Johnny Compton's Devils Kill Devils is a captivating blend of crime fiction and supernatural elements. It's a story of redemption, vengeance, and the dark forces that lurk beneath the surface of our world.

The novel centers around a former soldier who returns home to his small town, only to find it plagued by a series of gruesome murders. As he delves deeper into the investigation, he uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving ancient rituals and demonic entities.

Compton's writing is vivid and atmospheric, creating a sense of dread and suspense that keeps the reader hooked. The characters are well-developed and relatable, making it easy to invest in their struggles and triumphs.

While the supernatural elements are intriguing, some readers may find them a bit over-the-top. Additionally, the pacing could be a bit uneven at times, with some sections feeling rushed.

Overall, Devils Kill Devils is a thrilling and thought-provoking read that will appeal to fans of crime fiction and horror. It's a dark and gritty tale that explores the depths of human nature and the power of evil.

I was initially hooked, but slowly lost interest as the story went on. The opening storyline of our main character Sarita having a “guardian angel” that had saved her life on multiple occasions, but then goes 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 and kills a loved one was intriguing. However, from then on more and more characters and perspectives are introduced and it all went downhill from there. I lost the plot multiple times and honestly it was hard to push myself to finish it. Honestly, the extremely well written and descriptive gore was what kept me going ultimately.

I will read whatever Johnny Compton publishes next, because I did LOVE his debut so much! I am just hoping that this a blip on the radar.

This was a complete 180 from his debut but don't be mistaken; this book in no way falls prey to the 'sophomore slump' that some books have. It started with a bang and kept going from there and while the plot was fairly medium-paced, the bouncing around to different points of views made it a faster trot than that. I think that this is a horror that takes no prisoners when it comes to who dies and the gore is very apparent and descriptive without going overboard and making it seem like you're reading the script for "Saw' or 'Hostel'. The ending was a bit abrupt and felt a bit anti-climactic in the fight that it was building up towards. But even then it was still a good and believable ending. Would recommend for any horror fans and those that enjoyed his debut, 'The Spite House'.

Full of ideas but never quite nailing the execution, Devils Kill Devils is a dark tale about religion, faith, and human connection that largely acts as a harrowing for heroine Sarita whose husband is brutally slain by Sarita's murderous guardian angel on their wedding night. Far from bad, Devils Kill Devils is a moderately-entertaining cosmic horror, from an author with plenty of potential.

The first two chapters were really good and I could easily follow along. I was tuned in and wanted to read more. After a while, it became too much. There was too many aspects that was trying to be pushed into one storyline and it clouded the plot. It left me questions in the end.

I was split on this book because I was absolutely engrossed with the first half of the book and did not want to put it down. However, I don't know what happened during the second half. Rather than a plot twist, it felt like I was reading a completely different book by a different author. The story got very convoluted and I found it hard to follow.

It may be a better fit for someone who is more into fantasy horror.

While this book started out strong, it lost itself along the way a bit. The ideas were there and interesting, with vampiric godlike creatures conducting humanity in a way that zooms in on person and her life. It got epic, with BIG plans, but I think I wanted more of Angelo and Sarita before all the Big Bads and epic-ness really took over. "In the Spite House" kept me creeped out, but this one didn't so much a creep me out as get too sweeping, too fast. Still look forward to Compton's other works.

I really appreciated the backstories of the characters. I thought Johnny Compton did great at delivering complex characters. With that said, I wanted to love this book, but I struggled with following the plot. Particularly, I believed Sarita to be the main character to begin with, however her storyline didn't exactly support that role, in my opinion.

I had an incredibly difficult time getting through this book. I don’t have the ability to DNF, otherwise I would have.

The characters weren’t written in a way to make me care about them. There were too many players. I was often confused as to who was what. At one point I thought two different characters were actually the same person.

The narrative didn’t flow well and it felt like the text droned on and on. And I honestly hope this wasn’t the finished version, bc the edit isn’t there.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Devils Kill Devils, by Johnny Compton, from Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Version Short: Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Version A Little Bit Longer: Started out intriguing, if somewhat oddly worded, then turned into a mishmash of words and people and ostensible plotlines that had my eyes crossing and me close to passing out stone-cold sober in the light day of day.

Literally.

Made it to p137 of 310 of the electronic version before taking myself firmly in hand and reminding me that there is no law that says I have to finish every book I start. So I didn't.

All that said, this author’s first book (The Spite House) still looks intriguing to me, so I do still plan to give it a try.

DESCRIPTION
Devils Kill Devils is perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things and Southern gothic horror. Johnny Compton brings his trademark terror and dread that readers fell in love with in The Spite House to a new roster of monsters—angels, devils, vampires—and a heart-pounding race to save the world.

When all hell breaks loose, you need a devil on your side

Sarita has been watched over by a guardian angel her entire life. She calls him Angelo, and keeps him a secret. But secrets can’t stay buried forever…

When Angelo murders someone she loves, Sarita begins to see what's really been lurking in the shadows surrounding her. And she will have to embrace the evil within if she hopes to make it out alive.

Johnny Compton, critically acclaimed author of The Spite House and master of dread, takes you on a terrifying race of one woman against the hordes of hell.

