This was such an in depth tale of good vs evil, definitely a slow burn…starts with a bang then you get the whole picture bit by bit. Seems crazy to me that this author write Spite House as this is a completely different novel. So kudos to the author for their creative imagining in a totally different direction from his previous novel. Loved this tale, seemed highly realistic while reading & you care so much for the characters within that it drives you mad with wonder how it’ll end. Loved it. Beautifully written.

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton
My rating: 3.5 Stars
Themes: Vampires, Gore, Blood, Body Horror

When I received this ARC to review, I expected to read a story about demons/ devils and angels, but in fact, what I found myself reading was much more interesting than that. Compton's vampires are a unique creation- part vampire, part demon, part animal, part otherworldly. The vampires Compton has created are best described as animalistic, indiscriminate violent killing machines, as opposed to partially human/ formerly human versions of vampires we are used to seeing.

If you are a fan of unique stories, vampires, violent/ gory horror, this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire/ Tor Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of Devils Kill Devils to read and review.

Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC
Unfortunately I found this largely dull and confusing. Maybe I will revisit the story later.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I liked the beginning of this book and the general premise I found to be really interesting. There were so many different supernatural creatures thrown in which made things interesting. Unfortunately, there were also so many different supernatural creatures and wild elements thrown in and it sometimes made things a bit convoluted. I can see where the author was going for this, and I enjoyed where it was going, but I didn't love the execution. There were just too many moving parts for me and I was honestly just confused for some of this book. This was ambitious and interesting but it just didn't fully work for me.

Big thank you to Tor and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

That first chapter had me. I was totally drawn in. But then after that it slowly fell apart for me. I was confused much of the time. Confused what the things were, why they did what they did, what the church was, why the prophecy was made, how they could be defeated and then what happened in the end. There were parts that I just couldn't focus on because it was too much talking but still not giving answers. There were parts that was full of action and suspense and I was sucked back in again. Overall, I finished feeling confused for most of the read.

I had a tough go with this one. I found the first half to be very slow and I almost gave up on it but then it finally started giving information on what exactly these creatures were and their history; SLIGHT SPOILERS
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Some of these vampires/demigods/demons are using humans as pawns to fulfill a prophecy and ignite a war between humans and vampires.

I found this to be more of a dark fantasy than horror novel. And I actually preferred the vampire characters and their stories to that of the humans. I would have loved to learn more about the creature "Z" and his backstory. The human characters all seemed pretty mundane to me, including Sarita who's grief for her husband didn't feel believable to me.

This book would probably appeal to someone who enjoys dark fantasy.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc. I have voluntarily left a review.

Devils Kills Devils takes the vampire/demon/angel genre and totally flips it upside down. The opening is extremely powerful, and the approach that is taken in flipping the "normal" characterization of vampires, demons and angels as well as the plot in general are both creative and novel. I was reeling as the plot unwound and was frequently taken by surprise. If you want a new approach to an old established theme, read this book.

It's hard to believe this is his second book. Of course, I read this expecting the same experience as The Spite House, but I got a really unusual book about -- devils? Vampires? There is a mix of the lore that made this book unique to me, as a long time horror fan. I really liked the main character, and cheered for her as she learned the real state of the world. This kind of unique mix makes me wonder if there is more than I know about in the world! I wouldn't want to say much because it was fun learning. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

I absolutely hate that this was a DNF for me. I loved Spite House - I loved everything about it.

This one is a VERY different read. I think that some people will love it, but I simply didn't connect with the plot or the characters.

I will absolutely read the author again in the future - just not this one for me.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Sure, the climax and ending were very B-grade SyFy movie, but I didn't think it was as bad as everyone else made it out to be. It's classic Tor Nightfire (which has been a mixed bag for me), so depending on your love for outlandish horror, this might or might not work for you.

It kind of reminds me of how absurd Scott Hawkins's The Library at Mount Char was, so if you liked that one, you might like this one too.

While I did like the story with its vampire/demon cult, vampiric/demonic godlike entities, and the three MC's arcs, I agree with reviewers who said that it tried to tackle on too much at once, especially in the second half of the book.

While I was still wrapping my head around demon vampire god creatures and a religious cult waiting for their messiah, the author throws in a ghost, dormant but powerful god entities, magic/prayers, etc. If these elements weren't included, the story would've been a lot tighter and more understandable.

But honestly, I've read books that were much more convoluted, so this wasn't a huge deal for me. But ofc, YMMV.

I did actually love each MC's story arcs. Sarita, Cela, and Harrah each had their own distinctive voices and their own separate journeys that it wasn't difficult to figure out whose chapter I was reading. Each also had such different thought processes and actions that it made for compelling character arcs. I also really appreciated how the author included both the hero's journey and villain origin story.

All in all, I had a good time with this and I'm eager to check out the author's debut.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for this arc.

I haven't read his previous novel but this novel was pretty good solid premise with some good old-fashioned horror thrown in and a bunch of cool creatures if you love horror I don't see you not liking this book I don't want to give away too much so just read it

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC for an unbiased and Honest review

Title: Devils Kill Devils
Author: Johnny Compton
⭐⭐⭐+½⭐ of 5⭐s
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Scheduled Release Date: 9/24/2024

In Devils Kill Devils (forthcoming from Tor Nightfire, 2024), Stoker-nominated Johnny Compton’s sophomore effort to follow his stellar The Spite House, a hidden community reminiscent of those in Cadwell Turnbull’s No Gods No Monsters meets the squabbles-turned-bloodbath vengeance battles from Cassandra Khaw’s Food of the Gods.

