A gripping horror novel that intertwines supernatural elements with a detective story. The plot centers around Sam Gregory, a private investigator with a haunted past, who is hired to look into a series of mysterious events at an elite boarding school in New England. The school is rumored to be the site of strange occurrences and possible occult activities. As he continues deeper into the investigation, he uncovers a web of dark secrets involving the school’s history, its students, and a sinister presence that seems to be influencing events. Lloyd combines elements of horror, suspense, and mystery, exploring themes of good versus evil, the supernatural, and the complexities of human nature. His storytelling is marked by atmospheric settings, a fast-paced plot, and well-developed characters, making Friend of the Devil an interesting read for horror fans.

This book fell a bit short for me. Based on the premise, I was so excited about a new dark academia book that I anticipated to have a bit extra humor based on Lloyd's background. Instead it was a book that felt a bit wonky to follow. I did enjoy the underlying storyline of children going missing and satanic practices and what not. I was surprised by the ending which also surprised me because I thought I had figured out exactly where we were going. Overall, I liked reading the book, but it isn't an amazing book overall. It's quick though so I suggest you give it a read to test out on your own because there are MANY mixed reviews. So while it's not for me, a lot of people rather enjoyed it.

Was so excited for this novel from Lloyd (big HIYMY fan here) and I don't think this is perfectly executed, but it was still really fun to read. I think it would translate better on screen.

This book was a combination of a dark mystery and a young adult thriller, but I would have rather it chose a path and committed to one or the other. I struggled to switch mindsets between an adult detective who was harsh in his delivery with the thriller antics of teens. It had some gory scenes that seemed like too much for a young adult book, but fit in nicely with the dark mystery elements. The story danced with the paranormal and I enjoyed those aspects. I just wanted this to pick a lane. The characters were cliches, but somehow that added to the charm for me.

I put off writing any kind of review for a while. I was really expecting to love this book but something just didn't click with me. I stuck it out to see if the end would be better but sadly it just was not for me.

Sadly I was not a fan of this book. I found Sam, the main character, frustrating and unlikeable. The premise of the book drew me in and I think could have gone very well if the character was better, I will still give Stephen Lloyd a try on his next novel!

Okay, this was not what I expected and it was better.

I loved Sam. He's sarcastic and smart and quick to act. Harriett is loyal and good and a damn delight. They work together, but not really and the scenes they had together were some of the best.

Plot wise, it felt a bit disjointed at first. Nearly every chapter follows a different person and as the story progresses, it makes sense why, but it took some time to get there. I loved the imagery and that I didn't see some things coming and the ending was fantastic.

Overall, this was a quick and engrossing read. I do love when I can be surprised.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Publishing as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #PenguinGroupPublishing #StephenLloyd #FriendoftheDevil
This is the debut thriller of Modern Family’s EP, Stephen Lloyd. I love that show as well as How I Met Your Mother, which Mr. Lloyd also executive produced. Because of this, I was very excited to read this.
P.I. Sam Gregory, travels to an elite NewYork boarding school in search of a stolen manuscript. When students of the school start disappearing too, Sam senses something sinister.
Mysteries that edge into horror are irresistible. I love creepy boarding schools. This book seemed like it was going to be perfect. I liked the protagonist although I felt he could have been a little better established. I loved the gore for sure but I felt that it could be a little two-dimensional. All of the characters were a bit cardboard as was the dialogue. I loved the story idea! The writing carried a lot of both delightful horror and satisfying humor.
Overall, this would have worked great as a movie or a TV show. This could have been its novelization. As a novel, it was lacking a bit. I would love to read this again after some editing. I don’t often say that I want a book (or a movie) to be longer, but, in this case, I definitely wanted more of this story.

The summary drew me in, and I was so interested. However, the character's decisions were hard to understand, I didn't love the writing, and I felt like I was missing parts of the story. Most likely a me thing, but this wasn't for me.

This was a very creepy, and somewhat violent read which is not usually my go to when I read a book. However it was the perfect book to read during spooky season! Fairly quick read, that weaves humor together with a bit of horror and creepiness.

I felt the mystery could have been played on a bit more to lengthen the book, but overall it was a good read.

