The Devil on May Street

by Steve Harris

Stevie Warner's plans for the summer holidays revolved around fixing up his ancient moped-until his best friend Johnny Kane peered through a fence and saw a boy on a swing vanish into thin air. Suddenly there are genuine miracles to investigate.

The trouble with miracles is that once they start, they're difficult to stop... like the 'gobbling' that the registered-dangerous dog Dookie attacks, or the invisible eight-foot-tall god called Yah-hoo, or the rip in the fabric of reality that leads to May Street, which was torn down in the early seventies.

And there is a house in May Street, something is whispering across the years, promising to fulfil wildest desires and darkest yearnings.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

381 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steve Harris is a retired English novelist who was known for his work in the horror genre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_H...

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off creepy and weird and never really lets up. The protagonist, Stevie, starts the novel cramming for exams, when his best buddy drops off a note telling him to come see the disappearing boy down the street. Stevie, and his troubled dog Dookie, eventually find their way to the scene and yeah, a boy on a swing actually disappears on the up-swing, vanishing somehow...

Harris manages to combine something like but not quite a coming of age novel here with deep, dark mystery and horror. Harris introduces Stevie, his buddy Johnny, a recently befriended Becky, and Dookie, giving them each some story time, but the tale switches from their exploits to those of their parents; a chapter for the kids, next for the parents. It seems their parents all were BBFs in the late 60s, but have since drifted apart. What they did back then and how it impacts their kids today occupies the center of the story, although Harris takes some time beguiling us first with strange, odd and spooky events first. I do not what to go into more of the plot to avoid spoilers.

What I liked best about this one concerns the well-rounded, sympathetic characters who you really seem to know pretty well quite early who also quickly find themselves in situations that more than just boggle the mind. Stevie, Dookie and Johnny watching the kid disappear into thin air kicks this off, but soon Stevie and company find themselves teleported or something back to 1972 (the story takes place in the 90s). Strange 'gobblins' emerge out of the ground, which Dookie typically kills, leaving buckets of blood everywhere. The parents doing odd things as well for no apparent rhyme or reason. The big secret the parents keep, one that they all tried their hardest to forget, obviously has something to do with their participation in events back in the 60s, when they were all acid dropping hippies. Harris also never lets this slip into familiar horror tropes and keeps the surprises coming all the way through. I thought the denouement could have been stronger, but what a fun, spooky ride. 4 devilish stars!!

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and unique story, but to American readers some words and sayings in this book can be confusing. A solid, imaginative read but not as impressive as his Eyes of The BEast aka Adventureland novel. This one seemed to need an edit here and there.
Some good violent scenes involving The Devil! A bit of fantasy and horror.
RIP Steve Harris.....

[Anthony Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cracking (re)read from an author I'd completely forgotten about. Great imagination and a clever plot with some truly horrific scenes (including one with a needle and thimble that makes me cringe just thinking about it).

[Vanessa O · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very rare book by Steve Harris, that i would never have come across had it not been for my sister. It is a story unlike any i have ever read with aspects of horror and fantasy all rolled into one. It truely is unique. It is centred around a house on May Street where a boy encounters very strange goings on that have to be read to be believed.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Cover art by Steve Crisp)

Out of the many “young friends battle inter-dimensional evil force to try and save their town”-type deals in the vein of IT or Stranger Things, this was definitely one of the better ones I’ve read. And quite original for its time (late 90s), featuring wonky time shenanigans, a uniquely nefarious supernatural threat, and a pretty compelling mystery at the heart of it all. Not to mention a group of well-drawn, likable slacker teens (and a dog!) you can’t help but root for in their quest to figure out the meaning of their parents’ sudden creepy-ass behavior, and all the inexplicable deaths and surreal weirdness that’s been plaguing their small, peaceful town. Something happened 25 years ago…something bad, and it seems all of their parents were involved. And the chickens have come home to roost.

It’s very British, and some of the terminology used was outside of my purview despite my having read tons of English novels over the years, but nothing that I couldn’t work out through context clues. The only real negative I can think of is that it is a bit bloated at 380 pages, which would probably be closer to 450 if it didn’t have ultra-tiny font. But then I think all horror novels should be under 300 pages in order to better sustain a spooky atmosphere, with few exceptions. So that’s probably a me issue. Either way, even the padding here was a good time, just hanging out in this strange, mysterious town with characters who just take all the unnatural insanity in stride.

Between this and The Eyes of the Beast (aka Adventureland), the late Steve Harris seems to me to be an unjustly forgotten horror writer, and I’ll soon be getting to the rest of his work. Too bad most of it was only published in the UK (likely due to the aforementioned Britishness, and the horror fiction bust of the early 90s). Hopefully a publisher decides to bring his bibliography back into print, at least as ebooks, as they’re pretty hard to come by on the cheap these days, especially here in the states.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Kaylol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find it as fantastic as I thought it'd be

[Gadge Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fabby doodles.