Demon in My View (Den of Shadows, 2) - Hardcover

Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038532720X ISBN 13: 9780385327206

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2000

Synopsis

Jessica isn't your average teenager. Though nobody at her high school knows it, she's a published author. Her vampire novel Tiger, Tiger has just come out under the pen name Ash Night. Jessica often wishes she felt as comfortable with her classmates as she does among the vampires and witches of her fiction. She has always been treated as an outsider at Ramsa High.

But two new students have just arrived in Ramsa, and both want Jessica's attention. She has no patience with overly friendly Caryn, but she's instantly drawn to handsome Alex, a cocky, mysterious boy who seems surprisingly familiar. If she didn't know better, she'd think Aubrey, the alluring villain from Tiger, Tiger had just sprung to life. That's impossible, of course; Aubrey is a figment of her imagination. Or is he?

Nail-bitingly suspenseful, here is the deliciously eerie follow-up to In the Forests of the Night, by the remarkable fifteen-year-old novelist Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

About this title

About the Author

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes lives in Concord, Massachusetts, with her family. Born in 1984, she wrote her first novel, In the Forests of the Night, at age thirteen. Demon in My View was written two years later. Named one of the "20 Teens Who Will Change the World" by Teen People, Atwater-Rhodes has been featured in Seventeen, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, and The New Yorker, and has appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and CBS This Morning. In the Forests of the Night has been praised as "remarkable" (Voice of Youth Advocates), "mature and polished" (Booklist), and "insightful and imaginative" (Publishers Weekly), and The Boston Globe called the novel "a literary roller-coaster ride...filled with high-spirited heroes and villains....Extraordinary."

From the Back Cover

Praise for In the Forests of the Night:

"An impressive debut."
--San Diego Union Tribune

"First-novelist Atwater-Rhodes writes astonishingly well...she's skillful at building atmosphere, insightful in creating characters and imaginative in varying and expanding on vampire lore."
--Publishers Weekly

"This first novel by an author with great ability and promise is sure to be popular."
--School Library Journal

"Amelia Atwater-Rhodes shows sophistication beyond her years in the intellectual and moral questions she raises. The lush, gothic romanticism and eerie atmosphere will capture the imagination of teenage readers, as will the immediacy of the action, the physical reality of the vampire experience, and the strong inner voice of the main character, Risika."
--Annette Curtis Klause, author of The Silver Kiss

"A gifted writer in the making."
--Voice of Youth Advocates

"An easy-to-read page-turner that makes the dark and shadowy world of her 300-year-old vampires as realistic and current as a lonely walk down a city street at midnight."
--Houston Chronicles

"The book's subject and the age of the author may encourage other young writers to pursue the craft."
--Booklist

