Teenager Cassie Stevens died in a crash on her way home from a party. She's revived twenty minutes later, but during her brief period of death, something more horrifying than death had happened.
Something evil followed Cassie back from beyond death. Something infinite in hatred and horror. And it won't stop till she's dead.
HELL: The Possession and Exorcism of Cassie Stevens, by Tom Lewis, is a story that really stood out to me in this particular sub-genre. I've read a fair amount of stories involving demonic possession and exorcisms, and this one had some great sections, with characters that were memorable not only for their current situations, but also their pasts.
We know by the title alone that Cassie is going to be possessed, so at first I was surprised when we were taken further back into her life to who she was well before any changes had taken place. However, this tactic is what really sucked me into her life. I felt I had known her so well that these changes–when they came–were all the more dramatic and gut-wrenching because of it.
In a parallel story, we also learn about the early life and changes going on with Sean McCready–a man who later ends up as a Reverend in the town Cassie lives in.
The way that the author individualizes these two very different people is what kept my undivided attention more than anything else. I felt I knew so much about them, that I simply HAD to find out what would happen to them.
Another aspect that I felt especially important to this novel was the nature of the demonic entity.
This particular demon was described in great depth regarding many aspects. It was not merely "a demon", but rather a very specific one with a long and merciless past. As opposed to only being "something that takes over" Cassie, it is a creature with its own agenda, goals, and even personality, in a way. Something that readers could understand in more detail, and even begin to guess at its endgame, based on its track record.
The one part of this novel that seemed a little "less than"–in my opinion–came closer to the end. Some aspects there felt 'out of line' compared to the rest of the book, and a bit more cliched in general.
Overall, I really enjoyed the majority of this story. I feel that Tom Lewis brought some new ideas and original scenes here, and those really helped get me invested in the main characters. Also, his take on the nature of the demon was a great, sinister touch that made it stand out among all the other tales of possession out there. The weak point, to me, came towards the end of the book where I found it easy to guess at what was to come next. Still, it was otherwise a solid novel that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to fans of this kind of horror.
Tom Lewis is an entertainment attorney and former Marine. He's a graduate of Arizona State University and the University of San Diego School of Law.
His first novel, "Aftermath," was published in 2015 as the first part of the "After the Fall" dystopian Series. "Hell: The Possession and Exorcism of Cassie Stevens" is his second novel.
He currently lives in Santa Monica, California, with a bunch of squirrels that mooch off him for food.