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 Demonkeeper(G.P. Putnam’s Sons) by Royce Buckingham Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Nat is a demonkeeper or, as he prefers to define himself, “a tamer of pure chaos.” He’s new to the job, and his inexperience shows. Due to his negligence, the Beast, aka The Killer of Lost Children, escapes from its basement prison and begins to wreak serious havoc on the streets of Seattle. This vicious creature is the bloodiest and the hungriest demon in Nat’s monster menagerie, and Royce Buckingham describes its origins as “the chaos of the streets.” “It rises from our roads,” he writes, “to devour our refugees and runaways, our outcasts and orphans….” And Buckingham should know. As a prosecutor in Washington’s juvenile court system, he personally witnesses the Beast’s voracious appetite, and it’s this background knowledge that lends a poignant aspect to a tale that writhes with violence and gore. But not too much violence and gore—Buckingham leaves the grisliest details off the page and dependent on the reader's imagination. Kids, however, will love the vivid descriptions of demons gorging themselves on the slimy chum Nat ladles out for them, and the body count is high enough for even the most demanding of young horror fans. Character development is definitely the weakest part of Buckingham’s presentation, and his dialogue does little to increase our understanding of the central characters. It’s kept to a bare minimum—non-stop action being the driving force here—and it occasionally feels awkward and stiff. But often it’s amusing, and Buckingham uses it effectively to defuse the more intense scenes. Despite these flaws, Demonkeeper is a suspenseful, fast-paced read that middle-school kids will enjoy. Boys are perhaps more likely than girls to appreciate the wild chase scenes, but lone female character Sandy, a junior assistant librarian who’s after adventure and Nat, should be enough of a pull to keep the girls riveted as well.—Janice Corker, Youth Services Librarian, Chandler (AZ) Sunset Library
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