I thought this book started off pretty strong. Our child narrator is pretty unreliable, but he's also trying his best to find his friend. The author does a good job painting a pretty unsettling picture of Deer Valley and its inhabitants. Stevie is neglected as his mother doesn't ever get him psychiatric help, his stepfather Terry is abusive, and the older brother Duncan ignores him. His only friend is his cousin Jude, so of course Stevie is going to try to go find him when he goes missing, even if everyone else thinks he ran away.

Eventually, Jude comes home, but he comes back different. After he returns, the story cuts to Rosamund, Ansel, and Otto. This story had promise at first, but soon it's pretty much just Rosemary's Baby. It felt like it could've been interesting and had a lot of potential. There were unique elements. I liked the bit with the animals and the first attack and then the resulting changed behavior where the animals become enthralled with Otto. Or, enslaved rather. Poor Sasha. It got hard reading about all these dead animals and pets with Rosie keeping the collars in a desk drawer. It's upsetting and doesn't do much to further the story. We know Otto is a bad guy, we're about to find out he murdered a kid. And not just murdered, but apparently ate Maxwell Larsen. Meanwhile, the Deadhead guy is our 1:1 with the Satanist neighbors from Rosemary's Baby, only now it's Rosamund's Baby. From the second he asked Rosie what she wanted and what she'd do, I knew it was game over. But the author doesn't let us stew in that dread for very long until Ansel dies and we know, alright that's cuz of Ra-Ra-Rasputin (AKA Deadhead). I didn't care a whole lot about Otto's story and even how Rosemary changed could've been interesting if the whole "she wants to leave but he's basically enchanted her" angle was leaned into more, but I also would've wanted the story to stay with Stevie instead. After this, the story kind of falls apart. So, Jude comes back and he's weird and wrong, but nobody will listen to Stevie about it. The story at end tries to lean into "Was it all imagined? Is Stevie just crazy?" but having Rosie's chapters means we already know it all happened. There's some gore and scares, but honestly? I don't think it really worked. Stevie killing Jude didn't seem earned. The big fight at the end with all of them is fine, but it wasn't a great conclusion. It felt like a bit of a let down to just go okay, here's years later. We also never get a real conclusion to Jude. He's gone and stays gone, appearing to be kind of allergic to sunlight like Otto except then he's dead so we'll never know. I felt like unanswered questions are fine, but not if what we're focusing on isn't as interesting. Honestly, I'm not sure how I would have ended it. An unhappy ending is fine, but this one felt like a cop-out.

 This was pretty good! I don't feel like it was particularly memorable or like I'll have a lot to say about it when I type up a review, but it was a solid introduction to Ania Ahlborn's work and I'm looking forward to picking up another story of hers soon!

✨ Representation: disabled protagonist (missing multiple fingers) with an undiagnosed mental illness (implied schizophrenia) and Tourette's 

The Devil Crept In was my first Ania Ahlborn read and while I wasn’t totally in love, I enjoy her writing style enough to read more from her. (Most likely Brother because that seems to be the one people talk up)

This book was a little slow pace for my liking, I really struggled to get through the first half of it when usually a book this length would maybe take me three days at the most, but once the plot picked up around the 50% mark I finished it very quickly. 

There were a lot of things about this story that I liked. The atmosphere was great, very creepy and gritty, parts of it definitely made me feel gross to read.

I enjoyed Stevie as our main narrator (I love the unreliable narrator trope) and I thought it was very effective that we saw things from his POV and how frustrating it was when no one would listen to him or take the time to understand him. It’s horrific to feel as if you have something very important to say and not have the ability to express it, though this is a reality a lot of people face. It was sad to see the way in which every adult in Stevie’s life failed him,

culminating to one major tragic event that ultimately he will bear the burden for.

I did think making the creature kind of a monster and kind of a disabled person was a little on the nose but I saw what Ania was getting at there, I’m just not sure it was 100% successful in its delivery.

I enjoyed the ending too though I understand why it wouldn’t be for everyone.

I like an ambiguous end and though I was sad that Stevie got no Justice for the unfair life he lived, sometimes unfairness is just the truth of things and that’s the scariest possibility of all. My only complaint about the ending is that while I liked the man moving into the town afterward sorta setting up shop in the trauma he caused in order to find his next victim, I really wish we got to know more about that bit of the story. Rosie running into this man and then having a one night stand with the devil is a huge plot point but is nothing more than a few sentences here and there. I would’ve liked to hear more about the experience from Rosie’s POV and her grappling with the fact that she may have had sex with Satan and birthed his offspring. I mean, that seems pretty significant.

This was a solid read. It was gritty, challenging, tense, sad, dark, and unnerving, but I wouldn’t suggest this novel for everyone, I think the level of bleakness and ambiguity would be a hard sell for most. However I’m excited to see what else Ania Ahlborn has to offer.