The Demonologist

I think I loved The Demonologist.  The story was riveting.  I was up late many nights because I just had to know what happened next.  I loved the characters, I empathized with them, I shouted at the book, I gasped out loud.  I loved the trip the character took, from New York to Venice, Florida to Northern Ontario.  It was the road trip from hell, but it was amazing.

Why don't I know if I loved The Demonologist?  I am not sure how I feel about the ending.  Quite a few unexpected things occurred. The emotional climax hit, but there was no after-moment, if you know what I mean.  I didn't need an epilogue or anything, I just wish there was a little bit more. There were so many unanswered questions.  I had to double-check to see if this was the first book in a series, because it seems to be calling for a sequel.  I do appreciate the ending though, there's a certain artistry to it.

Last weekend, I met author Andrew Pyper and wrote a bit about my experience.  I wish I had finished the book before the meeting, because there is so much I want to know.  Not that I think I would have broken out of my bumbling shell and asked him any of my burning questions.  The film rights have been sold, will it end the same way?  Why isn't there more?  I thought there'd be more running, more hugging, more tears.  I did love O'Brien though.  She was amazing throughout the novel.

I appreciated that though this was a horror/fantasy type novel, with evil demons straight out of Paradise Lost, that essentially, The Demonologist is about a father looking for his daughter.  He loves her, she is so much like him, they want each other to be happy. Their relationship anchored the emotional context of the book; my heart was always pulled back to David Ullman's loss.