Devils Kill Devils is the story of a girl who's guardian angel turns out to be no angel at all and the journey she goes through to get revenge for the murder of her husband.

The lore in this book was such a unique take on vampires, and I loved that aspect of the story. However, the cult plot line lost me a little bit with the lack of solid answers for how exactly Sarita was chosen and why, and my lack of emotional connection to the characters despite the heavy emotional components of the story made this one fall a little flat for me.

I enjoyed this Southern Gothic vampire story full of ancient demons by Johnny Compton. This is my first book by this author. The beginning of the story moved at a fast pace, but slowed down and got a bit complicated in the second half, where it seemed to get bogged down in the historical information on rituals and history. I co-read this book along with the audiobook and highly recommend the audio for readers interested in this book. While Sarita's story was very compelling, the second half definitely benefited from the audiobook narration.

Devils Kill Devils is a masterful blend of Southern gothic horror and supernatural suspense, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things. Johnny Compton once again showcases his knack for weaving dread and terror, drawing readers into a world where the lines between good and evil blur.

The protagonist, Sarita, is a compelling character whose relationship with her guardian angel, Angelo, takes a chilling turn. Compton expertly builds tension as Sarita grapples with the dark secrets surrounding her protector, and the story’s pace kept me on the edge of my seat. The inclusion of a diverse roster of monsters—from angels to devils and vampires—adds depth to the narrative, making the stakes feel incredibly high.

Compton's atmospheric writing shines, immersing readers in a haunting world filled with palpable dread. While the story can feel intense at times, the emotional depth of Sarita’s journey truly resonates.

My only critique would be that some plot elements felt slightly rushed, leaving me craving more exploration of certain themes. Nevertheless, Devils Kill Devils is a thrilling read that showcases Compton’s talent for crafting dark, engaging stories. I can’t wait to see where his imagination takes us next! 4 stars!

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me. There was too much exposition, which was vastly different from Compton’s debut. I couldn’t get into the story past the prologue.

A chilling thrill of a read! Unique in its style and plot, fans of horror will delight in the fright this book delivers.

I was a bit confused during the majority of this book, but everything made sense and came together at the end. I thought it was an incredibly unique vampire story, I’ve never read any vampires quite like these ones and it was really interesting to read the author’s note on the inspiration. I thought the writing was well done and it was non stop action, just maybe a bit difficult to follow.

he description of this book sounded so good but sadly, I just don’t think this book was for me. I was bored the entire time and just couldn’t get into it. There was barely any conversation between characters and mostly just the characters’ thoughts, which were just drawn out. I really wish I could’ve liked this book but we can’t like them all.

This book was surprisingly... long and I am sad to say it was not a hit for me.

I wanted to love this book based on the intriguing synopsis, but I am going to be completely honest, I am not sure I was even following this story part of the time. It went down some crazy paths and felt like it was very chaotic and all over the place.

Sarita has a guardian angel... or so she thinks. This is her journey of understanding just what has been watching over her shoulders all these years and why the threat of danger has always been so imminent. It's a much bigger world than she ever imagined.
But it's also a story of ultimate supernatural destruction. Harrah and Cela and the rest of the characters that are introduced in order to dive deeper into the world of devils and... vampires??

Why this book was almost a DNF (but wasn't because I still wanted to find out what happened)
- By the time Harrah's role is made clear, I had already stopped caring about her, so each chapter from her perspective felt like trudging through just to get to the next Sarita scene. This also means that the lore we learn through Harrah was hard to grasp onto without a connection to her as a character.
- The chapters were NOT labeled as to whose POV we were getting, and this was confusing to try to figure out using context clues. This is, perhaps the biggest reason as to why the story never came together for me.
- Things were constantly happening in this book (a good thing!) but once the story lost me, it was nearly impossible to keep up with who was doing what and where they were. This book obviously has a ton of deep lore and I can see how some of this would be incredible, but it just felt like too much.

DEVILS KILL DEVILS is my first book from author Johnny Compton. He has a gift for writing really immersive horror. This book had a particular premise that really drew me in. It took me a while to get into the story and at about 30% -ish is when it started to get interesting and by "interesting" I mean, the gore! The kills! The vampires! The gore scenes made my skin crawl and the descriptions of Cela and the other vampires was really well. done. I think some of the plot gets lost in the sauce - the "prophecy" felt really confusing and I didn't really understand why it was needed in the first place. I understood the "church" Cela founded but I didn't understand how the followers worked. Were they also vampires? Devils? How did Sarita "hear" them? Those bits and pieces never made sense to me. I hard a hard time visualizing it, if that was meant to be visualized at all. The book also gave me some nostalgia vibes; it felt very 1990's horror to me with the legends and mythical creatures and "gods". Once the pace picked up, I couldn't put the book down. I'm definitely going to have to read Compton's other book, THE SPITE HOUSE.

This novel is interesting albeit confusing at times. The main plot becomes muddled with the “explanations” which only served, in my opinion, to derail the narrative and sever continuity. The plot itself is propulsive and thrilling but it never really seems to find its stride. The first two-thirds go by somewhat slowly and the final third seems to rush through.