The Demonologist

I am beginning to come around to a strong appreciation for the work of Michael Laimo. I had previously read his first novel, Atmosphere, and enjoyed it very much, although I thought it had a bit of looseness to it. I am even more impressed by another of his older works, The Demonologist.

The Demonologist evokes comparisons to William Peter Blatty’s landmark novel The Exorcist, although an updated, less Catholic-centric version. The protagonist is Bevant Mathers, a man who has overcome early tragedy in the los of his wife and become a late-blooming rock star. What Bev doesn’t realize is his success is the result of a fateful deal with a demon, one made by his wife, which resulted in her death. Now his debt has come due. He is part of a centuries-old plot by a demon to bind twelve other demons to his will and unleash Hell on Earth. Bev is the chosen vessel for one of these demons, a little imp called…Satan. His only chance is to work with Satan to defeat the plot (Satan doesn’t want to become another demon’s lackey), who he obviously can’t trust. The book is gripping and suspenseful.

My usual tiny nitpick: The demon-infested boy in the book is adopted by a Protestant minister, and is burned during communion when the wafer is put in his mouth. Do Protestants even do this? And if they do the ritual, I'm pretty sure they don't believe in transubstantiation, which would mean the worse thing that could happen to the little hellspawn is a sugar rush. (This is obviously a minute quibble.)
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Fires Rising

Having read Michael Laimo’s Atmosphere (his first novel) and The Demonologist, I was looking forward to his most recent book, Fires Rising. According to the buzz on message boards, it was supposed to be a major step for Laimo, and highly important to his career. Since I enjoyed his earlier work, I felt sure I would be impressed by this one. Although the novel has received mostly praise in reviews, I’m afraid my experience with it was somewhat more unsatisfactory.

Fires Rising is the story of a church in New York, the site of ancient unspeakable rituals. Workmen demolishing the church discover a buried artifact, and unleash an ancient evil. All of this is fairly familiar territory for a horror novel. A group of homeless men who shelter in the abandoned church ban together to fight the evil, and apparently they have been called by the opposing force. The evil apparition has largely possessed the workmen tasked to tear down the church. The forces of good are led by Father Pilazzo, an older priest who has managed to retain his faith.

The book just doesn’t work for me, and I don’t understand why. It has received largely favorable reviews from most people, but I had to read it off and on for three weeks to get through it. It’s strange that it took so long, since the whole thing is one extended action sequence, with little time wasted in character development. Oh, and do you remember the Poop Monster from Kevin Smith’s movie Dogma? Laimo uses exactly the same creation in this book to menace the good guys, but it comes off as more humorous than intense. Another irritating point is the teenage boy on the good guys side seems to go in and out of adult dialogue whenever the story needs a little exposition.

Like I’ve said, I’ve enjoyed the earlier work I’ve read by Michael Laimo, and I seem to be one of the few reviewers that didn’t care for Fires Rising. I hope it does well for Laimo’s sake, and I’ll give him another try with his next book.