Book Review: ‘The Demon’s Wife’ by Rick Hautala

Looking at the cover of The Demon’s Wife, you might expect this to be some sort of light-hearted chick-lit romance between a human woman and a demon who isn’t all that bad. That would be a mistake. This is a true love story all right, and it does involve a human and a demon, but there is nothing light-hearted about it.

Claire McMullen is an ordinary woman with a job she hates and no close friends except her roommate Sally — and they are growing apart. Nothing sets her apart except for her long and fiery red hair. She seems like a likely candidate for an incredibly handsome demon out to do whatever it takes to claim her soul.

But then the unthinkable happens. Samael, the demon, begins to develop feelings for Claire very quickly. This is not something that demons do. They are not supposed to have emotions. And Claire develops deep feelings for Samael, too.

His new feeling cause Samael to want to seek redemption. It’s not impossible, but Hell will not let go easily.  It will take all of Claire’s devotion and trust and all of Samael’s determination to make the change.

There are truly frightening passages in this book as the demons try to get to Samael through Claire. The reader is likely to reach many points where it is nearly impossible to put down the book until some situation is resolved.

One weak point in the plot is how easily Samael decides to give up eons of evil, and the almost complete glossing over of just how evil he was. There are some other holes in the plot which will be obvious, although to mention them now would involve spoilers.

The other problem with the story is the very abrupt and somewhat anticlimactic ending.. It feels as though all of this stuff happened, and the outcome was not what you might expect or want it to be. A few more chapters of development would definitely not hurt.

Nevertheless, this is a very interesting and engrossing story and one that any fan of urban horror and supernatural romance will find enjoyable. Claire, in particular, is a very engaging character and keeps the reader caring about what happens to her the whole way through.