4 Stars!

Some readers may be drawn to Friend of the Devil due to its author. Stephen Lloyd is a TV writer/producer known for his work on comedy series such as Modern Family and How I Met Your Mother. I will freely admit that this was not the case for me as I do not watch TV and do not think I have seen a single episode of either of those shows and had no idea of who Lloyd was going in. What got me interested was a cool cover and interesting synopsis. I decided to pick this one up and giving it a read as it sounded interesting (and I really liked the cover).



Danforth Putnam was a school for the most elite of the elite. Nestled on an island off the coast of New England, it was isolated enough to protect the children that went there from the outside world. Unfortunately, it was not designed to protect them from an internal threat. Something was rotten on the island even though it seemed idyllic to the outside world. When Sam, a detective for an insurance company, arrives to investigate the theft of an ancient book from the school’s library, he expects to find snobby and entitled teenagers. What he discovers is far worse.



As Sam digs into the inner workings of the school, it quickly becomes apparent that there is more going on than a simple theft. The school seems rotten from top to bottom. The faculty seems withdrawn from the world and disinterested in what the students are doing. The students, for their part, all seem embroiled in one plot or another with only their best interests in mind. Then the murders start and the evil that inhabits the school begins to rise to the surface. What is the meaning of the book that was stolen and why was it on the island in the first place? Danforth Putnam is rotten to its core and no one may be able to escape its evil clutches.



Friend of the Devil is a short novel, little more than a novella, and as expected in a shorter work, it moves along at a quick pace. Sam is thrust right into action and the hits keep coming. There is little intrigue as to who stole the book and Sam can figure that out quickly. What is more difficult is figuring out why the theft occurred in the first place. That is where the demons come in. Even with the fast pace, Jones takes the time to set up the school with a backstory that belies its altruistic exterior. This is not a place built on good intentions but rather one that was developed with a sinister purpose in mind. No one on the island if forthcoming with their intentions and Sam is left to muddle through a web of deceit and the machinations of men and children who would be more than they are. No one is who they seem to be on the exterior and the darkness that lies at the heart of the island can be found in all its inhabitants as well.



Friend of the Devil is an enclosed environment mystery/thriller, and this allows Jones to keep tight control of the story. His background in TV shows in the writing as the story is simply at its heart and his background in comedy is apparent as well. Friend of the Devil is an exciting story that rockets along and mixes its horror with comedy. There are some horrific acts in this book, but they are told with a bit of tongue-in-cheek so that they come across as more entertaining than terrifying. Even the violence is tempered with humor (as shown by Sam’s knack for being struck senseless), and the flow is kept somewhat light and easy to read. There is horror here, but I would not really classify the novel as a horror novel. It is just a fun read. With its shorter length and fast-paced writing, Friend of the Devil is quite simply a fun read with a master of the format at the helm. The novel never fails to entertain and left me wanting more. I would recommend the novel for those who are looking for simple entertainment and I would not hesitate to pick up another book by Jones in the future.



I would like to thank Penguin Group and NetGalley for this review copy. Friend of the Devil is available now.

This was an unexpected treat. I knew I loved witches and mysteries but I'd never read anything like this book. It was shocking and engaging in the best way. I am so happy that I received an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher. If you like supernatural, dark academia, this book is for you.

4.0
I picked this book up and I really liked the dark academia vibes and in some parts it also reminded me of stranger things.
Sam a PTSD ex military veteran is investigating a stollen book, but then students start going missing and things get really weird.
Harriet a student is taking notice of Sams investigation and starts a investigation of her own, and tunes in what Sams intentions are.
I love books about occults and this book didn't disappoint, it was engaging, creepy: violent at times but over all a really good book
I also really liked Sams humor in the book that made his character morally grey and relatable.



"It's the 1980s and Sam Gregory, a substance-abusing war veteran turned insurance investigator, arrives at the galactically elite Danforth Putnam boarding school off the coast of New England to find a stolen manuscript of incalculable value. He soon senses that something far stranger than missing books is afoot--and when students begin vanishing from campus, he realizes how serious it is.

At the same time, a reporter is keeping an eye on Sam. Harriet, a physically fragile but spiritually indomitable writer for the school paper, is trying to figure out precisely what he's up to.

As events at the school become increasingly terrifying, Sam and Harriet both venture into increasingly dark territory to crack the mystery. In the end, they uncover a truth more horrible than they could have imagined."

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

SUMMARY: Sam is an insurance investigator brought in to track down a rare book at a sequestered boarding school situated on an island off the coast of New England. He’s troubled by dreams from his time as a Marine, but he soon realizes that even more deadly (evil?) forces are at play at Danforth Putnam.

