Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

5 stars! -- I love it!

I must admit, the fact that the library classified this as "horror" had me a bit nervous. But luckily for me, Pandemonium is not a horror novel. The library just didn't know where else to shelve a book about demon possession.

Pandemonium takes place in a parallel universe. It's exactly like our own, except that since the 1950s (or even far before that), demon possession is a fairly regular occurrence. Some people are lucky enough to go their entire life without even seeing a possession, but others seem to be plagued by it.

Demon possession sounds terrible, but in Pandemonium, it's not necessarily a bad thing... Sometimes it just merely is. A demon known as The Painter only possesses people so that he can paint a picture. A noble demon knows at The Captain is always an army hero. Then there's The Truth, who kills people who lie (such as O.J. Simpson), but that's sort of noble too--just unfortunate for the person possessed at the time.

There are certainly bad demon possessions too. The Kamikaze possesses only Japanese men, forces them to highjack planes, and then suicide crashes the plane. And The Angel only possesses pretty little girls, makes them don cute nightdresses, and then goes around kissing sick and elderly people who then die.

So on the one hand, it sucks that a person is temporarily kicked out of their body and loses control while the demon forces them to do whatever it is the demon wants, but to be fair, there are levels of possession. Being possessed by The Painter is certainly a much better outcome than being possessed by The Kamikaze.

Anyway, Pandemonium focuses mainly on The Hellion. The Hellion only possesses little boys of a certain age and makes them act, well, troublesome or mischievous, as the dictionary defines the term, and to an extreme degree.

The main character of the story, Del, was possessed by The Hellion when he was 5 years old. But due to several unexplainable episodes, "noises" in his head that haven't gone away, and the fact that no one else has been possessed by The Hellion since his own possession, Del doesn't believe The Hellion was properly exorcised. While Del believes that he may have The Hellion trapped, he certainly understands that he doesn't have the demon under control.

Pandemonium is a really fascinating story with several unexpected twists. The author did a fabulous job with character development and self-discovery, and the other characters that are introduced, from The Angel turned priest to The Shug to Valis, are all necessary parts of a very intricate and layered universe.

While Pandemonium is set up to be a stand-alone novel, it has the potential to have a sequel, and I really hope Gregory takes advantage of that. The story is fascinating. It was well done, well thought out, and truly fantastic. It's also not religious at all (though it does contain some philosophy), so I think even religious people that are against demon possession can read this, so long as they understand that it's fiction.

So if you want to read a good book with new ideas from a new author, try Pandemonium.