Sometimes, an excellent cover is all it takes to sell me on a book. I have a particular soft spot for when it’s a picture of a person with another scene overlaid on the person’s body. This is why I first noticed Stephen Lloyd’s Friend of the Devil. Yes, the cover has nothing to do with what’s inside the book at all. But look at it, that’s a beautiful cover that hints at so much. Then I read the phrase “demonic detective novel” in the description, and boom, I was hooked. I loved Friend of the Devil, and I look forward to what Lloyd publishes next.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
Friend of the Devil is a fast-paced, character driven mystery mixed with a horror novel set at an exclusive boarding school of the coast of Massachusetts. Stephen Lloyd created fascinating characters that push the pace and surprise us. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
High school can be hell. Literally.
A demonic detective novel best devoured in a single sitting–from acclaimed TV writer Stephen Lloyd.
Welcome to Danforth Putnam, boarding school for the elite, sprawled across its own private island off the coast of New England. Sam, a war vet who feels sure he’s seen it all, has been called here to find a stolen rare book. But as he corners D&D nerds, grills steroid-raging linemen, and interviews filthy-rich actresses, he soon senses that something far stranger—“witchy”, in fact—is afoot. When students start to meet mysterious and gruesome deaths, Sam realizes just how fast the clock is ticking.
After joining forces with plucky, epilepsy-defying school reporter Harriet, Sam ventures into increasingly dark territory, unravelling a supernatural mystery that will upend everything he thinks he knows about this school—and then shatter his own reality.
Toss Dracula into a blender, throw in a shot of hard-boiled detective fiction, splash in a couple drops of Stranger Things, and pour yourself a nice tall glass of Friend of the Devil.
Review: Friend of the Devil by Stephen Lloyd
Off the coast of Massachusetts, a crime was committed at a boarding school for the elite. A rare book was stolen from the library, and the insurance company has sent in their detective, Sam Gregory, to find the book and avoid the big insurance payout. After all, it’s an island; so, the book can’t have gone far. Sam sets about looking for the book, finding oddities within the school as his investigation progresses. At the same time, Harriet, a student, looks for the students in werewolf masks who interrupted her Dungeons and Dragons game with firecrackers. The harassment led to Harriet having an epileptic seizure. Being a journalist, Harriet wants to write an exposé on bullying and jock culture at the private school. Her investigation leads her down the dark side of Danforth Putnam. Drugs, steroids, sex tapes, and more are just the beginning. Meanwhile someone or something is stalking the students, killing them without notice. Sam and Harriet soon learn that the little island school is much more than just a launching point for the elite.
Friend of the Devil is a close, omniscient point of view novel that switches back and forth between Sam and Harriet’s investigations. It’s fast paced without sacrificing characterization. Both Sam and Harriet are fantastic characters that have us rooting for them throughout. Sam’s part of the story reads more as a hard-boiled detective novel, which worked for me. Harriet’s portion is a bit more straight forward without the hard-boiled stylistic flourishes. Yet, it works because of this. Her portion balances Sam’s without making the story dip too far into the hard-boiled style.
Point of View
Friend of the Devil has an odd point of view (POV) structure. It has a close omniscient POV. The story dips into the heads of the characters that are in proximity of both Harriet and Sam. Lloyd does it so smoothly that it took me a couple chapters to realize what was going on. This POV style can be hard to pull off, but Lloyd does it here. The result is a much fuller narrative that makes side characters into more rounded individuals instead of just suspects necessary for the narrative. It works so well that the reader understands the suspects and their motivations. They may not be sympathetic, but they’re understandable. That goes a long way towards making realistic characters.
Any omniscient POV is hard to pull off because there’s so much movement between characters that it confuses the readers. However, Lloyd makes it very clear what’s happening and who’s head we’re in. Ultimately, it’s the character work that Lloyd did for each individual that makes it work. They’re all interesting in their own ways. A few characters would be caricatures without Lloyd giving us their back stories. The jock who takes steroids? The poor kid drug dealer? These are stereotypes. In the hands of a lesser author, they would feel one dimensional and more plot device than person. However, Lloyd digs in, does the work, and constructs them based on their own actions, choices, and motivations. Lloyd’s characters succeed because he took them seriously rather than short handing them. The novel is all the better for it.
Pacing
This book moves fast. It’s only 240 pages long according to the publisher (I read an eBook version). The combination of short chapters, focused character work, and selective editing boiled the story down to the very essentials. The whole story moves continually forward. Even the back stories and flashbacks move fast. There really isn’t much pausing and reflecting, which normally is something that bothers me. It works in this book, though. I think that’s partly because it is such a short work. Partly, it’s because the flashbacks and character work act as points of reflection without slowing the narrative.
Finally, the pacing also works because the book is hyper-focused. There’s no outside world building. There’s no page long description of meals. We don’t know how many teachers, let alone kids, are at the school. The reader is only given information relevant to that moment in the story. I can’t tell you what the grounds, dorms, or class rooms look like. Here, that works. If this were an epic fantasy, I’d be upset about that. But Friend of the Devil is a mystery/horror novel. Even if the author chooses to write another book about Sam or Harriet, I doubt he’ll be visiting Danforth Putnam again. So, we, the readers, don’t need all that information. Instead we get a hyper-focused narrative that, frankly, provides an excellent counterpoint to a lot of the door-stopping bricks that novels are becoming.
Conclusion
Stephen Lloyd’s Friend of the Devil was a book I didn’t know I needed to read. It’s character focused, close omniscient POV was fantastic. I couldn’t put the novel down, and I’d bet you won’t be able to either.
Friend of the Devil by Stephen Lloyd is available from G.P. Putnam’s Sons on May 10th, 2022.
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