The Boy Who Could See Demons: A Novel
On the fourth anniversary of the suicide of her beloved 12-year-old daughter, Poppy, Dr. Anya Molokova is asked to help another child in distress. For half his life, 10-year-old Alex Broccoli, only child of a depressed and suicidal mother, has been seeing demons. Now Ruen, the demon who appears to him in various shapes and has become his friend, wants Alex to kill. As the newly hired adolescent-psychiatry consultant at a Belfast mental health facility for young people, Anya suspects Alex of being schizophrenic and wants to admit him, while social worker Michael Jones argues strongly for keeping the boy at home with his mother and the family unit intact. Potential danger mounts as Anya uncovers the truth about Alex and his father before the plot takes an unexpected twist. Jess-Cooke is every bit as skillful in her vivid portrayals of unworldly beings—demons here, angels in The Guardian Angel’s Journal (2011)—as in illustrating the dreadful toll taken by mental illness. But the final twist, suggesting the TV melodrama Dallas, may lessen the impact of this otherwise impressive novel. --Michele Leber