The Good:
The concept is cool, and I just finished watching the latest installment of Stranger Things, so I was loving the 80s high school vibes. I even mentally cast Priah Nicole Ferguson (who plays Lucas’s sister Erica) as the student journalist determined to crack the case.

I also really liked Sam, the wise-cracking, hard-boiled investigator. He was a fun character, but I felt like his story kept getting derailed by high schoolers I didn’t care about. Which brings me to…

The Bad:
I felt like every time I got to know a character, they were immediately and brutally slaughtered. But not in a Game-of-Thrones shocking and devastating way; more in a random I-don’t-care-about-any-of-these-people way. And every kill was excessively gory.

The Ugly:
What if you watched Supernatural, but there was no Sam and Dean was only in one-quarter of the episode? This was what this book felt like to me. Like a lot of dark, spooky deaths, without being grounded in characters I’m supposed to be rooting for. Even the twist ending left me wondering ‘so what?’

That said: This felt a bit like a Grady Hendrix book to me, so fans of his could easily be into it.

3.5

When a rare and valuable book from the 11th century is stolen from a safe at a boarding school on a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts, insurance investigator Sam Gregory is brought in to investigate. When kids start disappearing and weird supernatural things start happening, Sam and school newspaper writer Harriet (a bullying victim of one the missing kids) investigate.

This novella is a quick read that can be finished in around 3 hours. The characters of Sam and Harriet are decently fleshed out for a novella of 240 pages. All the other side characters are pretty one dimensional though. I liked Sam and Harriet's snarkiness and there were several moments where I laughed out loud. However, I think the plot has some holes in it and the pacing was a struggle at first. The blurb compares it to ghe likes of Bram Stoker, Jim Butcher, and Raymond Chandler, I think it falls a bit short though, with the exception of the snark in Butcher's Dresden Files. A decent read if you're looking for something that can be consumed in just a couple hours.

My appreciation to G.P. Putnam, author Stephen Lloyd, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

I couldn't finish this. I just couldn't get into the story. It was to bland.. While the plot and the story sounded intriguing. It just wasn't for me.

This was a solid horror story if you are a fan of comedic horror. I personally am not a fan of comedic horro so this book did not feel as satisfying to me, especially since it was so short and as the reader I barely felt that I got to know any of the characters enough to care what happened tp them. It did have some very funny moments and some creepy one. 3.25 stars

This was an unexpected treat! I wasn't sure how they detective thriller would combine with a supernatural mystery, but it works. The absolute best part of the story is Sam and his sarcastic wit. I appreciated the humor so much. the plot was very fast-paced, keeping me engaged throughout. It's a short, quick read and perfect for a day at the beach.

An interesting novel of Dark Academia, which was an interesting.genre .Sam Gregory, the main character was an insurance investvestigaor for Satco Mutual and was a Vietnam Vet wiith an additction to controled substanced Gregory was a flawed character, Gregory's assignment was to locate and research a stolen book belonging to this elite school
I enjoy many of the. passages in this book, therefore, l admired this piece from Jerry Garciaa and I appreciated ,the musician and not the ice cream
"Friends of the Devil
Ran into the Devil Ran into the Devil babe
He loaned me twenty bills
I spent the night in Utah
in a cave up in the hills
There was much comparative liturature and film which I enjoy as a reader, unfortunately I believe most of the reference would be lost on the typical YA reader, which age from teenager to adult. and Stephen Lloyd writes an incredible novel and I enyed the characters. Thank you for the privledge to Stehen, G P Punam's So9n and NetGalley reading this novel in exchanged for an honest review.

I do quite enjoy an atmospheric dark academia novel. Friend of the Devil a debut novel by Stephen Lloyd, started as such, building upon a missing rare book at a secretive island boarding school. The 1980s adolescent raunchy humor reminded me of what I like so much about Grady Hendrix, so I thought I was in for a similar treat in the first half. I didn't even mind the monster gore and thought it lent a 1980s teen slasher vibe to the story. The ending, however, was just a little too convenient and without too much of a spoiler made me unlike a major character. If you like B-rated 80s horror movies, then this book is likely for you and would also make for a great period horror flick.. If you are looking for a deep dark academia read, you may find yourself not quite satisfied. Thank you #NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.