SUICIDE DEMON

Anderson tells a tale of horror about a woman tormented by a demon trying to force her to take her own life.

Julia Benson wakes up restrained in a hospital bed in New York City. She soon learns that she tried to kill herself, but she has no memory of what happened. Disjointed recollections gradually surface. While she tries to puzzle them out, an apparition in the hospital ward visits her—one that can open locked doors. A fellow patient tells her that Julia’s haunted by a demon and recommends that she visit a medium named Allison Merton. Julia stubbornly refuses to believe that her problems stem from supernatural sources, and she convinces the doctors to release her. She makes some valiant attempts to get her life back on track while also trying to make amends to her younger sister, Maddie. Her attempts are stymied by horrible visions, missing blocks of time, and her own unexplainable actions. Desperate for relief, Julia eventually seeks help from the medium—a former nun who was defrocked for performing exorcisms. With the medium’s guidance, Julia is able to face off with death itself and fight against the demon, who relishes the misfortunes of those she holds most dear. She realizes that she holds the weapons that can overpower the beast once and for all—even if she’s dragged to the depths of Hell. Over the course of this novel, Anderson presents a gripping struggle that will easily hold the reader’s attention. The prose vividly describes not only the visceral horror the character sees, but also the deep loneliness and fear she experiences. Expressive descriptions paint a picture of despair and terror that’s difficult to forget: “Dead white, inhumanly long, they crawled with a tarantula stealth, the hand emerging, finding purchase, suddenly scrabbling for my face—I spasmed awake, screaming.”

A worthwhile paranormal imagining of the terrifying struggles of a person contemplating death.