Book Review - The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke

The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke

From Goodreads:
"I first met my demon the morning that Mum said Dad had gone." 

Alex Broccoli is ten years old, likes onions on toast, and can balance on the back legs of his chair for fourteen minutes. His best friend is a 9000-year-old demon called Ruen. When his depressive mother attempts suicide yet again, Alex meets child psychiatrist Anya. Still bearing the scars of her own daughter's battle with schizophrenia, Anya fears for Alex's mental health and attempts to convince him that Ruen doesn't exist. But as she runs out of medical proof for many of Alex's claims, she is faced with a question: does Alex suffer from schizophrenia, or can he really see demons?




Since I've been so busy, I'm way, way behind on all the book news this year, so this book wasn't on my radar until I read a review about it on another blog. And she said this book is like this other book, "XYZ".

No, there isn't a book called XYZ, but I'm just calling it XYZ because if I told you, then it'd probably become a spoiler. Because, well, I was able to guess the ending about half way though the book.

But, if she didn't mention that this is similar to XYZ, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. And I am glad that I read this as it's one of the more memorable fictions I read this year!

See, so I am a bit torn on what to tell you about this book, as I don't want to ruin it for you. But you may not pick it up if you don't know if it is your type of book! So email me, if you really want to know what XYZ is :)

Anyway, the writing was really quite engaging and I finished it rather quickly despite my schedule. The characters were memorable. And you just want to keep reading to find out what happened. Though I have to say the ending was a little tedious and probably could be a bit more concise... I mean, let's say in a movie where the 2 leads finally got together - and they finally kissed after all the tension! And they kept on kissing and kissing and kissing... and THE END.

Yeah.

Now I appreciate an author who tied up loose ends, but this one was just a little too neat.

And I have to say, since the book is about a 5 yo boy, it impacted me more now than if I don't have my son. I mean, what if... what would I do?! Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed this book if I were child-free. Just that it made me think more for sure.

4 Stars (more like 4.25 I guess... would've been 4.5 if the ending was executed a bit differently - don't get me wrong, I like how it ends, but just wished it ended in a more climatic manner.)




Note - The book was borrowed from the library.



All reviews and posts are copyrighted by Christa @ Mental Foodie. Please do not use or reprint them without written permission.