SFF

The Devil Crept In

by Ania Ahlborn
Gallery: S. & S. Feb. 2017. 384p. ISBN 9781476783758. pap. $16; ebk. ISBN 9781476783802. HORROR
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Young Jude Brighton disappears from his Oregon hometown of Deer Valley one day, leaving his cousin and best friend Stevie Clark distraught. Stevie, with his history of delusions and verbal tics, had retreated from the bullies who tormented him by watching endless TV crime shows and wandering the nearby woods with Jude. He takes it on himself to look for Jude but finds more than he bargains for when he sees a monster near a remote house on a logging road in the woods. Deer Valley is a small community with a strange quirk: pets constantly vanish into the woods. Ahlborn (Within These Walls; The Bird Eater) does a creepily effective job of keeping her monster offstage and out of sight for a good long while, as we get to know Stevie and follow his efforts to find out what happened to Jude.
VERDICT The twin horrors—something nasty in the woods and a child gone very wrong—combine here for a deeply chilling read.
Reviewed by Megan M. McArdle , Jan 01, 2017
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