When wounded protagonist Sarita learns she really has been chosen, she’s faced with a question: When SHTF, just how much faith in herself does she have? Simultaneously, distraught mother-in-law Hannah blames Sarita for her woes; and Hannah, too, is more capable than your average, wary mother-in-law. From the moment Sarita weds Hannah’s son, the two are set on a path against one another, and we bear witness to the fallout. And these consequences are not the sort usually seen when mother-in-law stands against daughter-in-law. Sarita—meet Hannah. Cosmically horrific results ensue.

The premise of the story is uniquely of Compton’s voice, and its telling brings characters to the page in a manner both familiar and welcome. We root for the characters. We understand where they’re coming from. They’re—bursting out of their skin? Whoa, now. This is new.

Compton’s got moves. He weaves together the key points of view and spins a yarn that keeps us reading, telling us a new kind of vampire story—one that borrows from Eastern European lore as well as invents some tricks of its own. The result is admirable. As story development goes, the pacing is at times confounding, as scenes often run too long or too short compared to that befitting their importance, and at least one long backstory sequence could have been eliminated completely without any loss for readers understanding core characters. That said, this book is more than just readable. It’s quite good. And while it would be hard to measure up to The Spite House, a book I still recommend on the regular, Compton here has swung big and turned out something never seen before. And that’s what worthwhile art is. We swing big, and we try to do something different. He’s succeeded on both counts.

Sarita has a guardian angel, Angelo, that has saved her life numerous times. So she is at a lost when she suffers an unimaginable tragedy at his hands. Her entire worldview is shaken, and events beyond her comprehension are set into motion.

I am a huge fan of Compton's debut, The Spite House, and was overjoyed to be selected for an ARC of this book. However, this book is just not up to snuff. The author does to much telling and not enough showing. Most of the action happens in the past, and is told to us via the author's passive memories. After the first chapter, it takes almost 30% of the book before anything else actually happens in the present day part of the story. The characters are flat and one dimensional. And there is so much internal dialogue that most of the story happens purely in the heads of the characters, versus any compelling dialogue, let alone action. I was sorely disappointed in this one as I so dearly wanted to love this. It was nothing short of a slog.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

"Devils Kill Devils" sounded quite promising as tapping into southern gothic and noir but I could not get into it at all. I did not find any of the characters well rounded or interesting, plot and world building made little sense and felt rushed, and the book lacked atmosphere. It was uselessly violent and in parts confusing. After reading half of it, I started skim-reading and even that left me feeling bored.

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this one but I did not enjoy any aspect of this book. I'm sorry.

1 star m/review/show/6363477366

Sarita has always had someone watching out for her, quite literally. Whenever there is a risk to her life, "Angelo" comes out of nowhere and saves her. Sometimes in the most violent of ways. So when he appears in her honeymoon suite, the night of her wedding, and kills her husband she is more than a little shocked.

So "Angelo" is not the guardian Angel that she had always thought he was, and in trying to look into who he is, she finds out that she is the "Holy Mother" to a cult of Demons that worship her. As nothing seems to make sense, the people around her start to get hurt while everything she believes about life turns out to be a lie. And let us not forget the issues she will have with the Mother in Law from hell!

This is a wonderful book that turns the myths of Vampires and Demons on its head and combines them to make a wonderfully rich story that is both mind-boggling and addicting all at the same time.

This was one of the most ambitious books I have read in a while, which is why it hurts to give this a 2 Star review. This first chapter blew me away. I am a horror fan and the use of "Vampires"
was extremely interesting. This book had its fair share of topics and I think this is where is where I struggled. This book has so many topics but little depth in each topic.

The first chapter blew me away, then the next 8 or 9 chapters I was interested, but then I lost most of the drive to read this book with how little dialogue was in this book, it was hard to tell where one thought started and ended. It felt like the atmosphere was torn apart and the plots seemed to pile on top of each other.
I do believe that this book will definitely be a reread for me though. I want to spend some time trying to dissect this book.
Good vs. Evil and even more of Evil vs. Evil has my attention for a later date. This one has a lot of promise.

Thank you NetGalley and TOR Nightfire for this opportunity!

I'd read and mostly enjoyed Compton's Spite House, which started strong and lost a lot of its propulsion at the halfway mark. I was hoping to enjoy Devils Kill Devils even more, but unfortunately this one was incomprehensible nearly off the bat despite an appealing protagonist. Too many POVs, too many internal trains of thought that never go anywhere, and every chapter or so is a quick little interlude designed to make the reader go "what"? Well, it did exactly that for me - but never became clear. This is just a classic case of Too Much, unfortunately - it was truly astounding how much this one dragged despite the modest page count. A disappointment for me on every level - I LOVE Southern gothic literature, and this just did not work for me.

4 stars

This is dark and creepy. I can see how it won’t work for everyone, as there is a lot going on, but I loved it. It was a wonderfully well done gothic horror.

I will say I did live Spite House a bit more because of the ease of reading, but this one certainly does its job as well:

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for an eARC of Devil Kill Devils by Johnny Compton. I enjoyed the mix of southern gothic and noir fiction, with a good dose of fantasy and horror thrown in. The novel had an ambituous plot with a lot of moving parts, involving all of the lore built up around the characters. Because of the moving parts, the middle tended to drag a little bit. However, the novel ultimately succeeds because of the likeable and, most importantly, relatable protagonist, Sarita, who is driven by one goal: to do right by and protect her loved ones at all costs.

This book was a great monster/gothic book that made me a little frightened to turn my light off at night. Definitely recommend for all dark horror fans.