Jennifer Mlynowski's Reviews > The Good Demon

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The Good Demon By Jimmy Cajoleas

Amulet Books, September 18, 2018

320 Pages, Hardcover Edition

Teen Fiction



"True Detective meets The Exorcist in this gripping YA mystery debut about one girl’s exorcism—and her desperate quest to reunite with her demon

Clare has been miserable since her exorcism. The preacher that rid her of evil didn’t understand that her demon—simply known as Her—was like a sister to Clare. Now, Clare will do almost anything to get Her back. After a chance encounter with the son of the preacher who exorcized her, Clare goes on an adventure through the dark underbelly of her small Southern town, discovering its deep-seated occult roots. As she searches for Her, she must question the fine lines between good and evil, love and hate, and religion and free will. Vivid and sharp, The Good Demon tells the unusual story of friendship amid dark Gothic horror."

Goodreads Rating: 3.80/ My Rating 4.00

Review:
Let me preface this by saying I had no idea that this was going to be a teen fiction. Most exorcism books are adult in my opinion. However, upon reading, I could see why.

When you think of possession of exorcism, you think immediately of William Blatty's Exorcist,  a story of a young girl possessed by the evilest demon that caused more than havoc and pain to the victim and her mother. It was the scariest book next to the Shining I have ever read. This book, The Good Demon, however, was not frightening. This book was more suspenseful. That may very well be the point of this story, so I had to change gears in my mind while reading this.

The young girl was possessed by a demon that claimed to love her, that was her best friend. In alternating timelines, the girl regales the times when the demon would "take over" control of her and either "save her" from a potentially dangerous situation or do something that was supposed to be beneficial. However, this was what caused the exorcism to take place. A reverend and his son came to the home and "delivered" her from evil, expelling the demon from her body leaving her empty and lost.

The plot was sticky and confusing, however, made sense at the end. The small town is shrouded in a cloud of mystery and evil, something that is hidden and never spoken about unless you ask the right questions to the right people. The girl, desperate to get her demon back becomes enmeshed in this mystery as getting her demon back becomes more significant than the ideal goal. She discovers a message in a strange book written not by her hand, but by someone else, which leads her to befriend the most unlikely person and follow a trail to a place that would give her what she ultimately wanted-HER.

In this quest, she meets a very evil group in the town that is responsible for the disappearances of people for many years. A group who thirsts for power and money no matter the cost. She is the center of it now, and she realizes quickly that maybe she should try to stay clear of them. But, can she? Who is in the center of this?

However, where there are wishes to be granted, there is always a price to pay.

Learning of the price, she is appalled and finds that she should try to relish the relationship with the real-life person only to be rebuffed. Anger spreads, and she decides the price isn't so bad after all. However, when the actual events lead to deception and greed, and the person she trusted to help turns out to be as bad as the group running the town's evil, she tries to make sense of all of it and runs.

Is the demon her best friend? Are demons good or bad? She must find out. What is more important? People or the demon?



Writing:
The writing was simple to understand. It was not flowery prose like you would find in adult fiction after all this is a YA. I was not displeased with how it was written. The sentence and paragraph structure was stable enough that I was able to navigate each page quickly and efficiently. This is a well-written book, and, will impress many teens looking to find a book with great writing.

Plot:
The plot was linear. Though it did have some flashbacks for background information, it did follow a particular pattern. It had a standard plot with twists and turned, several subplots emerged as I read along and became confused as to what the story was about and where it was going. However, at 90% of the book, they all tie together nicely to make an ending that made sense and left no openings or hesitation.

What I Liked:
I liked the development of the relationship between the girl and the other person in the story. It was not jerky or awkward. It was also, not very unrealistic. I enjoyed how it flourished over time and became more severe as they progressed through the story. It reminded me of when I was a teen. I also thought very fondly of the relationship she developed with her mother toward the end. 16 is an awkward age for girls and having a relationship with a mother is hard for teen girls. This was highlighted more than once.



What I Didn't Like:
The book was written in a narration form for the most part and contained a little less dialogue than I liked. I would have liked it better had there been more interaction. This seems to be more prevalent in books that are coming out now more than ever. While I did like the story a lot, I would have preferred more dialogue.

Overall Impression:
The story is solid suspense, not horror as one may think given the subject matter. It was an enjoyable and fun read. The dropping of a point in the rating is only because I would have preferred more dialogue. I am a sucker for conversation in books. I think that progresses a story more and gives characters more dimension and life than straight narration