Dark Passages: Demon Theory

Have you ever wished that there were a literary equivalent of the Scream movies?  Well, actually, there is.  Stephen Graham Jones proves himself to be not just an incredibly talented writer but also a pop-culture savant in his 2006 book Demon Theory.  Self-aware, highly allusive, and copiously endnoted, this "work of fiction" is presented as a "three-part novelization of the feature film trilogy The Devil Inside," and reads like a cross between Vladimir Nabokov and Kevin Williamson.  In fact, the Scream movies are invoked numerous times by Jones.  Take, for instance, the following passage,
which is also a good example of the author's ability to offer prose that is both smart and suspenseful:

In the upstairs bedroom Seri's in quiet panic mode, wrapped in blankets, standing at the window, phone in hand [indicating for someone outside to pick it up, pick it up], bookends neglected, behind her on the bed.  Another mistake in the making.  And Nona left the door open behind her, it would seem.  Just past it the attic stairs are lowering m.o.s.--the jeep hatch opening on Neve all over again.*  Seri's not looking behind her, either.

The passage hyperlinks to one of the several hundred notes at the back of the book (where Jones cites his sources and elaborates on his references):

*i.e. Neve Campbell, Sidney Prescott in Wes Craven-Kevin Williamson's 1996 Scream.  Plot outline: "A psychopathic killer is stalking a group of teens just like in the movies!"  And the teens all know about, and talk about it, perhaps prompting Clive Barker to say about the 2004 graphic novel adaptation of his 1987 Hellraiser, "I was delighted there was a sizable audience for a horror film that didn't dice adolescents in the shower, or have its tongue buried so deeply in its cheek it could lick out its ear from the inside."

I cannot recommend Demon Theory highly enough.  This is postmodernism as it was meant to be, clever and fun rather than exhaustingly esoteric.  If you love horror movies and/or metafictional narratives, Jones's book is a must-read.  It's also a work worthy of repeated readings, just as the Scream films warrant multiple viewings.  The first time through, you'll be engrossed by the mystery and terror elements of the plot, but once finished, you'll be eager to go back and study the craftsmanship.  Simply put, Demon Theory is bloody brilliant.