The kind of devil envisioned by Andrew Michael Hurley in Devil’s Day may not be the traditional one, but it’s scary nevertheless. In his follow-up novel to The Loney, Hurley demonstrates that he knows the devil can still be frightening. The Endlands, in northern England are hemmed in by the moors. The landscape plays such a commanding role here that this can only be folk horror. And it fits folk horror to a tee. Tradition, an unchanging life in a land untouched by technology, and forbidding moors where survival is difficult, all amid an English sensibility brings this tale into the folk category neatly. As should be clear already, Hurley is well aware that religion and horror belong together. This novel makes their companionship clear.
John Pentecost (note the name) has decided that he and his young, expectant wife—both of whom hold professional jobs—are going to move back to the family sheep farm. The death of John’s grandfather means that his own father is left to run the farm alone. Knowing that he belongs there and that his unborn child will need to tend the farm when he dies, a visit to help with the gathering of the sheep, and the celebration of Devil’s Day, turns into a lifelong commitment. At the same time, the devil has been body-hopping as sheep are killed and family members die and a family of bullies cause more harm than their due. There’s an inevitability to all of this and at the end you’re not really sure who the devil really is.
The story builds slowly. By the day of the gathering you really have trouble putting it down. Putting the Devil into a story can be a dicey proposition. It’s been done successfully a handful of times, but that doesn’t make it an easy sell. Our worldview has moved beyond a literal netherworld and the theology that accompanies it. That doesn’t mean we can’t spot legitimate evil in the world. Or that evil isn’t often vested in the garments of righteousness. Ways of thinking that jeopardize others for theological purposes that simply don’t match what we know to be just and fair. Powerful exploiting the weak. Wealthy taking advantage of the poor. Bullies getting their way through brute force. In this novel the devil is active in a number of characters for a short time. And you never know where that devil might turn up next.
