Not terrifying, horrific, or thrilling. Just a very, very sad tale about a little boy desperately in need of help that he isn’t getting.

I think that for someone who, oh, I don’t know, believes in the devil, doesn’t have houseghosts, and isn’t intimately familiar with psych issues, this could be a scary book. I don’t, do, and am, so I’m probably not the target audience here.

Whether you believe that the boy (and the man he grows up to be) is plagued by demons or just has serious mental health problems and hallucinations is a judgement the author, rather lazily it seems, leaves up to the reader. Now, the power of imagination is a wonderful thing, but it felt like the author had a few great chances to wrap things up in one way or another and just…didn’t. If it had been a movie, I’d have groaned “sequel teaser” at the end. But it wasn’t a cliffhanger, didn’t leave me wanting more - just left me feeling…sad. Sad for the boy (and his father before him) who didn’t get the help he needed (be it paranormal or psychiatric), sad for the man he grew up to be, sad for the mother and her struggles, sad for the family friends and their awkward help, sad for the wife and child, who have no way of knowing what they’re dealing with.

I’m really interested in hearing different perspectives on this, perhaps from folks with religious roots who might be more sensitive to the religious demonography (is that even a word?) than this particular heathen ever will be.

Bottom line: an OK read from a new author, although not the thriller it’s classified as; a little slow to get started, thought-provoking. I may recommend this as a book club read just because the discussions would be interesting, but it would have to be the right mix of people.