him.  Clay believes he is a writer looking to get his book published but Lucian claims to be so much more; a demon.  A demon who wants his story, or rather his memoir, published and has decided that Clay is the person to do this.  Clay sprials down a demonic rabbit hole as he strives to piece together Lucian's tale.  But...it seems there are some frightening similarities between Lucian's tale and Clay's own life. But he is now beyond the point of no return and has to finish things and find out how the story ends.

I have had this book on my to-read shelf for years, since 2012 in fact, so I decided to buy it and see what it was that intrigued me six years ago. The idea behind the story is an interesting one, a demon wants to write his memoirs, tell his side of the story.  Then the man he's telling the story to begins to feel the story is as much his as it is the demon's.  Seems interesting and compelling right?  At some points it was, at other points...it fell flat, it didn't compel me to continue reading it as much as I had hopped it would.  At times it felt like it dragged on and didn't go far.  There wasn't any..umph so to speak to this story.


The name of the main character: Clay, seems to be a play on words, but it didn't feel like a clever one, especially as it is mentioned time and time again. Clay comes off as a man desperate to cling to anything that might define his life, or bring excitement to his life; even if it is a memoir from a demon.  He continues to wallow in self-pity and it gets old rather quickly.  Lucien doesn't come off as being demonic and doesn't anything outright demon like, he has moments of being "bad" but those aren't really what you would expect from a demon of his self proclaimed caliber.  The story he tells doesn't go beyond things most Christians know or beyond Lucien basically stating "we hate humans, and are mad that Elohim chose them over us" over and over again.


There seemed to have been the beginnings of a subplot of agents from both realms following the two characters, but this is never fully expanded on.  If it was it might have brought my rating and enjoyment of the novel up a little more than where it is at.  At the end Clay has a revelation about his own life, but we don't see anything that provides evidence of him coming to this conclusion.  It felt like there are so many questions opened that have no satisfactory resolutions. 


I am on the fence on whether or not I would recommend this book.  I may not have liked it but someone else might.  Do not go into this book thinking you will read  horror or thriller type novel as it is marketed as, go into it expecting to read something that is Christian Fiction at best.

Black Bird

Black Bird is a manga series that follows the life of schoolgirl Misao, who can see supernatural beings such as demons and such. After she turns sixteen, she is frightened to learn that now these beings are hunting her and seek to kill her.  A childhood friend Kyo, comes to rescue time and time again.  Surprisingly, Kyo is also a demon and Misao learns she is known and the Bride of Prophecy, a rare and coveted being.  Kyo is the one who needs to protect her from the blood-thirsty demons who wish to feast on her blood and become more powerful. 

This is a relatively shorter series, about 12 volumes I believe, but it reads rather quickly as I have found with most manga series.  The artwork in this is beautiful and I found myself wanting to cos-play as Misao.  The story follows the artwork in the beauty and fine crafted story-telling skills.  It held my attention throughout all the volumes and makes me want to watch the anime series/drama if there is one, I haven't looked.  I found the story and plot to be very interesting and wanted more when the series came to an end.  It was unique in that it wasn't vampires needed her blood or needing her blood to sustain themselves, but rather to gain power over one another.  Also in that it was only her blood that could do this rather than any person that they would come across.

If you enjoy manga series, or are looking for something a little different than novels, I would suggest checking out not only this series but other manga series.  This one particularly is great for those who enjoy the supernatural and demon type of stories.  I give this series as a whole a rating of 3 stars.



12th Demon

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to review something a little scary.  Okay maybe not too scary, I haven't been able to bring myself to read something from the horror genre, but at some point I will.

On the cusp of the demise of the 13th demon, the 12th demon tries to make his mark and take over 13's territory, but he is not the only one trying to do so.  Raven is a woman with certain skills that make her appealing to those who want someone to wind up "in the gutter" so to speak.  When she is hired to assisnate various members of Kendrick's board she runs into Jonathan Steel and is amazed he is still alive.  She holds a portion of his past that he still struggles to remember.  After seeing her he begins to get more memories back, but nothing concrete yet.  He is working to obtain guardianship of Joshua who makes it his mission to save his girlfriend from people who believe themselves to be vampires and they try to "recruit" Joshua in the process.  With a cast of interesting characters, will Jonathan be able to save Josh, regain his memories and defeat the 12th demon?

There is so much going on in this book that it is hard to pinpoint where to start this review, other than saying there is so much going on in this book.  As a reader you don't know what is happening at times and may find yourself wanting to skip over parts of the book.  Please don't do that because you may just miss something important.  This is the second book in the Jonathan Steel series, following the 13th Demon.  There is enough background included in this story that you don't need to read the first book to understand what is happening.  We are given more to Jonathan's background but still some questions regarding who or what he is, Raven just adds to these questions.

The novel does hold on the readers from the beginning until the end, but I admit there are moments when the story felt like it dragged on and bordered upon the cliche especially with the inclusion of the wanna-be vampires.  Josh continues to be the typical teenage boy and Hennigan does a great job at portraying his characters the way he intends.  I love the way he writes and look forward to reading the next book in the series which is entitled.....11th Demon.  Surprise right?

