Life cannot be undone, and death is even more stubborn.

Devils kill Devils by Johnny Compton
👿


Ooof. This book put me in a full fledged reading slump. I was excited for this book because I loved the authors first book. This one fell way short for me. I didn’t care what was happening or if the characters. I couldn’t even tell you how it ended because I was just happy to be finished.

It was fine but not my favorite. I could just simply not connect with this one or the characters the way I'd like to have!

I really wanted to love this book. The title and the prospect of a thriller featuring vampires and demons had me eagerly anticipating starting to read. After a thrilling beginning, I struggled with the growing cast of characters and the world building. I couldn't keep track of who was who and what their histories were at times and this bogged down the pace. Thankfully, I liked the protagonist Sarita Bardales enough to persist. Overall this is a dramatic and unique take on familiar monsters.

Take vampires and demons, some religious/cult inspired horrors, add in some Southern Gothic flavoring, and a healthy dash of gore and violence, and you have the makings for Johnny Compton's sophomore novel, Devils Kill Devils.

When Sarita's guardian angel, Angelo, unexpectedly kills someone close to her, she is thrown into a world she no longer understands or trusts. in her search for answers to Angelo's apparent betrayal, she discovers that she is part of a larger conspiracy, her destiny already decided by a religious cult of demons and vampires.

DKD is quite a departure from Compton's first novel, The Spite House, a more traditional haunted house story. DKD is a hero's journey of sorts, as Sarita begins to learn her part in the battle between the vampires and demons that inhabit this world, which are true terrors. How these creatures exist in this world, and the inspiration that Compton took from his research into this novel, are quite unique, and equally terrifying, Along with these terrifying creatures comes plenty of violence and gore; DVD is definitely not for the squeamish.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Compton's writing is rich, and it flows so well. The dialogue helps to distinguish between characters and the speeches by certain characters were wonderful, especially on audio. His descriptions, especially of things like the devils' elongated hands and the tattered gore of ruined bodies, was vivid.

That said, I was never fully invested in the story, or in Sarita and her struggle. I found other characters more interesting, and at the 75% mark I was still struggling to care as the two main forces very, very slowly moved towards each other. It was a long build up to a quick finale.

I do love that it went in an unexpected direction. Based on the synopsis, I was expecting a straight good-vs-evil story, possibly with more religious background. The supernatural elements were a fun surprise.

This is a dark story and it starts off with a bang! I think this is a really broad story that encompasses cult horror, supernatural horror and even a tiny bit of coming of age. Our main character’s plight was understandable and the pressure that she faced from her family (mostly mom) to hide the issue added some depth to the emotional elements while still delivering on the violent or scary factors.

I did have an audio and digital copy of this and there were some points at which it did not line up. Nothing that changed the story drastically but definitely noticeable if you had both.

dnf, or did not finish. i was interested in the beginning but then the writing/ plot just completely lost my interest.

I enjoyed this one! It did lose me in the middle for a bit so I didn't like the end as much as I wanted to because I wasn't as invested. I think if this was a little shorter it would have worked a little more for me. There were a lot of very interesting concepts in this book that I wasn't expecting. I liked the different discussions that happened throughout this book and will continue to read from Johnny Compton. I think he has some really great and unique ideas!

Sarita has had a guardian angel watching over her most of her life, saving her when she most needed it. She’d always trusted him to take care of her until he viciously murdered someone she loved deeply. This is the beginning of a harrowing journey that opens doorways to a dark world she could never have known was real, where there are monsters beyond conception.

Devils Kill Devils is an imaginative novel that is as philosophical in tone as it is horrific. At times, the story drags because the narrative spends a lot more time in the mind of its characters instead of showing the events occurring. More dialogue would have imbued a greater momentum and a more active feel to the story. However, Compton excellently builds tension and a sense of wrongness that explodes into outright horror in moments, even up to a spellbinding climax. The novel explores the concept of belief and how having a strong faith in something gives it a profound power. While this is portrayed in an overtly fantastic and supernatural way, this theme does have relevance in society in which extreme, fundamentalist belief without nuance can lead to the justification of horrific acts. It’s also a very insightful analysis of how humans have the tendency to demonize and make monsters out of others and not realize that hatred has made them as much of a monster. Readers will find something unique, thoughtful, and consistently unsettling with Devils Kill Devils.

3.5 stars

The first chapter of this book packs. a. punch. I was immediately sucked in, and wanted to know more about Angelo and why he did what he did.
Throughout the story, I stayed interested and intrigued by what would happen next. I did feel though like we only got to know Sarita on a kind surface level so I wasn't as connected to her as I wanted to be. That being said the plot definitely kept guessing what was going to happen next, and the different POV's of Sarita and her mother-in-law really kept the pace of the story moving quickly.

I am excited to see what Johnny Compton will come out with next.

A horror must in my opinion, it’s such a new take on “angels and demons” and how humans play into the chess board these creatures play in the regular world I was absolutely gripped early on and really loved what a unique story idea this was.

Devils Kill Devils is a wild read, and I suggest you go into this book knowing as little about it as possible first.

After a wickedly strong opening chapter, it took me a bit to get into this one.  Devils Kill Devils is It’s very different from Compton’s debut novel, The Spite House.  

His mythologies around vampires, angels, and demons are fascinating and complex, which I found a bit intimidating while reading it.

However, I kept going and the read was worth the effort. There are moments of tragedy and visceral, hypnotic fear.

Sarita is a great protagonist, and I love that Compton wrote her as resilient but not overly strong. She felt like a real person in the middle of an insane situation. The supporting characters were wonderfully developed.

I’m very curious to see what Compton comes up with next.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for my review copy of this book.

