Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton
Thank you to Tor Nightfire Books and Netgalley for allowing
me the opportunity to review Johnny Compton’s creative and wildly violent new
book Devils
Kill Devils. I was excited to read this book since the blurb mentioned it
was for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and featured angels, devils, and vampires.
Devils Kill Devils mostly focuses on Sarita Bardeles, who we meet on the
night of her wedding to Frank Stallworth. Sarita keeps a secret from Frank,
that eventually has severe consequences. Sarita has what she believes is a
guardian angel, Angelo, who has watched over her throughout her life, saving
her from a potential drowning incident when she was younger, and showing up at
various points of danger to protect her. Frank is brutally murdered by Angelo,
leaving Sarita, her in-laws (especially her mother Harrah), and her friends to
wonder why. Sarita’s immediate family and close friend Tori know about Angelo,
but her in-laws have suspicions about Frank’s brutal murder. Devils Kill
Devils transitions from a kind of mystery surrounding guardian angels and
the potential for revenge to something like a vampire clan story, with warring
factions of vampires, those who seek to destroy humanity and those looking to
preserve it. Sarita is also involved because she is chosen to be the mother of a
god, yet who may also be sacrificed along with her child to initiate the apocalypse.
Compton’s story has many creative elements to it. The vampires in the story are
not the traditional Dracula blood suckers. Rather, these are beasts who feed on
human blood to the point of engorgement. Their bloodlust also physically
transforms them into monstrous creatures who have extraordinary powers. I was
really impressed with the nature of these vampires; Compton’s characterization
and description reminded me of some other non-traditional vampire stories like Cañas’s
Vampires
of El Norte and King’ Doctor Sleep.
I also really liked Compton’s explanation at the end of the book about sourcing
all of these vampire descriptions, borrowing from both older literature as well
as popular movies and manga about monsters and vampires. Beyond the creative
descriptions of their physical features, these vampires are violent and
bloodthirsty, attacking and biting, ripping their victims in half and feasting
on their innards and bones. Additionally, Compton has done the research to incorporate
some new ways to kill vampires (nails/metal through the tongue/mouth) and challenging
some of the other myths about defeating vampires. This was another strength of
the book that made it interesting to read. Nevertheless, I felt like there were
some points where I was lost in the story. Although the change of pace from a
rogue and violent guardian angel to a vampire and demon story was compelling,
we didn’t find out much about Angelo’s back story until about ¾ of the way
through the book. I was thinking that Angelo’s story might be more interesting
and compelling had we learned about it from an interspersed chapter from his
perspective. That might have also given us more insight into how the different
groups of vampires and demons fractured and came to battle against one another.
I also felt a little lost about Sarita’s role as the mother of a god and how
Angelo, despite having excellent intel for other events in her life, had been
misled about Frank’s threat to her. Although Compton is a creative writer who
can capture violence and chaos well, there were some times in the novel where
there were too many details or some characters were explored more fully than
they needed to be. For example, we learn that Sarita and her friend Tori got
the same tattoo. While I think this shows how close they are, it also seemed
like an unnecessary detail. Uncle Everett, Frank’s uncle who seems to be the
only one sympathetic to Sarita, was described after Frank’s murder as an older,
bald and tattooed man; however, this was very different from the description I
envisioned from Sarita’s wedding night. I liked Uncle Everett, but I wasn’t
sure about his description being so late and detailed. At other points, it felt
like we learned too much about the characters’ thoughts, whether it was Sarita,
Harrah, or Cela. Finally, I really didn’t care for Harrah or Cela that much,
yet these were characters who were featured prominently in the last ¾ of the
book. Harrah is Sarita’s mother-in-law and blames Sarita for her loss. Harrah
had a strained relationship with her son and is presented as someone who seems
to care more about drinking and gambling, yet also feels upset about her son’s
refusal to dance with her during the wedding. I didn’t really buy this and didn’t
really enjoy the chapters about her. Similarly, I didn’t really understand Cela’s
motivations for her movement. Regardless, this was an interesting book, and the
detailed descriptions and creative creatures make me want to read Compton’s other
book, The Spite House.
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