Books: Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory (2008)

 

"It is a world like our own in every respect . . . save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. There’s the Truth, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, brave and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings death, whether desired or not. And a string of others, ranging from the bizarre to the benign to the horrific. As a boy, Del Pierce is possessed by the Hellion, an entity whose mischief-making can be deadly. With the help of Del’s family and a caring psychiatrist, the demon is exorcised . . . or is it? Years later, following a car accident, the Hellion is back, trapped inside Del’s head and clamoring to get out. Del’s quest for help leads him to Valis, an entity possessing the science fiction writer formerly known as Philip K. Dick; to Mother Mariette, a nun who inspires decidedly unchaste feelings; and to the Human League, a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons. All believe that Del holds the key to the plague of possession–and its solution."

Last summer I read Daryl Gregory’s sixth book, Spoonbenders, and enjoyed it a lot. It’s taken me this long to get to his brilliant debut novel Pandemonium. Gregory apparently references a lot of his childhood growing up in suburban Chicago, by not only setting the book there (and writing about places, roads, and towns I know very well) but also (probably) his love of comic books, horror, and classic science fiction writers. It’s a subtly alternate history novel where Eisenhower is assassinated, where Richard Nixon became president earlier, and where Philip K. Dick and the English band The Human League are possessed by demons (which Gregory only sort of hints at their origins). By far, the book is a lot deeper than its premise belies, as Gregory takes a scientific and biological study approach to mental illness and adds demonic possession into the mix. It’s often funny but mixed in is an underlying feel of sadness and even loneliness. It’s a remarkable first book.