Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V.'s Reviews > The Good Demon

I won this book through a goodreads giveaway and was extremely excited to pick it up. We’ve all read books and heard stories about possession, but a story about the exorcised trying to get their demon back? That was new to me and sounded extremely intriguing.

The novel opens up with teenager Clare, who has recently been exorcised of her demon. Who is only referred to as “Her”. Clare is depressed and angry and feels like she has been stripped of the only person who truly understood her, and cared for her, since her father’s death. Upon discovering a message that was left by ‘Her’, Clare goes on a quest to prepare herself to be reunited with her demon. The middle is slightly slower as we learn about Clare and her relationship to ‘Her’, but if felt right for what the story was and how we were learning more about Clare and those around her. Of course, Clare isn’t exactly a reliable narrator as we only understand the demon and their relationship through her memories of their time together. There isn’t any real objective view and the entire story is done through Clare’s POV. As Clare moves through the story, learning more about herself and the town she’s grown up in, she must also come to terms with some hard truths and decide what she is willing to sacrifice to once again be reunited with her beloved friend.

The end of the story was fantastic, in my opinion, and really brought everything around full circle. And boy did I have feels. Like, all the feels. Angry, happy, disappointed, sad, disgusted. Seriously, all of them. I can’t say that the story ended “happy”, but I do feel like it ended exactly the way it needed to. The writing really pulled me in, which is saying a lot for me as I read this entire book only during a flight to and from a work destination. And I’m exceptionally, ridiculously, terrified of flying. I can’t usually find something to keep my mind occupied from thoughts of falling out of the sky and dying so I must give serious kudos to Cajoleas for taking me out of my reality for a few hours. I’ll definitely be looking for more of his work and would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys strongly character driven pieces with hints of the paranormal.