‘The Devil Crept In’ is the latest work by Ania Ahlborn and mixes family, a child’s disappearance, and pure horror. Ahlborn is once again on top of her game and delivers a solid novel that you’re going to want to check out. I feel with ‘Stranger Things’ having come out in the past year giving us a new source of horror through the eyes of a younger generation, this is a perfect time to do the same thing on page and Ahlborn really gives not only the perfect perspective but the right level of twists and turns for a solid reading experience.
In the novel, we follow a young Stevie Clark. An outcast, he has been poked fun at for not only suffering from a stuttering problem but also for how he sees the world compared to his peers. His abuse doesn’t stop at the schoolyard though as an abusive step-father has him even worse for wear. The shining light in his life though is his best friend and cousin, Jude Brighton. From sharing each others’ lives, playing, going in the woods to explore, they were often inseparable.
Things aren’t great in Stevie’s life but they are tolerable. Until Jude goes missing.
Unable to leave the investigation to the police who he feels aren’t really looking for his cousin, Steve steps in as well. Things go from bad to worse when he discovers another boy went missing in similar circumstances and was found dead and in pieces. Add in that the animals of the town are drawn to the woods.
Through a slew of twists and turns in a world being viewed through the eyes of someone younger, it is hard to tell if we’re being setup for a serial killer, something supernatural in nature, or something else altogether. But the writing is so solid you can’t help but read on to find out!
Hauntingly written this is a book that was able to really bring about how much family cares for one another and blends in the horror of loss and more. From rich character development to the perfect small town setting for this to take place for maximum effect, a page turner doesn’t do ‘The Devil Crept In’ justice. Ahlborn has consistently delivered solid plots and even when some of them are tropes which have been done before they are all original in the setting and tone.
‘The Devil Crept In’
By: Ania Ahlborn
Gallery Books
February 7th, 2017
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
