Demon Freaks

A group of high school students wants to study for the SATs, but their plans are interrupted not only by their own procrastination but also by one of their teachers. From there, they find themselves trying to stop evil golfers from starting the apocalypse.

J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison's Demon Freaks starts off like any other book featuring high school students, but then it dives into an absurd tale featuring a psychic dagger and Santa Claus. Luckily, this story is meant to be ridiculous and has the potential to be akin to Douglass Adams with the humor present in his storytelling; unfortunately, Hardison's writing gets in the way of this potential and seems to forget his audience.

I really wanted to like this book because other reviews gave it high ratings, but I was distracted by the writing style. This book took me much longer to read than I expected, mostly because Hardison is very descriptive and I found myself going to read other books instead. Other readers who enjoy extremely descriptive writing (J.R.R. Tolkien or Anne Rice) will enjoy it more than I did because it is a matter of personal preference. Normally such a writing style would not count against a rating, but it is at odds with the plot and intended audience.

The characters felt a little forced at times, especially the twins Ron and Bing. One brother portrayed as a surfer while the other is more punk/rock; while it is not out of the realm of reality for twins to be so different, it just seemed to be mentioned more than necessary. Most times when the female group member is mentioned, the narrator uses her first and last name which gets to be a bit repetitive especially as she is the only one of her name. It was also reiterated more times than necessary that Kaitlyn enjoys showers.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars because I realize my criticisms are subjective, but I also acknowledge that lack of personal enjoyment does not always indicate low quality. From an objective viewpoint, this book is quite good. By mixing humor with horror, Hardison weaves a tale of friendship and working together that could enchant fans of multiple genres (horror, science-fiction/fantasy, young adult).  There are very few errors throughout the book, which I appreciate, but the complex writing style simply does not match the humorous plot. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes descriptive settings and science-fiction/fantasy novels, especially those that have an expansive vocabulary.