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By Terry Brooks
Del Rey/ Ballantine Books 1997
Reviewed By Robert Thompson 9/22/97
This book is kind of a departure for Brooks, who is best known for his Tolkienesque SHANNARA series. This book puts him in the company of Steven King, Dean Koontz and Peter Straub.
RUNNING WITH THE DEMON is set in a small Illinois town in the present. The town is balanced on the edge of a precipice, but almost no one is aware of the danger. The fate of not only Hopewell, Illinois, but of the world is in the hands of Nest Freemark, a remarkable, yet very human 14 year old girl, and John Ross- a scruffy looking transient.
With the aid of a few friends (human and non-human) Nest and John try to destroy the demon before it can succeed in its plots.
This is a very entertaining, somewhat frightening tale. It is a pretty quick read, only 420 pages of moderately large type. But RUNNING WITH THE DEMON struck me on several different levels. You see, while this book is (probably) a work of fiction that can't quite decide if it is fantasy or horror, it is also a parallel to what is happening in the real world.
Anyone who is likes Fictional Fantasy / Horror, will enjoy this book, some will be a bit frightened too. (King's THE STAND had a similar, if somewhat more powerful impact on me personally.)
Anyone interested in getting some insight into what is happening (but unknown to most) in the real world should read this book.
I don't know if Terry Brooks knows that RUNNING WITH THE DEMON is more than a work of fiction, but If I had my way, RUNNING WITH THE DEMON and ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand would be required reading for ALL High school Seniors throughout the world. These two books, if properly read and understood will provide everything you need to understand what is required to avoid the end of life as we know it.
Nuff said.