Reviews

Grade 6-10-High school senior Jessica Ashley Allodola is a misfit and a malcontent. What no one knows is that she is also a writer and has just published a new book, Tiger, Tiger, under the nom de plume, Ash Night. Her books, written in a dreamlike trance, describe a vivid and detailed world of vampires and witches. Conversely, what Jessica doesn't know is that the books she assumes are the strange imaginings of her subconscious are, in fact, true. And the vampire inhabitants of that world are determined to stop her, while the good witches are just as determined to save her. Two of these preternatural beings appear in the guise of new students at Ramsa High: Caryn, a witch of the Smoke Clan, and Alex, the very real vampire Aubrey from Tiger, Tiger. The clash between the witches and the vampires and the truth of Jessica's birth take the plot down many twisting and suspenseful paths. Unfortunately, there are too many subplots and minor characters. The book comes alive when it focuses on the relationship between Jessica and Alex/Aubrey. The two lovers are finely drawn and believable. Their relationship is compelling and drives the story, as well as readers, past some confusing plot developments. Demon in My View is not as tightly plotted or generally as well written as Atwater-Rhodes's first novel, In the Forests of the Night (Delacorte, 1999), but it will draw horror fans.
Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Teenage author Atwater-Rhodes returns to the vampires and witches of In the Forests of the Night for this fast-moving sequel. This time, she focuses on Jessica, the high school student who put in a cameo in the previous installment and, under the pen name Ash Night, has since published her first book, a vampire story called Tiger, Tiger. What Jessica doesn't know is that the characters in her book actually exist, and they aren't too happy that she's spilled their secrets and unwittingly alerted vampire-hunting witches to the location of their undead village, New Mayhem. Out for revenge, the vampire Aubrey shows up at Jessica's high school in the guise of a new student. But Jessica's dark aura unexpectedly attracts him. He pursues her, unsure if he wants to kill her, protect her or change her into one of his own kind. Jessica feels equally drawn to him, and drawn to the idea of becoming stronger than human. The writing is often pat ("It had not hurt to die . Why did it hurt so much to live again?"), but the fantastic fights will keep readers turning pages quickly. Atwater-Rhodes exercises impressive control over the complex lineages she has imagined, and she comes up with creative solutions to advance her story. Readers will drain this book in one big gulp. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Full of atmospherics, but weak on style, this novel pits a feisty teenaged novelist against a community of vampires in the next town over. Jessica is a high school senior who has always felt like an outsider in her town—she lives with an adoptive mother (no one is sure who her biological parents are), and even more unusually, she’s had a horror novel published under the pen name “Ash Night.” Jessica’s life is thrown into even more than its usual turmoil when a new boy, Alex Remington, shows up at school, a boy so like Jessica’s fictional vampire character Aubrey that Jessica begins to be unsure whether she is living in the real world or in the world of her novels. Throw in a good witch determined to save Jessica from the hunky teenager who may or may not be a danger to Jessica and you have a novel full of vampires, witches, vampire hunters, and (perhaps most evil of all) ordinary suburban adolescents. This should be more fun to read than it actually is. Atwater-Rhodes (In the Forests of the Night, 1999) wrote this at age 15, a fact the publishers are clearly planning to exploit. Not surprisingly, it reads like a work written by an inexperienced, novice writer—clichés abound and many passages are tedious or pretentious. Not bad for a 15-year-old, but not a well-written, fully realized novel either. (Fiction. YA) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue

The night is full of mystery. Even when the moon is brightest, secrets hide everywhere. Then the sun rises and its rays cast so many shadows that the day creates more illusion than all the veiled truth of the night.

I have lived in this illusion for much of my life, but I have never belonged to it. Before my birth, I existed for too long in the realm between nothingness and life, and even now, the night still whispers to me. A strong cord binds me to the dark side of the world, and shields me from the light.



Chapter 8

After school Jessica took the bus to the center of town. She walked to the bookstore, hoping to find Tiger, Tiger on the shelves. The book was supposed to have come out more than a week before, but this was the first chance Jessica had had to look for it. The advance copies she had at home didn't hold quite the same allure as the sight of her work in a bookstore display.

Jessica sighed when she saw Caryn browsing the shelves, but she wasn't about to let the annoying teen chase her away.

"Oh...hi, Jessica," Caryn said, sounding surprised. "You looking for anything? "

"A book. What else would I be in a bookstore for? " Jessica answered crossly.

It took her only a second to spot Tiger, Tiger on the shelf next to Caryn, and she reached past the girl to grab a copy. As the book was written under Jessica's pseudonym, Ash Night, Caryn wouldn't be able to connect Jessica with it. Even so, Caryn's eyes widened when she saw the book.

"I've read that one," she said in a voice that sounded falsely casual.

"So have I," Jessica answered, turning away from Caryn and toward the counter.

"I wonder what the author is like," Caryn commented. "Where do you suppose her ideas come from?"

Jessica ignored Caryn effortlessly until she added, "What if it was all real? If Ash Night's vampires actually existed? If Ather and Risika and Aubrey--"

Jessica spun on Caryn as she spoke that last name. "Vampires don't exist," she snapped. "Get over it." After having had this conversation with herself all day long, she was glad to finally have an excuse to say the words aloud.

"But-- "

"Caryn, I've been subtle, rude, and even offensive," Jessica interrupted. "Now it's time for direct." She met Caryn's delicate blue eyes with a glacier-cold glare. "I don't care if you think vampires exist. I don't want to talk about it, just like I don't want to chat about combination locks or anything else. I don't want to talk to you at all. Do you understand? "

With a bit of a sigh, Caryn nodded, deflated.

That had been rather satisfying. Next Jessica just had to convince herself that Alex Remington wasn't the Antichrist, and she could return to the regularly scheduled tedium of her daily life.

