The Boy Who Could See Demons [Paperback]

The tie that binds....

I thoroughly enjoyed Carolyn's previous novel and couldn't wait for this book to be released, thankfully I wasn't disappointed. At times it proved to be very sad and disturbing, however it also made me laugh and on occasion feel warm inside. But most importantly of all it was incredibly thought provoking. What if....there is genuine documented cases to support both theories/arguments. I for one am a great believer in the credibility of both.

As before the content of the book is very well put together. Each of the characters personalities oozed from the pages and I was able to connect, in some way or form, with each and every one of them. Yes, even Ruen!
The demonic little beast even managed to fool me on the odd occasion, uncomfortably so, with his false promises and seemingly genuine acts of friendship. When I found myself warming to him in the beginning I had to mentally remind myself of what and who he was, the very essence of evil.

All that aside, in order to successfully combine acute debilitating mental health disorders with the possibility of demonic possession, this book couldn't have been written by a more apt author.

An excellent easy read and well worth your valuble time.

This is the story of Alex, a young boy who lives with his mother Cindy in Belfast. Her mum's past has not been joyful, but one thing for sure: She loves his boy. Since his father death, Alex has been having a very good friend, Ruen. Ruen is a demon. He has three appearances and promises Alex he can have whatever he wants, but he has to do Ruen a favour: He has to kill someone. The chapters alternate between the entries in Alex diaries and the point of view of Anya, a psychiatrist who is in charge of this case, after Cindy's third suicide attempt. Her daughter, Poppy, killed herself when she was a girl because she was suffering of skizophrenia. WIth Michael's help, a very keen and professional social worker, she will establish a connection to Alex and try to cure what she thinks is affecting him. But is he really seeing demons and ghosts? Due to some unexplicable events, even the professional adults will start having doubts. The author charms the reader with this fascinating, sometimes funny and sometimes moving story of a troubled boy. A rare masterpiece of awesome sensitivity.

You don't need to look beyond the terrifically catchy title to see the Carolyn Jess-Cooke's follow-up to her debut novel The Guardian Angel's Journal uses a similar fantasy construct to the earlier novel, where events in "real life" are witnessed and influenced by supernatural beings. If the concept is similar, using this device to find a way to reflect on deeply traumatic experiences that would otherwise make very painful reading, The Boy Who Could See Demons manages to make that idea work much better, with strong well-defined characters that allow us the reader to make a deeper connection with them.

There was a sense of disconnect in the use of angels in the earlier book that didn't allow the reader to really feel the pain, keeping them distant from the experience and unable to truly sympathise with the characters. It's ironic then that we are able to gain a much fuller picture of someone who is enduring great distress and mental turmoil by seeing it expressed in, if you like, demonic possession. If we were to view the story solely through the eyes of Alex however, a ten-year old Belfast boy who is taken into care after an attempted suicide by his mother, his actions directed by demons that only he can see, it would be fascinating and entertaining view of a dark subject, but it would be nowhere near as complete were we not also to have the outside view of Anya, a psychiatrist who has recently returned to the province.

Part of the reason why this works better in the new book, I think, is that the author seems to be really examining her own life experiences, coming to terms with the place she grew up - Northern Ireland - and in The Boy Who Could See Demons, in Alex, in Anya, but also in Ruen, a Harrower from the darkest depths of Hell, she finds a novel and expansive way to reconnect with the people who have lived through the hurt, pain and violence of the Troubles. Inevitably, taking on such a vast subject and trying to find a way to resolve decades of trauma through psychiatric analysis techniques somewhat oversimplifies matters that defy such an easy resolution, but - like The Guardian Angel's Journal - there is enough ambiguity left in the fantasy concept to account for this.

It's a sense of the author's greater personal involvement in the characters however that really makes the difference in The Boy Who Could See Demons. There's a real sense of a unique personality at work in Alex - he's not just a symbol for a younger generation - and Carolyn Jess-Cooke's own personality (I presume from her other non-fiction work and interests) feeds through into Anya, whose own life experiences make her more than just a means to help Alex work through his problems. Rather wonderfully, there's also real personality in the demon Ruen - but I wouldn't like to speculate on the dark places the author must have gone to do that so well! Combined, they make this a thought-provoking work that deals with a very serious subject in an involving and entertaining way through its very unusual concept.