As for the rating I will give it a 3 out 5 because there were numerous moments when the story dragged on and some of the flashback parts felt forced and drull.  That being said I do suggest this book to other thriller, spiritual thriller, even mystery fans. 

13th Demon

Title: The 13th Demon by Bruce Hennigan
Media: Paperback
Rating 3.5 out of 5

Recommendation:  This book is perfect for those who enjoy chilling thrillers.  It is good for those who enjoy delving into stories of the supernatural and unknown.

The 13th Demon by Bruce Henningan is the first book in the Chronicles of Jonathan Steel series.  It follows the story of Jonathan Steel as he strives to aid those in need while he hunts for the truth to his past.

Something is happening at Thomas Parker's church.  Wave of blood pours through the sanctuary, the baptism pool becomes a swirling energy field, there is an spiral eye on the ceiling.  When Jonathan Steel comes into help spiders begin to attack the pastor and Steel.  Steel in turn takes pictures of strange writing on the wall as well as the energy field and the eye on the ceiling.  He calls in some help, a linguist and a physicist,  to get to the truth of the matter.  Meanwhile, he learns there is a businessman who is trying to buy the church for some reason.  What is the connection between the businessman and what is happening within the church?  When the physicist's son becomes a part of the mystery everyone treads lightly and strives to find the truth before it becomes too late.

I was slightly disappointed in this novel, for some reason I had high expectations on the alter of the spiral eye, and the 13th demon.  There wasn't much backstory to the 13th demon other than a small snippet on it not being among the 12 "chosen" demons much like the 12 apostles.  The story could have gone into more detail about what makes this particular demon scarier than others.  I did however enjoy the archeological and linguistic aspects to the story.  It added  depth to the setting and images on the walls that Steel had seen.

I understand the reason for no backstory on Jonathan Steele because, well he doesn't even know who he is, so the scenes were he remembers or is given reminders of his past are well done and provide that needed backstory.  His amnesia adds a complexity to his character as he simply doesn't remember anything before a specific time.  So as a reader we don't know who or even what Jonathan Steel is because he doesn't know.  That makes the reader want to try and figure this character out.  The other characters are well rounded and play their roles perfectly in the story, personally I wanted more from Liz, the linguist but that is probably because that is where my own interest and passion lies.  I enjoyed the idea of death being like a butterfly in a cocoon.  It was an interesting metaphor.

13th Demon is a well written novel that leave readers wanting more, and from I've seen there is more (I bought 12th Demon just waiting to get a chance to read it).  I look forward to what Bruce has for us in the future.  With some of the other books I have read, I would like to see this one made into a movie, it definitely has the suspense factor.

SEVEN - X

SEVEN - X:  written by Mike Wech;
media source: Kindle ebook.
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars.

This novel is not simply a tale of good verses evil, but rather the battle with one's own darkness.


Eddie Hanson is determined to find out the truth behind the disappearance of a death row prisoner: Annette Dodson.  The tip he receives takes him to a behavioral health institution located in the middle of no where, just outside of Dell City, Texas.  In order to get the story he wants, Eddie willingly commits himself to the center while he does video entries and writes journals to document his findings.  But what Eddie finds there is not what he expected.  Are the things he is experiencing true or an illusion (or rather delusion) created by those who run the facility?

Eddie begins to see and hear things that cannot be explain, although those running the center try to explain it as demons attacking and possessing those living there and trying to gain access to Eddie as well.  They believe they are "helping" people like Annette Dodson by commanding the demons out of their bodies.  They believe the criminals were possessed by these demons at the time of their crimes and have no recollection of the horrors they have committed.  Eddie is skeptical about this and begins to believe everyone there is being drugged, himself included.

**Disclaimer ** This novel will chill you to the core.  I have read numerous novels that have dealt with the occult and demonic possession, but never have I read a book like this one.  If you have an active imagination, do not read this at night before bed.

Mike Wech does an excellent job with this novel.  He has excellent use of various languages such as Latin, Hebrew and Greek.  Rather than generically having the demons speak completely in English, he has them speaking languages they would be more familiar with.  Having this element in the novel, this characteristic of the demons, adds to the chill factor of the novel.  Another aspect that makes this a superb novel is much of the Biblical references don't come from the pastor or other members of the facility staff and occupants, but rather the demons themselves.  Portraying that even demons and the fallen have knowledge and understanding of the Bible making it easier for them to deceive.  One thing that I personally enjoyed was the underlying theme of once a demon is exorcised, it returns with 7 of it's buddies. This continues until the host is left worse than ever.

Throughout we hear of Ose and references are made to a leopard, but there is the feeling that not enough was done with either one.  I would have liked to see more use out of Ose and his desire to capture Eddie's soul.  There didn't seem to be too much development with the demonic characters just a few references to their actions and possessions, but we don't see the true nature of their evil.  Ward E is still left a mystery, possibly to be explained in another novel?  I wanted to see more of the spiritual battle that was supposed to be happening between the demons and those at the center, the Pastor included.  He wasn't as much of a major character as I feel he should have been.

With all that being said, I cannot believe this is Mr. Wech's first novel.  It was fantastically well written and kept me on the edge of me seat.  I didn't want to put it down!  I look forward to reading more from this talented author.