The Devil Crept in

This book was definitely suspenseful and it definitely made me tense while reading. For that, I enjoyed it, but there are definitely some criticisms to be had.

I thought the beginning was pretty slow. Stevie was investigating his cousin's disappearance for a long time I felt, and I think some of that could've been cut for the sake of not boring the reader. Not that I would have DNF'd it personally - I've read another one of Ahlborn's books and enjoyed it, so I had a good impression going into it - but I could understand if someone else would.

Part two is when things start to pick up, and you start to realize the deepness of shit Stevie and his cousin got themselves into. That said, this is where one of my major gripes comes in. It's a spoiler though, so I'm going to censor it. Overall, I thought Rosie's story was really intriguing and I was really invested in her character throughout. The part that bugs me is how Otto, her son, is described throughout the book. He's presented as physically and mentally disabled, and the way the author describes him really rubs me the wrong way. Ahlborn describes him as malformed, disfigured, and generally using language that's supposed to invoke disgust with the way he looks. The author also infantilizes him, although I think this could be argued as Rosie attempting to give him excuses in the narrative. Additionally, a slight tangent but it is related, I felt weird about the way the characters in the book talked about Stevie like he was going to lose it and kill someone (which, granted, he did at the end, but he thought it was in self defense). While I understand that this is the popular outlook for those with mental disabilities, specifically the ones that are more “scary” to the general populous, I just think it perpetuates a myth that does more harm than good.

Part 3 was definitely the most tense to me. After you've realized that shits going to hit the fan, it's a bit of a slowburn, but Ania really knows how to build the suspense. Also related to my earlier spoiler, it's made to seem like Stevie is an unreliable narrator due to his psychosis and potentially undiagnosed schizophrenia. I do like how effective the author made this, because at the end of the book, you're really not sure what was real and what wasn't. Unfortunately, it does tie into the whole “scary disorder” thing I mentioned previously.

I also do feel like the ending falls apart a little bit if you start to think about it. Maybe Stevie just hallucinated the whole thing, or Ras magicked it away somehow, or some other third thing, but without any expansion on that, it's hard not to just call every witness to Jude assaulting his mom and Stevie defending them a plot hole.

Oh, Ania, you did a great job on this book. I loved how poor bullied stuttering Stevie loses his cousin/BFF Jude and no one seems to be taking it too seriously because Jude is a troubled boy. Then the authorities find Jude's shirt and everyone assumes like in the past in this creepy little town Jude met the same fate as another little boy years ago who went missing and turned up dead. Stevie is interesting. I was trying to figure him out every second and marveling at how real he seemed.

This book is in three parts the first is getting to know Stevie then getting to know another character who you have no clue what she has to do with Stevie but you (okay I) like her A LOT. The third part is a creepy wonderful tie together of these characters. I did literally have a few moments where I had to stop reading because it was creeping me out. I haven't had a book do that for a while. I thought I knew all the tricks, but Ania plays new tricks that scared me in a good way.

Great story if you like horror and coming of age books.

What a wild ride. Review to come!