Demon City

by Morgan Richter

Felix Dockweiler—former model, current entertainment reporter, and the star of such films as "Frat Party USA"—yearns for fame at any cost. A callow young Omaha native struggling to make an impact in image-obsessed, celebrity-driven Hollywood, Felix torments, exhausts, and starves himself while chasing after a goal that always lies just out of his grasp. Felix’s fragile status quo is disrupted when a violent pair of fire demons blaze into town and rack up a body count while hunting down his troubled younger brother, Michael. As the temperature rises and out-of-control wildfires threaten the city, Felix’s search for Michael takes him from Hollywood parties to Skid Row flophouses and all points in between. To save Michael, Felix pursues a dangerous alliance with Sparky Mother, a charismatic and unfathomably powerful entertainment mogul with more than a few skeletons in his closet. Meanwhile, Felix’s attempts to secure the job of his dreams begin to look more and more like a negotiation for his mortal soul. In her follow-up to WRONG CITY, Morgan Richter once again takes readers inside a treacherous, alluring version of Los Angeles, where enigmatic supernatural forces manipulate the oblivious inhabitants from behind the scenes.

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 19, 2014

About the author

Morgan is the author of the neo-noir thriller THE DIVIDE (Knopf; August 2024), and the thriller THE UNDERSTUDY, which will be released by Knopf on August 5th, 2025.

Morgan is a graduate of the Filmic Writing program at the University of Southern California’s film school and has worked in production on several television shows, including ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos and E! Entertainment Television’s Emmy-winning comedy series Talk Soup. An avid popular culture critic, she is the author of Duranalysis: Essays on the Duran Duran Experience and has amassed a cult following on her analyses of classic Duran Duran videos. She has self-published five novels, but THE DIVIDE is her first foray into traditional publishing. Richter currently lives in Seattle.

Reviews

[Masquerade Crew · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEWER: SHARON

5.0 ON THE MASQ SCALE

This book was gripping. There's no other word for it. It held my attention throughout, although the cast of characters was so large and convoluted, it took me a couple of chapters to figure out who the important ones were. The main character is Felix, an entertainment reporter on a low-rent entertainment news program. His job is part-time, and might be temporary. He has enough to worry about, without having to battle fire demons and hard-to-place supernatural characters like Sparky Mother, who oversees the entire entertainment industry from a strange and run down warehouse in the city. What he sees and experiences in a short period of time should seriously unnerve him, but he somehow comes out the other end stronger, and closer to his brother Michael, whom he saves from demonic kidnappers who want to use him as a portal from their other netherworld, and/or dimension.

This is a great supernatural fantasy. I loved it. It's intelligent without the need to check the dictionary for unfamiliar terms, witty without being stupid or low-brow in nature. Altogether a great read. I haven't read the first book of the series, Wrong City, but I would like to. The preview at he end of Demon City is very intriguing.

[R. Diskin Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several books by Morgan Richter and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. I found this one to be an especially fun read. In case you don't know, it is Los Angeles that is DEMON CITY, and it has earned that name in more ways than one. The protagonist Felix is an immensely likeable character. He finds himself in circumstances he does not understand that are far beyond his control and the reader goes on a wild ride with him as he endeavors to save someone dear to him. I loved that several characters from some of Richter's other novels make an appearance in DEMON CITY, including my favorite of her characters (who I won't name here to avoid a spoiler). Treat yourself to this fantastic novel.