Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton was one of the horror books I was most looking forward to this year. I thought this would be spooky, heavy, horrorful. Instead, I was left disappointed and bored. I wonder if this might just be because publishers and book vendors tend to lump everything as a horror, especially as we get closer to Halloween because this didn’t feel like a horror. This felt more like a paranormal gothic thriller. Or maybe horror light.
Now, despite saying this isn’t a horror book – to me, there are some pretty monstrous things that take place, as well as some pretty brutal mundane things. The book starts strong with a crime that sets up everything that will happen in the book from that point. We get just enough sweetness to understand how devastating Sarita’s loss is. Sadly, it isn’t enough to make the story enthralling. The pacing is slow and the switch in POV only works to break the tension. Everything starts so slow (despite the wild start) and then once we get close to the end, it’s as though Compton realizes he’s running out of pages in which to get the story out. We’re bombarded with so much information in the latter half of the novel that it just gets overwhelming. And it’s then, in the midst of all this information that is thrown at us, that we get the one section of horror that could actually make this good. But, instead of having the action happen in present day, it’s something that is told to us as an after the fact memory by someone who quite obviously survived. We, the readers, are so far removed from everything that happens there’s no real way to get invested in the story or characters.
I definitely think there are some folks out there that would love Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton. There are some really good ideas that would’ve worked better, for me, if they were stretched out over multiple books or more pages. Instead, everything gets crammed in last minute which still doesn’t save us from the torturous pacing issues. For folks that just want ambience or aren’t necessarily looking for scary horror, then you might like this! But if you’re looking for something that will leave you unsettled, tense, and scared, steer clear!
