Spoiler-free
He’s the Devil is a new queer horror book by debut author Tobi Coventry. I had never heard of this book before, but Drop City Books (the best bookshop in the world) hosted an event, so naturally I had to go! This event landed on a weird day in my life, as I had just finished moving into my new place so was feeling good and accomplished only to then lose my job via an AI-generated text from my boss. Gross, I know. This event was a lot of fun though and perked me right up!
The Book Event
If you’ve never been to Drop City Books before, you simply have to go. If you are ever in Stoke-on-Trent, or even Manchester/Birmingham, you should make the trip! It’s such a bright place filled with positivity and hope. Ruth (the owner) and Tom are both lovely and will happily talk to you about anything and I have caught on to the fact that Ruth has a penchant for supernatural horror so that’s excellent news. It makes me so much happier to live here knowing that there are people like Ruth, who are building up a community of readers in such a warm environment.
Anyway, on to the event itself. It was really inviting and comfortable. I’ve been to book events before and they are nearly always stuffy and uncomfortable, yet this one was anything but. There was even complimentary beer and prosecco, which I was not expecting. Ruth and Tobi were sitting on the sofas and got right into the Q&A format. The questions from Ruth were all well thought out and provided interesting answers and the conversation flowed so naturally. There were none of those stunted awkward pauses between questions and it was also just really funny. Tobi Coventry came across really well and the whole event got me much more excited to not only get to reading He’s the Devil, but to attend more events over at Drop City Books. I didn't take any photos at the event, but please enjoy an artistic interpretation below.
Of course I got my book signed and dedicated by Tobi himself, but of course I was also having a bad day so the negativity seeped through. So, I got this book about a demonic flatmate dedicated to those most relevant.
The Premise
He’s the Devil is about people pleaser Simon whose flatmate/best mate Josh moves out and their shared flat, only to be replaced by someone with much more demonic tendencies… Honestly, I think that’s all you really need to know going into this. During the event Tobi said how he wanted to write the book he wanted to read and I can see that. There’s definitely not enough stories like this out there. It’s gory, gay, horny and just a damn fun time.
The Review
This book actually took me a couple of weeks to get through, just due to life being all of a sudden messy and busy and I can’t help but feel like this hindered my experience slightly. This is the exact kinda book I would normally pick up and fly through in a couple days. It’s just that campy fun I can devour. That being said, it was also very nice to pick up and read a few chapters here and there, as it really doesn’t take long to be sucked back into the narrative.
The premise of having a demonic flatmate is something that really connects with me. I have had many flatmates over the years and Tobi manages to capture that uncomfortable feeling of sharing intimate spaces with another human being from the very first page.
He’s in there. In the room next door. I can feel him through the breeze-blocks. Breathing heavy, sweating, turning over in the thin cotton sheets that I bought, pulling a wedgie out from between those melon-tight cheeks. He’s right there, eating something wet. Picking stringy strands from a molar. Inspecting what he finds on the end of a long, thick nail, cracked right down the middle. He keeps the window closed. Stinking up the square footage with his unholy morning breath.
Our main character Simon is such a people pleaser it’s kind of frustrating. He is desperate to feel needed and wanted and sometimes this was endearing, sometimes it drove me nuts. The book is written in the first person, so we do get very close and personal with Simon and he became a character, which I deeply understood and connected with. Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the other characters. They all kinda fell flat, mate. (Sorry, I had to). Josh (Simon’s ex flatmate and best friend) was such a bore I had no idea why Simon was so obsessed with him. Well, I do. It goes back to his incessant need to be loved, and he was also hot. But still.. It’s annoying to read about someone pine over someone who sucks.
There is a lot of Simon monologuing in this which was very hit and miss. Sometimes, I was really listening to what he was saying, other times he was just yapping away. I think the writing had a big part to play in this. Tobi takes on a very comedic tone, which I loved. However, the way he describes things was just so bizarre sometimes it really felt unnatural to me and kept taking me out of the story.
