Demon Eyes Leisure Fiction Horror Book Review

“Reviewer” Harriet Klausner giving this book 5 stars shows me she either did not read it, or she is certifiably insane.  Although much of this book was fun to read, a lot really didn’t make sense, even the small details.  For instance, both Helen and Emma have decent jobs and although the livery/stable where Helen works is supposedly flourishing with business, the two can’t afford to pay their gas and electric bills.  People spoke and acted very oddly to each other, overreacting, and many times simply speaking rudely without provocation.  On her first day of work, Emma’s boss tells her she looks terrible and needs to put on makeup to cover the bags under her eyes!  Who says those things?  It really felt awkward, and did not seem intentional.  It just took me out of the realism of the story.  Much of the action later in the book felt rushed, not giving much, if any chance for creepy atmosphere or suspense that Maynard and Sims had in their last book, Shelter.


Another series of problems I had were all the strange coincidences.  The back-story of Jim Davies and Nathan Wisecroft felt forced and only introduced to give a resolution on how to combat the evil.  Once they were introduced, Emma took a backseat to the story, which I thought was a bad choice.  Also, the fact that Billy Farrier just happened to finally hack into the mainframe at Keltner Industries during the one week these events come to a head is a bit much.  My other issue was the lack of mythology involving the Keltner family.  We are told they are very powerful, and have been around for generations, but you never really get a sense of their history or origins.  The reveal of the mole inside Bexton Hall was also anticlimactic and could have been used much more effectively.  The trick for this book would have been to keep the perspective with our protagonists and not jump to the villains all the time.  This only took the mystique out of them and their plans of evil, instead of allowing the reader to experience the story piece by piece as the danger escalates.


With the exception of the stable attack in the beginning, there was nothing here that I have not read before and not too much to recommend.  Although Demon Eyes seems to have more focus than the previous Maynard and Sims book, Shelter, along the quality and smoothness of the writing, this story - Demon Eyes - was not as engaging.  While the atmosphere and overall creepiness could have been better, Demon Eyes did have a few nice surprises but unfortunately not enough to rise above an average rating.  The open ending was also frustrating and ultimately, unsatisfying.  Let’s hope their third book, Black Cathedral, has better results.