How to Make Friends with Demons: 08/17/15

How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce was originally published in 2008 as Memoirs Of A Master Forger under the nom de plum William Heaney. Normally when I review a book, I go by its original title, even if I read a reissued version under a new name. As the author seems to have decided to take back the pen name, I'm going with the reissued title and author information.

William Heaney, the narrator as nom de plum, is a forty-something, divorce who has a government job and dabbles in making book forgeries on the side. He also for reasons never fully established can see demons. A prank from his school days has come back to bite him on the ass and now he has to clean up his mess.

The book was a pretty quick read, sort of a mashup (at least in my head) of Supernatural and Black Books. Sometimes, though, Heaney reminds me more of an adult Watanuki from CLAMP's xxxHolic manga series than Dean or Sam Winchester, in that he's not especially brave about the demons he sees and he's not exactly out to put an end to them.

For all the fun mix and matching I was doing in my head, I wanted more from the actual novel. It lacked coherence. There wasn't enough conflict or narrative drive to keep me turning the pages. I didn't especially connect with Heaney or any of his friends. They were there and they were entertaining but not especially memorable.

Three stars

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