Andrew Pyper

Professor David Ullman is an expert in demonic literature who sees his area of study as one of the imagination, until he accepts a mysterious invitation to Venice and sees his daughter threatened by a demonic entity.

A Novel

The Demonologist

tori 👻

Wow, I didn't think I was going to finish this one.
Firstly, if you are looking for a horror story, you won't find one in here. If you are looking for something that questions what's right and what's wrong, something that will talk about demons in a thrilling way that won't necessarily scare you, this one's for you.
All in all, I do feel like this book got dragged along the way. There are a lot of pages that shouldn't have made the final cut. It felt repetitive at times and there were some pieces that weren't actually relevant enough to the story.
I did enjoy reading about Paradise Lost, though. I wasn't extremely familiar with Milton's work, but I did find it fascinating and I liked it a lot how Pyper wrote The Demonologist around it.
I didn't really like the characters all that much and I guess that's what made it a lot harder for me to endure.
I think I'm making it feel like I didn't enjoy it whatsoever, but that's not the case. There are definitely some chapters that completely had me, like the ones taking place in Venice. I did enjoy this read in some way, but the thing is that it did not impact me much and I guess I just had high expectations.

Geoffrey Froggatt

Professor David Ullman is among the world’s leading authorities on demonic literature, with special expertise in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not that David is a believer—he sees what he teaches as a branch of the imagination and nothing more. So when the mysterious Thin Woman arrives at his office and invites him to travel to Venice and witness a “phenomenon,” he turns her down. She leaves plane tickets and an address on his desk, advising David that her employer is not often disappointed. That evening, David’s wife announces she is leaving him. With his life suddenly in shambles, he impulsively whisks his beloved twelve-year-old daughter, Tess, off to Venice after all. The girl has recently been stricken by the same melancholy moods David knows so well, and he hopes to cheer her up and distract them both from the troubles at home. But what happens in Venice will change everything. The Demonologist is an exciting and vivid story that is imaginative enough to whisk you away from reality, yet clear and concise enough to make you let go of whatever beliefs you have regarding the supernatural (if only momentarily). This is a story that could very well have happened. Or be happening. Or will happen. And that fact alone made it so thrilling. I really commend Pyper for taking such touchy and tricky subjects such as demons, possession and religion and weaving them into a novel that is at once fresh and fantastical. My only complaint is that the story itself feels like it ends just as the storyline is beginning to ramp up.

Theodore Kaplan

“Smart, thrilling, and utterly unnerving,” says Gillian Flynn, #1 bestselling author of Gone Girl, of this spellbinding tale that also has The New York Times Book Review declaring, “Bring on the devils.” A STOLEN CHILD, AN ANCIENT EVIL, A FATHER’S DESCENT, AND THE LITERARY MASTERPIECE THAT HOLDS THE KEY TO HIS DAUGHTER’S SALVATION Professor David Ullman is among the world’s leading authorities on demonic literature, specializing in Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not that David is a believer—he sees what he teaches as a branch of the imagination and nothing more. So when the mysterious Thin Woman arrives at his office and invites him to travel to Venice and witness a “phenomenon,” David is hard-pressed to overcome his skepticism. But there are forces at work beyond anything David can imagine, and they will stop at nothing to ensure that the professor does not escape their grasp. Against his better judgment, David, accompanied by his beloved daughter, Tess, finds himself traveling to Venice, where an unspeakable horror awaits. Soon David is pulled into a journey that will redefine what he is willing to believe. Guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David races to save his daughter. If he fails, he will lose Tess forever.

The Demonologist A Novel

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