These woods almost felt like a dirty secret, a furred mole on the skin of the city. I was sure if I climbed the right hill, I’d see our house from here. Thin mist still hung in the air, breaking in a steady swirl as we pushed through it, leaving patches of moss on the trees spongy and swollen. I saw the forest in golden summer sun, branches bursting with greenery, blueberries underfoot and saw the dead of winter too, when all seems a breath away from death, but really it's waiting, it’s just waiting. Such peace here; only the gentlest siren-scream reached our ears. The last wisp of my unease curled away. I was excited.
I don’t know, I just don’t care for this overly descriptive prose, as it often feels so forced and shoehorned in. It kinda goes in one ear and out the other and I don't know what I’ve just read. I don’t think it’s bad writing by any means, just not to my personal taste. Luckily, there are sprinklings of humour throughout this book which really saved the overall tone of the writing from falling into this flowery mess. On the other hand, I did enjoy all the descriptions of body horror throughout this book. Tobi isn’t scared to take the gore there and I appreciate that.
There are several scenes in this book that really made me laugh and were just so fun, but I’ll save that for Spoiler Chat. I can definitely see myself picking this book back up in the future and most likely giving it a much higher rating. I think this is a book that would benefit from being binged through fairly quickly on holiday or something, as opposed to spaced out over two weeks. I did have a really good time reading it when I was invested and I will definitely keep my eye out for any future books by Tobi Coventry. There were times where he seemed like a British Chuck Tingle and that’s quite exciting.
🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑 - 3.25 Stars
Spoiler Chat
Only a short spoiler chat for this one. I mainly want to highlight a couple scenes which stood out to me. If I were to reread this in the future, I shall come back and give a much more detailed spoiler chat!
Josh sucks so much. I hated how Simon was so obsessed with him? The amount of time I rolled my eyes was insane. Josh had no personality and say what you want about Simon but at least he had personality. Simon’s constant need to please everyone around him was hard to read, especially when we, the reader, can see the bigger picture much more clearly. AKA Josh sucks, just leave it.
Right, so some scenes are really going to stick with me for a while. That karaoke scene was 10/10. It was such a plot twist I was GAGGED. The way that all the tension was built up of Simon entering a dark, dingy place was so well done. I thought something horrendous was about to happen and then BAM Sugababes. Camp! I had to immediately put my book down and sent my friend from Singapore an incoherent voice note about it. We met in China and used to go to KTV all the time, so I knew she’d love this.
Another scene that stuck out to me was when Simon just went ape shit at work in the restaurant. As someone who works (worked, RIP) in hospitality reading this scene was as good as therapy.
A hand went up in the corner again. I hopped over in a single leap! The Regular wanted another glass. Unbelievable. Just buy a bottle. It’s cheaper. Less work for me. It’s an excellent choice. It works out cheaper. Buy a fucking bottle. You’re throwing money away. Buy a fucking BOTTLE. Come on, baby, BUY. A. BOTTLE!
The room was silent, pin-drop quiet. Everyone was looking. Lana was purple. Had I said all of that out loud? Screamed it? To her. The Regular. Ha!
There have been numerous occasions where I have also been tempted to go on a similar tirade and to see Simon get that moment was honestly quite special. It felt very therapeutic to me. And for Simon to grab the hot DILF on pot wash and go out with him? What an inspiration.
It's scenes like these that I feel truly capture the spirit of campy horror and highlight the best of Tobi Coventry's writing.
Oh, it needs to be said that this more classic depiction of the Devil (with the horns and hooves etc) remains my favourite to this day. I was thinking whilst reading this that the Devil featured in this would be much less monstrous and more visually appealing. Like what Edward Cullen did for vampires. I guess what I'm saying is that I thought that the Devil in this would sparkle.
But nope! Tobi, went for the classic monstrous approach and I loved it. Spoilers for The Witch ahead - There was one scene in particular that reminded me a lot of when Black Phillip creeps up behind Anya Taylor-Joy at the very end and you can hear his hooves click clacking and his voice is deeply unsettling but lowkey... kinda seductive. I reckon that sums up this book perfectly to be fair, so I'm gonna leave it there.
Thanks for reading! - Ang
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