The Demon Circle

Rating:
Summary: Did you know he used to be a cop?
Review: Dan Schmidt wants readers and just about EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in the novel to know that our hero, Jantzen, used to be a cop.

He tells his wife Mary he used to be a cop, he tells the bitter small town sheriff, the deputies, the patrons of his restaurant, his neighbors, the grizzled old newspaper reporter, his drinking buddy (brilliantly named Buddy), FBI Colonel Wiley, the television reporter and he even tells the novel's nemesis (the cult leader) of his former occupation.

At one point, Mary has to remind Jantzen that he used to be a cop! Enough already! By the time this issue is hammered into us, there is very little (if any) story to be read.

We are given this nugget of information so many times that on Page 275, Colonel Wiley says, "Don't keep reminding me of that." Amen, Colonel! What a pity this does not happen. We are reminded yet another three times on pages 304,320 and 335.

And isn't it a remarkable coincidence that the exact same satanic cult who murdered our protagonist's first wife and child should appear and set up shop in the very same small town Jantzen now resides in?

With the cardboard characters that occupy this tiny dust bowl community, the reader will gladly hope they all are offered up to whatever demonic deity this cult worships.

Trite dialogue abounds throughout this book. "We need your fear." "We are legion." This from our cult members. If they are intelligent enough to infiltrate a small town and remain hidden, why can't they string together a coherent thought?

There is ham-fisted action as well. The climax is nothing short of a really bad made-for-tv movie. You can just see the credits rolling over the last scene just before it breaks to your local newscast.

You will read a few poorly written scenes that involve random acts of violence, murder, pet and cattle mutilation, kidnapping, a truly tasteless teenage torture sequence, drug induced rages and a shoot-out involving just about every resident of the town.

The horror genre has infinitely better novels to offer out there. Your money and time is better spent elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: I Was Rooting for the Cult!
Review: I love horror novels about demons and devils, but not just any story will do. This one doesn't. The two reviewers before me aren't exaggerating about the "he was a cop" thing. Maybe Schmidt should have titled it as such.

I don't like animals being hurt or killed, even in stories, but even that didn't make me hate this cult more than the main character. However, the cult was corny! They chanted the usual stuff, and all the Satanic and evil symbols were thrown around haphazardly. Black circles, inverted pentagrams and crosses, black candles, and body parts are just put together without rhyme or reason. And I never exactly understood the bald-headed leader with the black eyes; was he human, possessed, or what?

This story might have been better had the main character drank himself to death in the very beginning and let someone else be the main character.

Rating:
Summary: I Was Rooting for the Cult!
Review: I love horror novels about demons and devils, but not just any story will do. This one doesn't. The two reviewers before me aren't exaggerating about the "he was a cop" thing. Maybe Schmidt should have titled it as such.

I don't like animals being hurt or killed, even in stories, but even that didn't make me hate this cult more than the main character. However, the cult was corny! They chanted the usual stuff, and all the Satanic and evil symbols were thrown around haphazardly. Black circles, inverted pentagrams and crosses, black candles, and body parts are just put together without rhyme or reason. And I never exactly understood the bald-headed leader with the black eyes; was he human, possessed, or what?

This story might have been better had the main character drank himself to death in the very beginning and let someone else be the main character.

Rating:
Summary: Reminiscent of the old pulp horror tales.
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Reminded me of the old pulp horror stories. The small town, a satanic cult, lots of weird people and strange occurrences. Jantzen is a good guy who is tortured by his past and when that past catches up to him, he has to deal with it. I feel the ending was to short and I wish it had been developed more. The Demon Circle isn't perfect, but it is fun to read.

Rating:
Summary: No sympathy for Mark Jantzen.
Review: Jim's review was spot on. This story could maybe have worked at about half the length, but with all of the padding, I was beginning to wish that something would fall on the main character's head and get it over with.

There are approximately thirty reminders through the book that Jantzen used to be a cop. The author is only slightly subtler--the equivalent of getting bludgeoned with a Wiffle bat instead of a baseball bat--is that SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED IN THE PAST TO HIS FAMILY.

