Author & Illustrator: Andrew Pyper
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: March 5,2013
Pages: 285
Genre: Horror
Book Description: “Professor David Ullman’s expertise in the literature of the demonic—notably Milton’s Paradise Lost—has won him wide acclaim. But David is not a believer.
One afternoon he receives a visitor at his campus office, a strikingly thin woman who offers him an invitation: travel to Venice, Italy, witness a “phenomenon,” and offer his professional opinion, in return for an extravagant sum of money. Needing a fresh start, David accepts and heads to Italy with his beloved twelve-year-old daughter Tess.
What happens in Venice will send David on an unimaginable journey from skeptic to true believer, as he opens himself up to the possibility that demons really do exist. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David attempts to rescue his daughter from the Unnamed—a demonic entity that has chosen him as its messenger.” (Amazon)
So this book caught my eye amidst the stack of ARCs (advanced reading copies) we have in our break room at work. I don’t know, it just seemed pretty cool. If I were to be perfectly honest, I thought it was kind of a book about demons, a demon encyclopedia if you will. Brought it home and thought nothing more of it until that one fateful day I decided to pick it up and actually read it. And I’m glad I did.
Within the first 10 or so pages, I was enamored by the diction and the protagonist. To me, it was really interesting to have it written in first person from the person who was an academic. Not only was this a story about a man trying to save his daughter from supernatural forces, but it also gave a literary interpretation of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Like Milton’s epic poem, it retold the struggle between good and evil but told from the demonic perspective. I enjoyed the fact that there was a good deal of “thinking” going on in the book. The protagonist was an intellectual. He wasn’t someone who was physically fit or had supernatural powers, he was just a depressed guy who used his mind to get things done. I honestly loved how it made me think, legitimately think about what I was reading – so much so that I’m going to find my copy of Paradise Lost and reread it.
One quote that I absolutely adored was “Demonic power proceeds not from evil, but from knowing things…Darkness isn’t the matter from which the Antichrist was formed, but intelligence. Foreknowledge” (157).
I think the diction and syntax throughout the book drew me in deeper and it got to the point where I didn’t want it to end. I kept stalling and stalling until I had to finish the book, I needed to know what happened to David and Tess. And when I finally found out, I realized that while it spoke of one literary masterpiece that spoke of a biblical tale, it paralleled another.
As far as the genre of “horror”, it seemed to fit. It wasn’t a blatant thrust of gore and monsters. It was subtle, so subtle that I had to go back and reread a paragraph to make sure I wasn’t making up the picture I had just seen in my head. It was masterfully done and I felt more creeped out than anything because the fear didn’t come from the fact that all of these things happened, but there might be a possibility. And while the demons might not be real, the darkness of human nature really is – that’s what made it scary.
Pyper was able to grab me within 10 pages, and within those 10 pages I knew I had found a new favorite author, and I need to find more of his books.
So in short, I HIGHLY recommend this book. So pre-order it. do it.
Overall: ★★★★★