‘Demon’ – Matt Wesolowski (Orenda Books)

I don’t read crime fiction as a rule, apart from some Raymond Chandler back in the day and I’m not even sure if that counts really, but I will read pretty much anything that has ‘Demon’ in the title and Orenda books were happy to help me continue doing that, sending me a copy of ‘Demon’ in return for a fair and honest review. You may have noticed that the blog has been light on the review front this week and that is because I started reading ‘Demon’ and very soon, it was all I could focus on. Even after I finished the book last night, it was all I could think about. Let me tell you about it…

In 1995, the picture-perfect village of Ussalthwaite was the site of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, in a case that shocked the world.

Twelve-year-old Sidney Parsons was savagely murdered by two boys his own age. No reason was ever given for this terrible crime, and the ‘Demonic Duo’ who killed him were imprisoned until their release in 2002, when they were given new identities and lifetime anonymity.

Elusive online journalist Scott King investigates the lead-up and aftermath of the killing, uncovering dark stories of demonic possession, and encountering a village torn apart by this unspeakable act.

And, as episodes of his Six Stories podcast begin to air, and King himself becomes a target of media scrutiny and the public’s ire, it becomes clear that whatever drove those two boys to kill is still there, lurking, and the campaign of horror has just begun...

Before I get into the book itself, I should point out that ‘Demon’ is the sixth book in the ‘Six Stories’ series but it is a very self-contained tale that I had no trouble picking up, despite not having read any of the others (I told you that I don’t normally read crime fiction). If the whole ‘sixth book’ thing is giving you pause, don’t let it.

But onto the book itself…

‘Demon’ is nothing less than a gripping and compelling read the whole way through. If it hadn’t been for things like work and spending time with my kids, I could quite easily see myself finishing the book off in one sitting. It’s very easy to follow initially and then it leads you down a rabbit hole of stories that don’t quite match up with each other, inviting the reader to make up their own mind on just why Sidney Parsons was murdered. With a sinister vein of folklore horror running through the proceedings along with correspondence from one of the killers, there is plenty to piece together and it’s all finely balanced for the reader to make their own judgments. It’s as brutal and gritty as you would expect, from a crime like this, but it is also touching and strangely heart-breaking at the same time.

What really got me though was that moment where you realise that establishing the ‘why’ of the event leads somewhere that I didn’t see this crime novel going and it’s a tough question to face, let alone answer. Whether there was a demonic presence involved or whether the two killers were just victims of circumstance and horrible childhoods, can they be rehabilitated? Should they have been rehabilitated? Or should they have been locked up and forgotten? With parallels to other cases still fresh in the memory, it feels wrong to say one way or the other. What I can say though is that the question is dealt with very sensitively and sits well as a latter part of the plot. After all, once you’ve listened to a podcast and got all that information… What do you do with it next? It’s a question that I suspect I’ll be pondering for a while.

Whether you’ve been following the ‘Six Stories’ series or have just come across this final entry, ‘Demon’ has a lot to offer its reader and delivers on that promise with ease, resulting in a book that blew me away with its willingness to go to some really dark places.