Devil Inside
By Clay Mcleod Chapman
- Devil Inside
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Author: Clay Mcleod Chapman
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Publisher: Titan Books
- ISBN: 9780369775641
- Published: August 2026
- Pages: 371
- Format reviewed: Paperback
- Review date: 11/08/2026
- Language: English
Love can put you into a tricky moral maze as you would turn a blind eye for a loved one that you would never dream of for a stranger. A classic example is a parent looking out for their child. If you know they had committed a hideous crime, would you turn them in? You would like to think that you would, but there will be a conflict within you, a voice saying that you can forgive them. If this voice is a demon, it can be even harder to ignore. What about if the voice and the loved one were the same thing? In Clay McLeod Chapman’s Devil Inside, Jordan has fallen for Lilith, or at least the entity that occupies her body.
As a bike courier in a busy city, Jordan always lived his life on the edge, right up to the point that he died, but rather than staying dead, he was revived and had to spend months in recovery. No matter how much physical and phycological therapy Jordan has gone through since he has never felt the same, like a void has opened up within him. A void that would make the perfect home for a demon looking for a new host. However, before Lilith can enter Jordan, she meets the man and likes him, even starts to love him. Can a human and a demon date?
Romantasy remains the genre of the day, but this is not any old fantasy, but horror. It has all the darkness of body horror but also has a strong central relationship. I have read a lot of the subgenre recently, and although horror, Devil fits the form. Two main characters who revolve around one another in a will they/won’t they relationship. The key for a Romantasy/Horrorantasy working is the balance between the romance and the other genre elements.
As a horror book, Devil had the chance to really rip the romance open and at moments it does. There are a couple of very effective horror sections, usually when Lilith or another demon enters a host and bend them to their bone cracking will. However, this is a horror book that leans more into the romance, and for my money the worst elements that the genre has to offer.
As a reader I am not a fan of characters consumed by themselves; their own selfish thoughts, their own feelings. Large expanses of this book are one or other of the main characters mooning over the other. You not only have to read this once, but twice as Jordan pines for Lilith, Lilith pines for Jordan. As a genre fan I can think of far better ways to spend my time than being in the presence of characters that act like moonstruck teenagers, even if one of them is a demon.
One area that could have been interesting would be the moral conundrum of dating a demon. A demon who at one-point bludgeons to death children. I think at this point any sane person would call that a red flag, but love can make you overlook, forgive and forget. Despite spending so much time with the internal machinations of Jordan, Chapman does not convey this anguish well enough. The character of Jordan just seems to except Lilith for who it is too easily. This is a main plot point but suggests to me a vacuous and dull character.
I was not a fan of Devil, not due to the horror, what elements were present in this genre were effective and disturbing. It was the turgid romance aspects I disliked. You can write Romantasy with action, excitement and entertainment, as well as love. Chapman dumps you in hundreds of pages of navel-gazing protagonists. The only interesting aspect is that one is a demon and even that cannot prevent the book feeling like a slog.
Written on 11th August 2026 by Sam Tyler .
Topics and themes
Key Tropes
Tone & Pace
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