Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books: Derek Landy - Demon Road - Book Review

I've taken that path down the Demon Road.... 

Do you dare? 

The reader will hurtle along on a five star horror experience across the supernatural highways and the black roads of America with this book. It all kicks off when Amber Lamont's parents tried to kill her. Yep, the first page begins with them wanting to eat her. Derek Landy grabs you and slowly pulls you by the scruff of your literary neck down the path of the deepest and darkest parts of hell. He never lets the tempo fall; it's a gratuitous adult young horror shocker that will punch you in the fantasy gut. 

You will plunge across the brooding dark landscape of America on an epic road-trip that will captivate you. The imaginative story is filled with the baddest things imaginable: killer cars straight out of a Stephen King novel, vampires that have a sense of humour and undead serial killers that will haunt you to the bone. Then there is the ruthless family of DEMONS that have made a deal with the Shining Demon and so much more. You really need to read this jam packed book running over 500 pages long. 

Everything this plot has to offer is very bold in comparison to the Skulduggery Pleasant series. I feel that this book has actually taken the author out of his comfy writer's pants as everything needed to be worked out from scratch. In doing so, this book has put the writer back on the horror fantasy map. It's full of wit, action and, best of all, dagger sharp dialogue that oozes from the pores of the main characters.

The story is told from the perspective of Amber who is sixteen years old, smart and spirited. She’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves in more ways than one. Amber is forced to go on the run, hurtling from one threat to another as she reveals a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be… can they be trusted?

Milo is very mysterious and brings a big dollop of back story with him, which I really loved. Glen is very amusing and brought a light-hearted side to the story. He is very likeable and yet, at the same time, both annoying and very reckless. He made me smile on a number of occasions with his advances towards Amber - they were very laughable. I'm still grinning thinking about some of the moments in the story. This is a side of the story that teenagers will connect to as it brought a sense of realism to a crazy mixed up world.

The idea is very bullish in my opinion. The action scenes are written exquisitely; full of inventive imagination that is sadly missed in a lot of older reads. The only gripe that I have is that it felt a little predictable in places for me but, nevertheless, it's only a small gripe. 

My favourite part of the book was meeting Dacre Shanks who sounds more like a toilet seat then a serial killer. He is so creepy and delicious to read about. The atmosphere surrounding the dolls house and the shrunken people was really eery and chilling. It will hook you like a prize fighter on the ropes.

This is definitely an amazing start to a trilogy. It is a fresh new world for the author to play with. The backyard has been set and the expectations on the next book have rocketed with this opener. This is easily one of my favourite action horror YA reads this year; fantastic stuff Mr Landy, I look forward to much more.....