Synopsis
A man who’s back from the dead meets a woman who’s from somewhere even worse in the new horrormance from the acclaimed author of Ghost Eaters, about love, possession, and just a little murder.
Perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison and Grady Hendrix.
After a traumatic accident that almost cost Jordan his life, he’s finally starting to feel normal again. Well, maybe not normal. Everything tastes like ash, and when he looks at the people around him, their faces start to melt. At least he’s not dead, right? His friends are doing their best to get him back on his feet, maybe find someone to talk to, perhaps even find someone to take his mind off his last failed relationship.
Then he meets Lilith. The two share an instant connection but after a wild and passionate night together, she ghosts him. Jordan searches the city for Lilith, desperate to see her again. But when a woman claiming to be Lilith shows up, wearing a different face but knowing intimate details about Jordan, he worries he’s losing his grip on reality. As he grows closer to this mysterious woman, he discovers that happily ever afters sometimes come at a cost. How far will Lilith take him, and how much darkness will he embrace to find love?
Review
DEVIL INSIDE – CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN
Is Horromance the new Romantasy?!
In Clay McLeod Chapman’s latest novel, DEVIL INSIDE, romance blooms between recently back-from-the-dead bicycle courier Jordan, and a body hopping demon Lilith. Jordan is a courier who finds himself on the wrong end of a speeding car, causing him great injury – and even a little bit of death. As time passes from the accident, he begins hallucinating peoples faces melting off, hearing voices, panic attacks, and the colour of life seems to have drained from him. Until he meets the mysterious Lilith. And then he meets her again, but in a different body. And then again. And again.
If you’re expecting a dark rom-com, think again. This is more Obsession meets The Exorcist than it is Sleepless In Seattle with possession. What CMC does here is present us with a deeply flawed, deeply traumatised, and deeply unlikeable protagonist in Jordan, and throws him into a dark, delirious relationship with Lilith, a demon that is desperately trying to find the perfect body to possess. We explore obsession through possession and vice versa, and how the demonic possession side of this narrative effects the hosts the demon inhabits. Is any sexual relationship between Jordan and Lilith consensual if the body that Lilith posesses is unaware of this happening, even though Lilith is the one in control and is wanting this to happen? Can this kind of obsessive/possessive relationship work? In the same way that Obsession explores this question, Devil Inside does to. It’s never going to give us a straight answer, instead exploring these ideas through the characters thoughts, which are presented openly and deeply throughout the narrative. In fact, most of the book is the inner monologuing of both Jordan & Lilith as they wrestle with their inner “demons” – haha very funny – as they come to terms with their wants, their desires – no mater how dark and destructive.
Devil Inside is a Clive Barker novel that never was, and I mean that with all the positive affirmations that should be applied. CMC does not shy away from diving into our characters skins, minds, and “souls”, and rooting around in there for the darkest aspect of their nature. Devil Inside shows that sometimes love between two damaged people is poetic and beautiful, but it’s also often destructive, hurtful, and isolating. Either way, it’s also endlessly damn readable!
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