Touted as an horror book I found it to be nothing like that. Pepper is taken into a mental institution for 72-hour observation after an altercation at a bar. Nobody ever comes or inquires about him. This hospital runs below the line of legal treatment being quite abusive but not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Three parts detail the inmates' relations with each other, the staff and the monster they call the Devil. Doubt is cast as to whether the monster is or isn't. The plot is slow and the ideas are too big for the book. Something profound wants to be said but I found it didn't hit the mark. That said I loved the characters. They were well-written and interestingly quirky. I thought of DNF-ing a few times but got pulled back in wanting to know how things fared in the end for the characters.

I really enjoyed this story. It illuminates how you can get sucked into "the system" that you shouldn't have been in, in the first place. Mr. LaValle is a great storyteller though. But having spent time in a psych ward myself, there were some holes, and also things that would have never happened. I loved the characters and the names Pepper gave everyone. This isn't the first book I've read by this author, and I really like his stories. I'll be looking for more.

I can see the appeal of this story for lots of people, especially those who enjoy the Horror genre, this book was not for me.

I like horror and I had great hopes for this, however I couldn't get into the book, it took me ages to get just 50 pages read, I gave it til 100 pages and had to give up, it was too much of a struggle to try and enjoy when I really didn't