Demon Theory

By: Stephen Graham Jones

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Acclaimed author Stephen Graham Jones delivers an extraordinary tale of postmodern terror. The novelization of a fictional film trilogy, Demon Theory details the horrifying events set in motion by a tragic childhood incident. When a medical student is called home by his ailing mother on Halloween night, he and a group of friends become trapped in an inescapable cycle of violence.

©2006 Stephen Graham Jones (P)2007 Recorded Books

Jones Never Fails To Surprise

Like much of what Jones has written, Demon Theory defies easy classification and mixes subgenres with fluidity and skill that borders on awe-inspiring. There’s a little bit of Watcher In the Woods, a touch of Jacob’s Ladder, a hint of Scream, and perhaps a taste of the first two Return of the Living Dead films serving as inspiration behind this book–that in turn serves as the novelization of three fictional films constituting the “Devil Inside” trilogy. Filled with pop culture references and nods to obscure horror flicks (for today’s audience), witty dialogue, meta-commentary, and as much dark humor as there is horror, this book is an excellent experience for fans of Stephen Graham Jones.

We begin on Halloween night as a group of medical students goes to Hale’s childhood home where his diabetic mother needs assistance. When they arrive, with Hale’s mother nowhere to be found, they soon discover they’re stuck in the secluded and rundown house as a snowstorm rages outside. As the story progresses, we discover the six med students aren’t alone, and it takes on a sort of slasher narrative as we learn more about Hale’s family, his childhood trauma, and the presumed identity of the killer. As the body count rises and the possible supernatural elements are introduced, we speed toward a conclusion that feels fitting, though slightly ambiguous.

The second installment of the trilogy begins with a familiar scenario that’s been touched on in the first, but things aren’t quite right. The deck has been shuffled and we’ve moved forward in time and simultaneously backward, it seems. Familiar faces appear but in different roles. The names may be the same, but the details are off…however, it isn’t long before we learn that recollection of the previous story’s events are clear to at least one of the returning characters–though Nona is treated as if these “false” memories are indicative of mental illness. It’s almost Christmas, and we ultimately find ourselves in a hospital where the staff prepares for a performance to entertain the patients. This installment skips the slasher element and dives right into the supernatural aspect we experienced in the earlier tale, amplifying the stakes and the danger. It’s no longer simply the cast of six facing the horrors that we witness arising in the hospital corridors–but how many people would believe that demonic entities are afoot before it’s too late?

The final piece of the trilogy comes as a direct sequel to the second installment, but following another time jump. We’re three years further along and many familiar faces have returned, this time taking the fight back to Hale’s childhood home, hoping to stop whatever nightmare they’ve been living in since they first stepped foot into that house. Nona has a plan, but can her judgment be trusted? Can anyone be trusted, as we delve deeper into the events that brought all of this about? Supernatural horror meets slasher meets brazen scientific experimentation as we learn the truth about Hale’s father, his sister, and the identities of the friends who accompanied Hale home in the first place. This one starts off with a splattery, violent bloodbath to up the ante as a group of punk criminals first arrive at the isolated house as a sort of initiation rite, setting the stage nicely for what awaits our returning cast of characters when they show up only a short while later.

Richard Ferrone’s narration is phenomenal, conveying a sort of homage to the voice of Ghostface from the Scream movies, which feels as perfect as could be with the self-awareness and referential nature of the characters contained within the narrative as well as the writing itself.

I STG, this is a prequel for his later works

This is a swell collection of meta novellas telling an overarching story as well as speaking to how each person can take away something different from a narrative as well as how the way in which we frame to story of our life drives the direction of it.

I recently listened to SGJ’s interview with Talking Scared Pod EP 54, Stephen Graham Jones and Dancing With the Slasher, and he mentioned that originally Demon Theory was loaded with footnoted miscellany, but he pulled it after House of Leaves dropped and he felt it was (or could be) perceived as jumping on a trend. I would read the heck out of a footnoted version of this book.

Movie or book?

I was thrown off by the writing style and annoyed by the frequent use of “POV”. Would have been better as a movie because of this. I made it to book 3, then it started skipping a lot and I was unable to finish it.

Too confusing

I like his other books, but this was hard for me keep straight. I’m sure it was well written though. My mind kept wandering.

Don't do it!!Written as a movie script frustrating

Written as a movie script. Really frustrating to listen to. Could not get into this book, even though I like the story concept. No idea why they wrote it this way!

couldn't finish it

The plot line was good, but it got muddled with the movie script style

Terrible

I could not finish this. It is to hard to understand who’s who and what’s going on. It’s more of a movie script than a novel. I like this author but this is a no.

mindless

I am a customer of audible and only receive 1 credit per month so I try and use them wisely. This book was a new listing and didn't have any reviews. I was in the mood for a horror/scary book and thought I'd give this a try. Oh what a waste. The format of this story is written as a script to a movie, or 3 movies it seems. I just couldn't get into it. Occasionally I could visualize the story and thought Ah ha! Now it's going to get better. But unfortunately those moments were fleeting. I had to start and restart the novel several times and found that I would zone out I was so bored and have to relisten. I only made it about 1/3 of the way through this aubible book before I couldn't take it anymore. The story had interesting parts and if written in a different form may have succeeded. And it might make a good scary movie but as an audio book it was awful, spare your credit and choose something else

I really enjoyed this book

I personally enjoyed the movie script style. I played it in my head like a movie as I listened. Perhaps I am more appreciative or forgiving or other third thing as I very much enjoy SGJ, He gets the genre and obviously has a deep love of horror movies, good and bad, big budget and B and indie. I found this writing style novel as a novel (ha!).

I anxiously await more from this brilliant novelist. I'm always up for a good scare at 3AM, figuratively and literally. I have extreme insomnia.