21st Century Demon Hunter by Charles D. Lincoln
Burning Bulb Publishing, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-948278-17-1
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
With main character Juliette Johannes, first time author Charles D. Lincoln may have created the most entertaining antihero the horror genre has ever seen. By day (when she isn’t too hung over) she’s one of many faceless bicycle delivery people pedaling their way through New York City. At night, she spends her time swilling, stoning, snorting, and screwing her way through the Manhattan nightclub scene. Waking up in a strange bed with no memory next to a strange guy (or girl) is a weekly occurrence for her. Due to family lineage, she’s also an on-call destroyer of demons that hide on Earth and occasionally decide to stir up trouble. In this story, monsters exist all over the place, but only a small group of humans are aware of them, and have dedicated their time to keeping the rest of humanity safe. When the demons start stirring up more trouble than usual, Juliette and her two sisters, Samantha and Persephone, get pulled into a web of murder and deceit that wrecks various sections of New York City. It’s a 400-page odyssey of mayhem and hilarity that is completely over the top, and works in every possible way.
Two things elevate this book above the competition: the originality of the plot and the unconventional but highly amusing characters. God and humans against Satan and his minions is a trope that has been used frequently, but author Lincoln wisely throws out the conventions that usually come with such a story. Instead of “good vs. evil”, the conflict is set up as the forces of order against the forces of chaos, with neither side being truly good or bad. Rather than a single “spirit realm”, Lincoln has created nine different realms populated with all sorts of demons of varying strength. This helps prevent the story from becoming predictable: it allows for a lot more variety in the types of fiends that appear in the book, as well as plot flexibility. Some creatures are almost harmless and actually cute (the killer demon koalas come to mind) and some are as tough and nasty as anything since Lovecraft’s Cthulhu demons first graced the printed page. 21st Century Demon Hunter is a perfect example of how to take an old idea and reinvent it into something truly original.
The plot is excellent, but the true strength is in the characters. It’s almost impossible not to find them interesting, because they are so unconventional. Juliette is a prime example. She shows up to exorcisms drunk, treats powerful demons like annoying children that need a good spanking, and berates them for their lack of imagination in scaring people. When a demon vomits on her, she pukes right back on him. It’s why she’s so entertaining; she’s unlike any other exorcist ever created. The other characters are just as off the wall. For instance, Christopher and Serenity are a brother-sister vampire team, who happen to talk like Cockneys and are usually more into watching the stock market then draining humans of blood. With the characters in the book, abnormal is the normal, and it holds the reader’s interest all the way to the end.
Horror and humor are two sides of the same coin, and 21st Century Demon Hunter strikes the absolute perfect balance between the two. The excitement will have you flipping the pages as fast as possible, while laughing out loud at the same time. An unusual, original work not to be missed.
Contains: graphic violence, graphic sex, drug use, profanity, racial slurs and stereotypes
Reviewed by Murray Samuelson
Editor’s note: 21st Century Demon Hunter is also a streaming series on Amazon Prime Video.
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