Inner Demons – Reviews
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5 out of 5
Just 12 paragraphs in, this novel takes the first wild leap into a mystery that sweeps a young black Houston accountant into an alien nightmare that leaves her life devastated when she wakes up. Maybe her three-month blackout is the result of split-personality disorder, a physical illness, or something far more serious. Itβs the terror of losing control of your life. Canβt a girl just be cozy? The cosmic battle for revenge gets riveting.
(reviewed 20 days after purchase)
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3 out of 5
Tamara Williams is a beautiful and well-educated woman. She is an accountant who has risen above her upbringing and is pretty happy with how her life has turned out, until recently.
Jensen White is a former priest whose life changed forever when he was possessed by a demon. He now is trying to atone for what he had no control over.
Tamara has lost three months of her life. A demon possessed her and destroyed her well-ordered existence. She now has no family or friends to turn to and has to try to rebuild. A former priest offers her the opportunity to keep that demon from harming anyone else and save the world in the process. It is an offer she cannot refuse.
This is an interesting story with colorful characters and an engrossing plotline. It will appeal to all readers of this genre, not just African-Americans, though they will identify with Tamara better than I did. The premise of the story is fascinating, and I had a hard time putting this book down until the exciting conclusion.
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4 out of 5
I won this book through Goodreads First Reads program.
I typically don’t read a whole lot of scifi/paranormal fiction. It’s not that I dislike it, I mean, I did watch Buffy back in the day, but I find it to be a bit too much sometimes. However, this book was good. We are introduced to Tamara, a nice fairly simple girl. She’s getting ready to settle in for the night and then next thing we know she’s woken up in the middle of some street. Tamara comes back home to find next to nothing is the same, and she’s been up to some shady business while she’s been “out”. While searching for answers to what happened to her, she run’s into Jensen White, who’s just the man to provide them. We learn that she’s been possessed and it goes on from there.
I found this to be an easy, fun read. Tamara is a little annoying at times, as she can’t always keep her emotions in check but that’s what makes her so real. It takes a while to figure out everything and the real action doesn’t start until the last fourth of the book, but there is enough there in the interim to keep you interested.
This was an enjoyable read and the way it leaves off it could definitely develop into a series….one that I would continue to read!
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4 out of 5
Tamara is living her normal, happy, successful life β when she suddenly wakes up, in strange clothes in a strange place and with 3 months of her life missing
Her home is no longer her own, she learns she has done terrible, alien things in the time she didnβt remember β and she has no idea what happened or why her life has been destroyed until Jensen offers her a possible answer:
Demonic possession β and there are more demons out there and something big is coming.
Demonic possession is not uncommon in the genre β but we rarely see it from the lens of Inner Demons. When we see the demonically possessed they are usually victims to be rescued. Or background furniture in some horror as their body is used to do terrible/disgusting things. Or, maybe, theyβre just a vehicle for the demon with little actual character of their own.
Inner Demon is told from the point of view of Tamara, someone who was possessed. We see the horror and sheer violation of her losing her life. We see the terrible things the demon made her done – terrible because they go against the very essence of who she is and her image of self. The demon destroyed her life and we see this really starkly. Just how she recoiled from little things like her house being redecorated and furniture changed β that simple violation destroyed her home for her. It was almost more powerful than the more gross and obvious violations that so destroyed her self image, her relationships and generally left her life a ruin β because it was more subtle and it was so close to home and worked in the context of that violation.
Tamara really conveys that horror and that loss β from the terror she has from simply not understanding what happened to her, to the grief and then, finally, through to the rage that consumes her. Itβs true that the angry Black woman is a trope, but in this book it works excellently since it is woven into part of her experiences. It would be unnatural for her not to be angry, not to be utterly furious in the wake of what has happened to her and what she has lost. Her rage is not just a reaction to what happened but a part of her very real depiction of PTSD because she is traumatised, she is wounded.
So sheβs angry and she often fights for control β but it works with her because it is made as a part of her character rather than a clumsy trope addition
Tamaraβs character is also very well informed by being a Black woman β her race is not just a brief biographical note. From her reminiscing of her past experiences to the experiences of her family and even how the demons try to attack her. Her rage at how the demons control people β how they enslave and imprison people is partially routed in her experiences and history as a Black woman in the US. Her outrage over other beings not having choices or free will is, again, rooted in that social consciousness. No matter the circumstances, the idea of any beings being slaves outrages her and feeds her growing rage.
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5 out of 5
What would you do? One minute you are doing good in life and really making progress. The next moment you are walking down a street dazed and confused. Time is missing from your life and you are alienated from your family and friends because of your actions. How was she possessed and was there something she did to become possessed ? How does she find out and what can she do to protect herself? This is a really fast paced action packed read. Phenomenal book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.