RealityBypass

Welcome to Wednesday, that day of the week when we celebrate being half way through the work week and start pondering the weekend…also the day when we pour the love, or the rage, on some poor unsuspecting book.  This week we’re delving into Personal Demons, by Stacia Kane (who happens to be our author interview for Friday, some coincidence there.).

Personal Demons was released just last year and is the first in what’s planned to be a four book arc.  I have to say I’m glad to see an author planning an arc.  I think some series authors get going with a good thing and then start floundering when they don’t know where that good thing is supposed to go, but that’s a post for another time.  Personal Demons delves into the life of one Megan Chase, a councilor with psychic abilities.  When she gets talked into doing a radio show she promises her listeners that she’ll slay their personal demons.  They believe her, and so do the demons.  This leads on a merry chase, no pun intended, where Megan has to outsmart the demon families that want to use her, the personal demons that want to kill her, the other councilors who call her a fraud and the reporter trying to show everything to the public.  It’s a big job for a petite woman.

All in all I liked this book.  It’s a very fast read and you’d better keep up because the twists and turns come fast and furious.  I did find some plot holes and some aspects of the main romance, especially towards the end, bothered me.  While I’m talking about things that bothered me…I cannot take a love scene seriously when it starts with a man ripping through a VERY expensive tux shirt because he’s just so desperate to be nekkid NOW.  As someone who knows a thing or three about good clothing shirts like that don’t just easily rip unless there is already a hole it in!

Megan is fun though.  She’s perky and upbeat most of the time, and even when she’s not she manages to keep a sense of dignity.  I like that she doesn’t immediately go from running screaming from the monsters to butt kicking them.  Mostly she still runs away and it’s a mental victory not a physical one in the end which is fun.  Oh, and I looove her guard demons the Brothers Brown, Malleus, Maleficarum and Spud.  I’m sure I need guard demons to do my hair and make up!

Rating:
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age: Adult
Content: Violence, ewie zombie guts, heavy romance and sexual content.
Overall:  Buy or Borrow

When psychological counselor Megan Chase promises listeners to her new radio call-in show she’ll slay their personal demons, they believe her. So do the personal demons.
 
Megan doesn’t know she’s the only human alive without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon mob-like “family” lucky enough to gain her allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat not just to the personal demons, but to a soul-sucking Legion of Hell known as The Accuser. The Accuser already has an old score to settle with Megan, and sees this as the perfect time to do it.
 
But Megan isn’t without allies as she’s plunged back into a world she forgot existed. A member of a competing demon family sees Megan as his ticket to power, and sets about both protecting and seducing her with devilish intensity.
 
Can Megan, her new demon lover, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons named Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud defeat not only The Accuser, the personal demons, and the ghosts of Megan’s past, but the reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s career as well?

Today I decided to talk about The Psychopath, The Fanatic and the Human Monster! Sometimes the scariest monsters are those who once were, or in a way, still are human beings. The cultist is a vital part of any dark secret society, and they are usually brainwashed into complete loyalty to the cult. I think that is what is so terrifying about cultists, the fact that they would kill their own mother if the Cult told them to.

The psychopath is another unique variety of human killer, something that looks just like the boy or girl next door, but secretly chops up victims and buries them in the back yard. The modern horror film is full of psychopaths. Michael Meyers, Jason, Norman Bates and Hannibal Lector are names that cause chills even in people who haven’t seen the movies.

Stephen King works with novels featuring psychopaths, the most famous being The Shining. Other choices I’ve found are the Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. H.P. Lovecraft features many short stories with devotedly insane cultists worshiping dark gods, as well. I admit to not knowing much about fiction featuring psychopaths, as “Real” horror scares the bejeesus out of me. I prefer my monsters fictional and fangy!

Anyway what are some of the scariest movies or books you know, dear readers, that feature human monsters? I know I have plenty that still make me afraid of the dark to this day!