Jantzen is a self-absorbed man (another thing you hear again and again) and, because of this, isn't a very sympathetic character. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if the character changes or grows through the course of adventures. Jantzen doesn't. He's still a self-absorbed man at the (very abrupt) end.

Usually, when I finish a book, I lend or give it to a friend or the local library. After I finished this book last night, I tossed it in the garbage.

Rating:
Summary: Who Was That Black-Eyed Man?
Review: My sentiments echo those of the reviewers who have entered their comments before me. This was a very shallow, predictable book. Tough ex-cop (ex-cop, ex-cop...do you get the hint that manybe this guy used to be a cop?) Jantzen is surly and troubled, yet he has managed to marry the best woman in a several-hundred-mile radius...and made her suffer right along with him. The Satanic cult was very undefined, and I never did understand if the bald-headed, black-eyed Michael was supposed to be something supernatural or just an ordinary man gone too far over the edge. I found the portrayal of the priest particularly annoying...he came across as a guilt-ridden, troubled man who wasn't sure of his faith. If you're going up against Satanists you know you've gotta have someone in the plot with faith. Schmidt never gave us this person, not even in the priest, and Jantzen triumphs literally through anger and firepower rather than any spiritual growth or realization. Was the message that there is no evil in the world, just misguided sociopaths who will fall to fire and bullets? Or was there a message at all? Avoid this one.

Rating:
Summary: Who Was That Black-Eyed Man?
Review: My sentiments echo those of the reviewers who have entered their comments before me. This was a very shallow, predictable book. Tough ex-cop (ex-cop, ex-cop...do you get the hint that manybe this guy used to be a cop?) Jantzen is surly and troubled, yet he has managed to marry the best woman in a several-hundred-mile radius...and made her suffer right along with him. The Satanic cult was very undefined, and I never did understand if the bald-headed, black-eyed Michael was supposed to be something supernatural or just an ordinary man gone too far over the edge. I found the portrayal of the priest particularly annoying...he came across as a guilt-ridden, troubled man who wasn't sure of his faith. If you're going up against Satanists you know you've gotta have someone in the plot with faith. Schmidt never gave us this person, not even in the priest, and Jantzen triumphs literally through anger and firepower rather than any spiritual growth or realization. Was the message that there is no evil in the world, just misguided sociopaths who will fall to fire and bullets? Or was there a message at all? Avoid this one.

Rating:
Summary: Sssh... he used to be a cop.
Review: The character of Mark Jantzen doesn't want anyone to EVER forget he used to be a cop.

He tells his wife Mary, the bitter small-town Sheriff, the patrons of his diner, his drinking buddy (also brilliantly named Buddy), the grizzled old newspaper reporter, Colonel Wiley of the FBI, catholic priest Father McMartin, and the "fiendish" leader of the Satanic cult that is the tale's nemesis. At one point, Mark's own wife, has to remind him (and us!) of his former occupation!

Readers will have to wait until page 275 before Wiley says, "Don't keep reminding me of that."

Mark, or the author Dan Schmidt, pays no heed to this request. We get to read it THREE more times on pages 304, 320 and 335! All right! He used to be a cop! Get on with it!

The Satanic cult's infiltration and seduction of Newton's residents is half-hearted at best. "We need your fear". "We are legion". "We offer you, Lord of Darkness, her body and soul." Zzzzzzzzzzz. This cult will corrupt you, but only through boring prose!

However gruesome or horrific Mr. Schmidt meant his cult to be is quite simply lost on the sad collection of sophomoric characters that populate this town. Our ex-cop is hardly the hero, even going so far as to resort to Rambo-style tactics in order to save the day.

The story simply stops. It is as if the author had simply run out of gas, or was quickly approaching deadline. The ending scene brings to mind a very cheesy made-for-tv movie.

Horror readers are better off looking elsewhere. This is by no stretch a horror tale.

By the way, in case you don't figure it out upon reading, Mark used to be a cop!