The Devil's Angel

by Kevin Brooks

When Dean turns up at school, Jack knows he's different to everyone else. They form a bond and make wild plans about starting a band while they dabble in drink, drugs and teenage rebellion. But Dean's darker side rears its head and throws them down a dangerous path.

Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 12+

Genres: Young Adult, School, Psychology, Family

97 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Kevin Brooks was born in 1959 and grew up in Exeter, Devon, England. He studied Psychology and Philosophy at Birmingham, Aston University in 1980 and Cultural Studies in London in 1983. Kevin Brooks has been in a variety of jobs including: musician, gasoline station attendant, crematorium handyman, civil service clerk, hot dog vendor at the London Zoo, post office clerk, and railway ticket office clerk.

Kevin Brooks's writing career started with the publication of Martyn Pig in 2002 through The Chicken House which won the Branford Boase Award 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. He also wrote Lucas (2002) which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and Booktrust Teenage Prize in 2003 also winning the North East Book Award in 2004.

In 2004 he published Kissing the Rain and Bloodline and I See You, Baby and Candy in 2005. In 2006 he published 3 books including: Johnny Delgado Series - Like Father, Like Son and Private Detective as well as The Road of the Dead; a standalone novel. In February 2008 he published the standalone book Black Rabbit Summer.

As a child, Kevin Brooks enjoyed reading detective novels. He writes most plots of the various books he has written around crime fiction. He likes mystery and suspence and enjoys putting both of those components into each and every story he writes in some shape or form.

Reviews

[selenay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure if I should give this 3 or 4 stars so I’m giving it 3.5 stars.
It was a really enjoyable, quick read! Definitely do read it, since it genuinely takes very little time. But I do have to say that the characters were really surface level and most of the events aren’t further explained. Then again, that makes you think more about the book. Like, why is Dean this way? Where is his father? Why has Jack become so tired of everything? It’s nice to think and ponder about it.

Dean is definitely a character that isn’t well-liked (and that with reason) but in the end, you sort of feel for him? It’s hard to explain, but I personally don’t dislike Dean. Sure, he’s reckless and annoying and everything negative… yeah I can’t name any positive traits about him. IT’S HARD TO EXPLAIN OKAY. Just read the book and get your own opinion😭

[Marite Juul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enkel (tilpasset dyslektikere) fortelling om de to kompisene John og Dean. Dean er den nye gutten på skolen, og allerede første dag setter han skolens bølle på plass. Dean eier ingen grenser, han er aggressiv og provoserende, og alltid på jakt etter trøbbel. Det kommer ikke som noen overraskelse at han ikke lever lenge. Beskrivelsen av Dean og hans vennskap med John er god. Men tiltross for at fortellingen handler om en trøbbelmaker, blir det aldri særlig spennende, og spenning er jo nettopp hva dyslektikere trenger, for å få motivasjon til å lese videre. Men boka kan fungere fint til lesing i grupper, det er mye å diskutere her, fremfor alt hvordan man blir en som Dean.

[Molly Kavanagh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I like Kevin Brooks as an author but this book was not really anything to talk about. (Sorry!!) It wasn’t thrilling as he usually is, it seemed like a very peaceful read, no plot twists or major events, felt kind of flat. I did however, enjoy the characters and how they came to life in my imagination with Kevin Brook’s description.

[Ms Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good for a short story written to be accessible to teens with a reading age of 8+. Gripping in places, this captures the uncertainty of being young and also its dangers and freedoms. I recognised Dean and Jack from some of the boys at work. Clear and fun.

[B Pluto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly liked this book. It was a really quick read, but an enjoyable one.

[Kuyumi Shimura · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a nice book the ending is unexpected and kind of sad

[Soph D · Rating 3 out of 5]

i would say this book is a 3.25/5, nothing incredibly special but it was a quick and interesting read.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was good at the end, it started of all slow and took a while for me to get into it. The characters annoyed me, I wish the book was more LGBTQIA+

[Michelle (Fluttering Butterflies) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Devil's Angel by Kevin Brooks was quite gritty and intense about two friends, Dean and Jack. There's plenty of drinking and violence and the sort of behaviour that you might expect from two uncaring teenagers. But there's something different about Dean. Jack and Dean are friends right from Dean's first day of school when he cames in and punches the biggest, toughest guy in school. But he doesn't seem to stop either, he needs more violence more unrest.

It's quite hard reading this short story about these two friends. Even without subtle hints throughout the narrative it seems clear that this story can't end in a happy way with Dean's persistent path towards destruction. As a fan of Kevin Brooks, I felt like this book covered similar themes to that of Naked but I don't think that should matter too much. It still made me feel strong feelings and thoughts and I found it quite interesting.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had an hour to kill in town the other day so went to the library and came across this little gem. I'll read absolutely anything written by Kevin Brooks, I think he is amazing. This was a fun and quick read though not as dark or gritty as his other books. I think this may have been written for struggling readers but I may well be wrong about. Even so, it was a good read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very short, easy to read, dark, quite grim at times and fairly violent. All in all an interesting read. I did not like Dean as I found him strange and unlike-able. The story was fast and quite exciting. I like absolutely everything about Kevin's books with Road of the Dead still my favourite closely followed by Lucas and Bunker Diary.

[Kirsikka71 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, didn't go anywhere.