"Cold," she heard behind her. "Very cold. I approve completely."

Jessica turned and saw Alex leaning against a shelf. His gaze as he watched Caryn hurry away reminded Jessica of a wolf watching a rabbit run to cover.

"Maybe I'm paranoid, but I could swear you've been following me." The words were out of Jessica's mouth before she had a chance to consider them. Hearing her own tone, she almost choked. If she caught herself flirting, she was likely to become ill.

"On and off," he answered vaguely, and didn't add anything more. He turned to wander down the aisle, glancing from shelf to shelf as if looking for something. After a few yards he looked over his left shoulder to see if she was still behind him, and it occurred to her that she was following him. Embarrassed, she stopped doing so.

"Anything good in here?" he asked, returning to the shelf where Jessica had found Tiger, Tiger.

"What's your definition of good?" she asked, making a point not to move toward him.

He pulled a book from the shelf: Renegade, by Elizabeth Charcoal. Showing it to Jessica, he said, "You'll love it. Trust me."

"You've read this?" Jessica had seen a magazine article about the author, though she hadn't had a chance to read the book. Elizabeth Charcoal claimed that she was a vampire, and that Renegade was actually her autobiography.

"I know the author," Alex answered matter-of-factly. "She gave me an autographed copy of the manuscript. Right after she tried to slit my throat, but why sweat the details? "

"Oh, really?" Jessica said skeptically.

He was either teasing her or trying to impress her.

He shrugged. "We got into an argument."

"Does this happen to you often? "

"Fairly frequently," he answered, his tone nonchalant. "Elizabeth and I don't like each other very much, but her book is...interesting. It's the kind of thing you'd like."

"How do you know what I like to read? "

"I can tell," he answered cryptically, and then he turned to the checkout. He paused so that she could catch up and walk beside him, not behind.

The woman at the counter looked at Alex with contempt and whispered something under her breath.

"Hasana, what a surprise." Alex greeted her coolly. He smiled malevolently. The woman glared at him, but he ignored it.

"You two know each other?" Jessica asked foolishly, seeing the angry sparks fly between them.

"Hasana is Caryn's mother," Alex offered, as if that explained everything. Jessica remembered Caryn's reaction that morning when she had first seen Alex, and wondered what had happened between him and this family.

"Watch out for this guy," Hasana warned, nodding toward Alex. "He probably knows more about you then your taste in books."

"And how could that be?" Jessica asked dryly.

"I can read your mind, and learn your secret fears and darkest desires," Alex answered.

Jessica paused, examining his expression. She had written those exact words, Aubrey's words, in Dark Flame, the novel that was presently waiting on her editor's desk. She couldn't remember whether she had used them in Tiger, Tiger.

"Do you always talk like that?" she asked, unnerved.

He looked at her challengingly as he said, "Don't you know?"

She just shook her head, alarmed but unwilling to show it.

As Alex paid for his book, Jessica realized that she was still holding Tiger, Tiger. She placed it on the counter, not intending to buy it; she had plenty of copies at home.

Alex's gaze drifted to the cover, and his expression leapt immediately from amusement to anger. He spun away and, without another word, stalked out of the store. Jessica was left staring after him, too shocked to react.

"If I were you, I'd just avoid him," Hasana advised.

"Why? Is he going to hurt me?" Jessica's sarcasm was sharpened by her confusion regarding Alex.

"Unless you keep away from him, he most likely will," Hasana answered seriously. "He has a temper."

Jessica was out of sharp remarks. To hide her discomfort, she picked up the copy of Tiger, Tiger and said, "I guess I'll put this away before it makes anyone else freak out."

"If you want it, just keep it," Hasana answered softly. "You are the author."

Jessica froze, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry," Hasana said quickly. "I just--"

"How did you know? " Jessica interrupted, annoyed to learn that this woman had connected her to Ash Night. She had used a pen name to avoid recognition.

"I've read it, and I...recognized you as the author," Hasana fumbled. "You just have a look about you...

"What look?"

"Never mind," Hasana said, shaking her head. "Take the book and the advice, and ignore me."

She turned away, suddenly very busy with some papers, and Jessica left in a daze.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 038532720X
• ISBN 13: 9780385327206
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192