😈Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton👿

Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Goal 2024: 97/100

✨Have you ever had something happen in your life that felt unexplainable?✨

This book is pretty unexplainable for me. So much potential but unfortunately left me feeling entirely too confused. I really liked the idea.

Vampires.
Cults.
Family drama.

I found a lot of info dumping happening and that we were often in the midst of a characters thoughts just.. stuck.

The violence in this book was exactly what I was hoping for though and it was very stabby which was cool.

I definitely think people who are into fantasy horror should give this a chance but I think I like my fantasy and horror separated. Slasher reads are more my drip.

I did read this one from ebook and from audio and the narration was great!

Devils Kill Devils is Compton's second horror novel filled with vampires, cults and a slew of other monsterous types. The opening chapters where our main character's, Sarita, new husband is violently killed by her "guardian angel" was such a strong start. I was curious to find out why Sarita's husband was killed, the limitations and reasons for the protection of her guardian angel, and when a cult was introduced I was definitely into it. However as I got further into the book, the plot meandered and the characters weren't dynamic enough to carry the story. I wish I had enjoyed this as much as I did the Spite House, but I will read Compton's next work.

DNF’d at 62%
This book started off promising but then quickly lost its appeal. The best I can describe it is ‘word vomit’. The overexplaination of everything without ever really saying anything is headache-inducing. This author needs to put down the thesaurus and weed out all this unneeded filler. I bet if they cut over half of the words they used, this book would’ve been a hit with me. Unfortunately, it was a miss.

*
*

FYI: on a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars ~ Nothing at all. Chefs kiss. No notes.
*4 Stars ~ It could use some slight adjustments here and there but pretty solid overall.
*3 Stars ~ Adjustments need to be made and rewriting needs to be done. Good but could be a lot better. I read it once and don’t need to do it again.
*2 Stars ~ This book needs a lot of work. Whether it be rewriting the plot, characters, style or ending. Something or everything needs to be changed.
*1 Star ~ Dumpster fire.

I adored Johnny Compton’s previous novel, The Spite House. His emphasis on character development and plot, resulted in an incredibly impressive, and terrifying debut.

Compton’s follow-up, Devils Kill Devils, is straight-up, bat poop crazy, in an amazing way. Our protagonist, Sarita, has a literal guardian angel, Angelo. He first surfaced when she almost drowned as a child, and has appeared at various points to save her life. However, when Angelo appears on Sarita’s wedding night, and precedes to kill her husband, things get a little bit complicated, and we venture into the weird world of gods, devils, and vampires.

I loved this book. I finished it in two days. I’m often a little wary of male authors writing female characters, but there were no such concerns with Compton. Sarita is a beautifully complex character, and her relationships with her brother and her best friend are very well-formed. But the thing that held my interest in the sheer unpredictability of the plot. I was willing to put my trust in Compton and suspend all belief, and follow the path to the underworld.

If you like your horror on the fantastical side, I highly recommend Devils Kill Devils.

I absolutely loved the beginning scene of the book, as well as the rich mythology the author explores. I did feel left wanting for more. While the character details were rich, I didn’t find much that really bonded me to any certain one. While enjoyable, the story didn’t have much of a pull or much teeth for me. I do look forward to reading more from the author!

This is horror like I have never read before, and I recommend giving it a try.
I really thought the plot was going one way, but it really took a 180-degree turn. I will be honest; I was unsure of it up until about 75% of the way through. But I report that it worked out for the better and even wrapped up to a completed ending My advice for reading this: don’t be stuck on the initial way the plot comes across and keep an open mind!
Though this is tagged as horror it felt more like a thriller with extra gore. This was not ideal since in this case I was expecting a horror (Halloween month and all). The horror is gore and very light scares. Nothing more and nothing less. If we change gears and look at it as a paranormal thriller it was decent. I don’t know if there is a true phrase for this, but to me I consider this high intelligence thriller/horror. There is a lot of philosophy and cult religion going on in the background and can easily become confusing if you aren’t keeping a close tab on it. I don’t hate it but I am realizing that I don’t prefer it either.
This is multi-pov which worked out well. (I guess I don’t hate it as much as I used to) I liked that we got inner monologue from both the protagonist and antagonist, more than one of them actually. I don’t often see this and ended up really liking it. There is a ton of emotion and processing of emotion, both the outwardly and inner process of doing so. I also enjoyed this and thought it gave a sense of humanness to the story.

THIS BOOK STARTED OFF SO GREAT! I really enjoyed Compton's interpretation of the supernatural, fantastical, mythological, and occult. It provided a fresh point of view in a time of remakes, which I liked. I really enjoyed Sarita and her juxtaposition between "normal" and "reckless" due to having a guardian angel. I also really enjoyed the horror aspects of the novel as they helped keep my interest when the plot seemed to slow a little bit towards the end. I, however, will be looking forward to reading a sequel because the world that Compton built is too addicting!

Thank you, Netgalley and Tor Nightfire!

Devils Kill Devils is a dark horror/fantasy standalone featuring vampires, gods, and action-packed, blood-fueled sequences.

I was conflicted about this book around the 20% mark. I was initially hooked but slowly lost interest as the story progressed. Then, around the 40% mark, I fell back in love with it. The opening storyline—where our main character Sarita has a “guardian angel” who has saved her life multiple times but suddenly goes dark and kills a loved one—was intriguing. However, as more characters were introduced, the tone shifted, and the layers of the more complex, grander story began to unfold. The plot expands into themes of the occult, vampires, and gods, with some very gory scenes. While there was a lull for me between the 20% and 40% marks, those chapters were crucial for setting up the explosive, well-plotted ending.

That said, Devils Kill Devils offers a fresh and darker take on vampire mythology. I'd recommend it to fans of Stephen King, Mariana Enriquez, and those who enjoyed the show Supernatural.

I'll take whatever Johnny Compton writes next.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.