Demon King by Erik Henry Vick

Erik Henry Vick has been around for a while and is well-known in independent dark fantasy circles. The Demon King isn’t his first book, but the first of his I have read (listened to). What we have here is a story about a small town where evil entities are taking children. The book has two distinct timelines where the children who escape originally come back 28 years later to stop the demons. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it is a homage to It by Stephen King, and the author even drops in a few references.

Disclaimer – I listened to this in September, so forgive me if I’m a little hazy on some of the details.

So, what’s it all about?

Oneka, Kansas 1979. When an 11-year-old boy goes missing, his friend Benny investigates, nearly falling foul of the same entity. Instead, he escapes and can only sit by and watch as more children go missing, yet (naturally) the adults in charge won’t listen to his stories. Move forward to 2007, and Benny is a tortured soul, trying to move on from his horrific past. When he hears that more children are going missing, he returns to Oneka Falls to face down the demon once and for all. It turns out there isn’t one demon, there is a multitude. Can they take down entities that have survived aeons, or has Benny just put off his death for 28 years? 

Is it any good?

While this is in the same vein as It, there are definitely some parts I liked more (and some less). While in King’s book, the character’s essentially moved on with life before returning, Benny is a mess, tortured by his past and attempting to escape into fantasy to fend off his fears. There was a bevy of characters on hand aside from Benny, and most were handled well. The storyline was intriguing, if not overly original, but there were some nice WTF plot twists to keep us on our toes. As this is essentially a battle between Good and Evil, the Good are generally good, while the Evil are bordering on depraved, making it easy for us to pick sides in the final battle (and no, I did not root for evil). There were some odd moments (or maybe I missed something), such as when one of the characters was suddenly able to dole out superpowers, but for the most part, the plotting was great. Another thing was, despite some brutality, at times the story seemed to have a Young Adult vibe, which was occasionally offputting. Still, I enjoyed the book for the most part, with kudos to narrator Stephen Bel Davies for handling a large number of characters skillfully. 

Verdict

A dark but fun homage to It.

• Format: Audiobook
• Obtained from: Library (support your public library people)
• Listening time: 12 Hours 41 minutes
• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• ISBN: 9780999079522 (pb)
• Narrator: Stephen Bel Davies