The Devil and My Daughter

by Josh Hancock

1944: In the heavy pillars of smoke that rise from the crematoriums at Auschwitz, Nazi soldiers hope to catch a glimpse of Moloch, the pagan god of child sacrifice, to whom the Third Reich owes so much of its vile success...

1977: A teenage boy writes a heavy metal song about an ancient evil spirit, unaware that the grisly lyrics will unleash a terrifying figurehead from the bowels of history...

1987: College students and best friends Debra and Charlene are determined to make a demonic possession movie more frightening than The Omen and more gruesome than The Exorcist. But when they hire a rock band to pen the film's "satanic soundtrack," the young filmmakers are confronted with a supernatural entity determined to plunge Charlene into a world of impossible terror and human sacrifice…an entity with the burning-coal eyes of a demon and the razor-sharp horns of a bull…

Written as a collection of essays, news articles, interviews, scripts, and film scholarship, The Devil and My Daughter tells a horrific story of the occult, Satanic possession, and ritual murder.

Genres: Horror

236 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2016

About the author

Josh Hancock is a teacher and author. His first novel, THE GIRLS OF OCTOBER (Burning Bulb Publishing), is inspired by his love of all things horror–especially Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, and John Carpenter’s Halloween. His second novel, THE DEVIL AND MY DAUGHTER, will be released in the spring of 2016, also by Burning Bulb.

Reviews

[Spookylady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debra Morrow and Charlene Worsley were best friends. Growing up in Oakland, California the two girls shared a love of horror movies, creating their first film at age 10 with Debra behind the camera and Charlene playing the character of a murderous clown.

In college Debra writes the script for a movie called Blood Songs. Several of the film’s songs were performed by a death metal band called Carnal Season. One of the songs, “Rise, Demon, Rise,” was written by band member Alexander “Judas” Grimm when he was 13 years old. To prepare herself for her role Charlene listens to hours of Carnal Season’s music.

Little does anyone know Grimm’s song actually conjured the spirit of a terrifying supernatural entity. And Charlene isn’t its only victim.


After the success of Blood Songs Debra writes another movie called The Devil and My Daughter. Naturally Charlene is cast as the lead.

Determined to push herself as far as possible for her character’s role in the new film and visiting her mother – who was slowly dying of dementia in a nursing home – Charlene put her mental and physical health in danger.

Todd Wheeler, the special effects artist for Debra’s films, believes Charlene’s weakness left her vulnerable to dark and terrifying powers that would shock and horrify an entire community.

Newspaper and magazine articles, interviews, police blotters, scripts and production notes present the story of Charlene’s slow descent into madness and destruction.

[Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first picked up the book(s), I was intrigued. I usually read the traditional stories whether they are in first person of third person. There is a story line to it that would lead you to climax at the end of the book. But, in the books by Josh Hancock, they were written more like a film documentary. At least that is how I pictured it in my head as I was reading them. You know, those documentaries on The History Channel, CNN, etc. You have the interviews, the voice recordings, pictures, videos and such. That is how you will see it in your mind when you are reading these books. You have the voice of the characters, you will see a vintage video of interviews from the eighties.
I recommend these books to anyone who love the independent horror. Future filmmakers, future authors, readers, current authors . . . Anyone who is looking for a different way to write or to give that different perspective to readers and viewers. It is different, it is exciting, and I guarantee you that you will not be able to put these books down.

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 5 out of 5]

We start The Devil and My Daughter with a forward written by John Tanner. He tells us about his father being a police officer and an event that showed him there were angels and if there are angels there are demons too. Josh goes on to say how his brother was involved in a shooting on the force and eventually was affected by a demon called Moloch. From this point we are taken on a journey through newspaper articles, a letter from school, scripts, and other documents.

I really liked this story. The blurb about the book caught my attention and how the different parts were given had my curiosity peaked. I will admit that as I was reading the different articles I would wonder what this had to do with the whole story but the further along you read the more the pieces start falling into place.

If you are looking for a great story about demon possession look no further. This would be a great addition to any horror fans shelves.

I received The Devil and My Daughter for free from Sage’s Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book originally intrigued my husband at a local horror con, but on a quiet morning when I was awoken by our neighbor, I sat down to read it.

Spanning a decade, this epistolary novel is written as if it is nonfiction. In this book, its important to read everything. The preface, the footnotes are all part of the story. Though parts of it were a bit dry, overall it took a serious look at what a real demon possession might look like. It follows a film crew who unleashes a demon with a song from their heavy metal soundtrack on to a young actress.

Because the novel is told through police reports and news stories, some parts can feel repetitive, however it is a fast read. The characters were well developed. I enjoyed the serious tone of the novel which added to the dark scenario. Fantastic novel!

[Rebecca K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The holocaust is not literary fodder for goyische, non-romani white boys. This plot is exploitative and unoriginal.