When Tess and Eliot stumble upon an ancient book hidden in a secret tunnel beneath the school library, they accidentally release a devil from his book-bound prison, and he’ll stop at nothing to stay free. He’ll manipulate all the ink in the library books to do his bidding, he’ll murder in the stacks, and he’ll bleed into every inch of Tess’s life until his freedom is permanent. Forced to work together, Tess and Eliot have to find a way to re-trap the devil before he kills everyone they know and love, including, increasingly, each other. And compared to what the devil has in store for them, school stress suddenly doesn’t seem so bad after all.
Plot
As a Young Adult horror fantasy novel, I expected a fast-paced plot that spread through character development and jumped into action. Instead, this book starts off fairly slow and, other than a few mentions of magic, could have easily been a contemporary romance novel for the first few chapters However, the slow, mundane start worked well in building the tension and stakes. The prose is beautifully crafted and engaging.
Characters
The two protagonists, Tess and Elliot, were enjoyable and satisfying to follow through their journey. They both had interesting backstories and unique motivations. The book does switch between points of view, although both sides are to in close third person. This was an interesting choice on the author’s part, but it was not too distracting. They also had great chemistry from their first meeting.
Setting
This story is set on a private preparatory academy in Pittsburg. I enjoyed that the story had a specific setting, although it could have really been set anywhere in the US and didn’t feel like it had to be specific to Pennsylvania. The magic system was enjoyable and easy to understand, but not exceptionally unique to this story.
My Recommendation
The Devil Makes Three is a stand-alone Young Adult horror fantasy novel and the debut of Tori Bovalino. The plot is slower than I expected but works perfectly in building tension and introducing information. I also loved following the two protagonists. While the setting and magic system are specific, neither stood out among other books in this genre. I highly recommend this book for fans of light horror, but do warn that it features gore and other triggers that readers should be aware of.
