The Damned
Andrew Pyper
Simon & Schuster
February 10, 2015
Reviewed by Tim Potter
Andrew Pyper’s latest novel, The Damned, in an interesting and philosophical supernatural thriller that delves into the question of what happens to people when they die. The afterlife, in all of it’s different forms, is experienced and explained by the narrator of this first person tale, Danny Orchard. He is a man who has died, and not just once, and returned to the world of the living to share his story of Heaven and Hell. It’s a lyrical, well written novel that, on a few occasions, gets bogged down by it’s introspective nature, but is ultimately satisfying.
Danny Orchard is something of a celebrity having written an incredibly successful book about his experience in the afterlife when he died at the age of sixteen. The book-within-the-book is called The After and it relates his story about how his Heaven was riding in the car with his father through the streets of Detroit, reliving his best day ever. Danny also dies and experiences what it is like to go “the other way”, to Hell, or to be one of The Damned.
When Danny died at the age of sixteen, his twin sister Ashleigh, or Ash, also died. Ash was not able to come back from her death that day. The story proceeds with Danny relating to the reader how his life was after that day, how his sister would not let loose the grip she had on him in life, even in death. Ash, along with the other supporting characters, are what really drives the story forward.
Years after his sister’s death, Danny finally meets a new woman, Willa, who, along with her son, Eddie, will become Danny’s reason for living. Other characters, Ash’s friends from childhood, Danny heart surgeon and one of the twins teachers, are also very well realized and never fail to play an important role in the plot. Unfortunately, when the supporting cast is not present the story slows down quite a bit as the narrative gets caught up in Danny’s head.
The last act of The Damned is the slowest, becoming a supernatural, nightmarish trek through a dystopian and almost deserted Detroit. The ultimate ending is excellent and Pyper handles it with a subtle touch that really makes an impact. In his previous novels, author Andrew Pyper has moved from understated legal mystery-thrillers like Lost Girls to the historical and supernatural thrills of The Demonologist. This story strikes a good balance between those two styles and has more than it’s share of twists and turns and will keep the reader guessing until the end.
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