The Demon Inside (The Zone War, Book 1) [Paperback]

Terry Cloutier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2006

The Demon Inside is about an ordinary man whose childhood trauma at the hands of a sadistic killer causes him to create the Zone to escape from pain and anguish in real life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Terry Cloutier lives in a small town in eastern Canada with his wife Denise, their 5 cats, and their dog Trixie. The Demon Inside is his first novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 630 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419641441
• ISBN-13: 978-1419641442
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,366,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable debut of richly rewarding, powerful epic fantasy, February 26, 2007

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Demon Inside (The Zone War, Book 1) (Paperback)

I really wish I knew exactly how to pronounce this author's last name because I'm definitely going to be spreading it around to anyone interested in reading great fantasy. Terry Cloutier really bursts out of the gate like gangbusters with this lengthy, richly rewarding debut novel, book one of The Zone War trilogy. Maybe you're thinking you don't want to invest a significant time and effort into reading a 600+ page novel from a brand new fantasy writer, but rest assured that your commitment will not be wasted one iota in The Demon Inside. You'll be swearing this book is all too short when you get to the end and face the daunting task of waiting for book two to see what happens next.

The foundation for the story is Edward Fox, a most sympathetic protagonist indeed. At the age of twelve, Edward was abducted by a deranged psychopath named David Wayne Diamond, a man who delighted in skinning his victims alive. While he was eventually rescued and Diamond killed, Edward is still haunted by the experience. Now, it is seriously affecting his relationship with his wife, who believes the scars on his legs date back to a farming accident. When the memories threaten to overpower him, Edward does now what he has always done - space out from the world completely and retreat into a world of his own creation. In the Zone, he was always safe and completely in control of his environment - no one could hurt him there, including Diamond. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

As his real world body lies in a coma, Edward finds himself back in the Zone for the long haul - only now, the Zone has undergone some serious changes. Edward no longer has the power to control what goes on there, which proves especially inconvenient and dangerous when he learns that he is the Creator whose triumphant return has been highly anticipated by many in the Zone. Almost completely powerless and exceedingly vulnerable, Edward isn't exactly the Creator that his followers expected. Doorgen Sandon, a great knight (a creation of Edward's younger imagination), and a young wizard are sent to find the Creator and return him to the Old Man (head wizard), while a company of devoted monks also seek the Creator they have been prophesying about. They, along with a fascinating mix of remarkably memorable individuals, find themselves compelled to become Edward's protectors (as they hope he will come into his powers eventually) against the evil and deadly forces of a mad emperor determined to kill this Creator and thus open up the way for his own conquest of the entire Zone. Edward doesn't know it yet, but this emperor is a malignant soul he is far too familiar with already.

There's no lack of action in these pages, as the emperor lets loose the dogs of war against neighboring cities and dispatches a cadre of soldiers, terrible witches, and other sundry evils to dispose of Edward and his friends. Much blood is shed by the swords of Sandon and his fellow Knights, a young wizard sent to do an experienced wizard's job more than proves himself despite serious physical odds, and the forces of evil increasingly bear down upon a more and more isolated Creator. Many great characters rise above the tumult, such as the bold and fiery Lady Jasmiine Vaxin (who bears more than a striking resemblance to Edward's real-world wife), and - sometimes to my dismay - many of them go. Cloutier forges his own path through the fantasy genre, sometimes killing off, after a few odd pages, individuals I expected to be major secondary characters. That authorial capriciousness really kept this reader on his toes, never knowing for sure whether a fallen hero would actually rise again.

While all of this intense action is taking place in the Zone, Cloutier pauses here and there to reveal more about Edward's real-world past, specifically his efforts to mentally and emotionally recover from his violent kidnapping ordeal. Both of Edward's story lines come to a most dramatic climax, leaving this reader desperate for more. This isn't one of those lengthy novels that you put down with a "Whew - thank goodness that's done" feeling - far from it. In fact, The Demon Inside has you directing a few choice words Cloutier's way for his authorial decision to leave you hanging on a precipice of anticipation until such time as the second novel in the series is released. That, my friends, is good writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Review of The Demon Inside, July 24, 2008

By 

Todd Sullivan (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Demon Inside (The Zone War, Book 1) (Paperback)

Terry Cloutier's The Demon Inside, Book I, is a well-conceived book with a complicated fantasy world and realistic characters. The novel centers on Edward Fox, who is abducted when he is a child by the serial killer David Wayne Diamond. Edward creates an imaginary world called `The Zone', where his mind goes in order to escape the torture Diamond inflicts upon his body as he slowly skins Edward alive. Though Edward is eventually freed before Diamond can kill him, who himself is killed by police, Edward never forgets `The Zone', and disappears inside this imaginary world whenever the real world becomes too difficult for him to handle.

In some ways, The Demon Inside, Book I, reminds me of Terry Brook's Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!, Philip Jose Farmer's The World of Tiers, or C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. All of these books deal with seemingly ordinary humans transported to a magical realm where they must learn the extent of their power in order to save the fantasy world. Though Cloutier's book follows a similar theme, he manages to create something fresh and uniquely interesting in The Demon Inside. Edward Fox isn't only trying to save an imaginary population, he's also trying to save his sanity by finally standing up to his inner demons.

The characters in Terry's book are not simple. Many of them have their own agendas, which makes it difficult to put them in neat boxes of good and bad. Edward Fox is perhaps the hero, but in his adulthood, he is consumed by fear of his childhood tormenter. David Wayne Diamond's desire to skin kids alive is never fully explained in the first book, but he is not presented as a wholly evil, all-powerful nemesis. He has weaknesses which makes him all the more human, his survival is as threatened as everyone else's in the novel, and like everyone else, he desperately wants to live. The Demon Inside introduces the reader to a host of other characters, such as the wizard Eraac Storn, First Guardian Doorgen Sandon, or my favorite, the psychotic preteen Trueen Firth. The characters all seem like regular folk one feels could actually exist; no one acts mindlessly with their only purpose the acquisition of power or the singular desire to hurt and kill. Instead, the readers mostly meet military men or individuals on missions who are simply doing what they are told by higher ups, and who want to advance in the world in order to lead better lives for themselves and, often times, their families. The fact that the characters are multi-dimensional makes The Demon Inside all the more challenging to read.

Overall, this is a very good book. There are some issues with language that becomes distracting at times, such as the overuse of adverbs and similes, particularly in the last third of the novel. Though the dialogue is mostly well done, there are some melodramatic moments when one can't help but wonder if an individual would really speak that way. But these are mostly quick fixes that can be resolved in a second or third Edition, and overall, the writing is strong and engaging. I am genuinely interested in knowing what happens in Book 2, and I only hope that the sequel will not disappoint.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zone in, July 11, 2008

By 

(the elf) "Tanner" (Suffolk, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Demon Inside (The Zone War, Book 1) (Paperback)

Characters that are easy to relate to, plenty of action, and a vivid, well constructed world make this book a pleasure to read. I thouroughly enjoyed my visit to The Zone. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.