My book review of The Devil's Claim, by Maria Kovac
 | A darkly enjoyable horror tale of demonic possession, with a number of sex scenes. All too often in books like this, sex scenes are simply gratuitous. But not in The Devil's Claim. Each one was necessary to take the harrowing story of Anna's possession by the demon, to the next logical stage. And it's not just any demon, but Belial, one of the nastiest and most powerful - in fact, Belial is personified as the Devil in Christian texts of the New Testament. The Devil's Claim put me in a quandary, though. Four stars or five? Let's look at the five-star contenders first. |
Prolific author Jeffrey Archer once told a journalist, "Don't Call me a writer, because I'm not. I'm a storyteller." And Maria Kovac is definitely a superb storyteller. The Devil's Claim can't be faulted on that, at all. The story is well constructed and unfolds at exactly the right pace, with the horror building perfectly.
The characters are the second compelling thread for this book to be awarded five stars. Skillful writing endears us to Anna, while prompting us to dislike James more and more, up to the time when he finally realises that what's happening to Anna really is supernatural.
On the flip side of that, however, I would have liked to know a little more about what makes both Anna and James tick. A few little sub-plots would have been nice, to reinforce their lifestyle up to the time they bought the house. We're told "the rot in their marriage had become gangrenous," and we're told why. I would have liked some flashback scenes, showing full action and dialogue, so we could judge that for ourselves
Which leads seamlessly into possible four-star contenders. For much of the book, we're told what's happening by a narrator's voice, instead of being shown through a character's point of view.
But I guess both of those aspects - possible sub-plots and showing the action - would be impossible, given the fact that The Devil's Claim is just a novella. And it's here where I think the author has missed a trick. There's enough substance for this story to be expanded into a full-length novel, where we could learn more about Anna and James, through detailed scenes, shown from their POV, of aspects the author skims over. It's just not possible to do that, though, with a story like this, in the form of a novella.
At the end of the day, I'm reviewing The Devil's Claim as it exists as a novella, and for that, it has to be five stars. Thoroughly recommended for lovers of this genre.
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