Monday, November 17, 2014

Review of The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper

What to say about this wild ride by Andrew Pyper; The Demonologist is one of the best psychological thrillers that I have read for some time and I really found myself not wanting to finish it. As with all of Pyper's books all of the characters are deeply flawed, haunted but extremely likable. I found myself really taken with Professor David Ullman and I rooted for him the entire book. What really got me about this book was the it was centered around Paradise Lost by John Milton (a work that I will admit that I have not read); its quoted heavily in the book and unlike some other authors that have attempted to spin books off of other popular literary works this book does not require you to be familiar with the poem it is based on. Which can be a hard thing to accomplish because sometimes you read a book similar to this one and you feel like you have to stop and research the other book/story in order to be able to understand the context of certain scenes. Another thing that really made me love this book is the "creep" factor. From the beginning as soon as the mystery "thin woman" turns up at Professor Ullman's office you get the sense that something is just off. The character is described in such a way that you can vividly imagine such a person; and if you ever happen to meet them you would have the same reaction as the Professor. There is also the to good to be true offer that is handed to Ullman by the woman; and then the way that all the pieces fall into place within the story that pushes Ullman to take the offer. All the events after he encounters that man in the attic is enough to make anyone a little jumpy. I will also have to say that I loved the climax at the end of the book. David racing back to New York, the meeting in Grand Central and his needing to evade the Police and then Pyper just ends it happily and simply with a reunion; that at one point I thought would never happen. 


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