What do you think?
Rate this book
Demon Squad #9
Aftermath
What do you do when your life crumbles around you? If you’re Frank “Triggaltheron” Trigg you climb into a bottle looking for oblivion. Of course he couldn’t even get that right. Alone and adrift, Frank’s five month binge is interrupted with a boom. A nuclear one, and every bit of chaos and treachery he tried to leave behind comes knocking once more. Caught up in a plot to foment a supernatural revolution, Frank is made into a pawn for both sides. But what does a man with nothing have to lose? Only everything.
- GenresUrban FantasyFiction
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2015
14 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Tim Marquitz
103 books214 followersTim Marquitz is the author of the Demon Squad series, The Enemy of My Enemy series (Kurtherian Gambit) along with Michael Anderle, the Blood War Trilogy, co-author of the Dead West series, as well as several standalone books, and numerous anthology appearances alongside the biggest names in fantasy and horror. Tim also collaborated on Memoirs of a MACHINE, the story of MMA pioneer John Machine Lober.
"Horror becomes art when it flows from the pen of Tim Marquitz." ~ Bobby D. Whitney - BookWenches
"Witty, sarcastic and hilarious." Michelle - Publishers Weekly
"Horror becomes art when it flows from the pen of Tim Marquitz." ~ Bobby D. Whitney - BookWenches
"Witty, sarcastic and hilarious." Michelle - Publishers Weekly
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 24, 2015
"Like GI Jesus I spread my arms out to both sides and capped the bastards as I whipped past."
Blasphemy is back, and so is Frank, not that he had much of a choice. After six months of drowning his sorrows with drugs and alcohol, trouble comes finding him in the way of a nuke, forcing Frank to re-evaluate and reconnect.
The previous book, Collateral Damage, was an emotion fueled rollercoaster that slugged me in the chest multiple times. Aftermath is a much lighter affair, with the action and events forcing Frank to put his grief on hold to ensure the safety of his daughter. There is much consolidation in this book, much wrapping up of loose threads, and much forging of relationships that I expect will persist and evolve into the future. Or it will all blow up in Frank's face, like a "bukkake hand grenade" to use Frank's own words.
Finally, Marquitz has decided to throw his Demon Squad universe wide open with the introduction of some particular characters and curious overarching plot points. Without spoiling too much, it seems like future Demon Squad books will no longer be Judeo-Christian centric, and that this expansion into other mythologies will have far reaching consequences.
Blasphemy is back, and so is Frank, not that he had much of a choice. After six months of drowning his sorrows with drugs and alcohol, trouble comes finding him in the way of a nuke, forcing Frank to re-evaluate and reconnect.
The previous book, Collateral Damage, was an emotion fueled rollercoaster that slugged me in the chest multiple times. Aftermath is a much lighter affair, with the action and events forcing Frank to put his grief on hold to ensure the safety of his daughter. There is much consolidation in this book, much wrapping up of loose threads, and much forging of relationships that I expect will persist and evolve into the future. Or it will all blow up in Frank's face, like a "bukkake hand grenade" to use Frank's own words.
Finally, Marquitz has decided to throw his Demon Squad universe wide open with the introduction of some particular characters and curious overarching plot points. Without spoiling too much, it seems like future Demon Squad books will no longer be Judeo-Christian centric, and that this expansion into other mythologies will have far reaching consequences.
January 18, 2016
The ninth of Tim Marquitz's Demon Squad novels, Aftermath has a hefty task ahead of itself as it not only has to re-establish its lead character after the traumatic events of the last three books but rock the foundations of the setting by moving from a Judaeo-Christian worldview to a more all-encompassing mythology involving the deities of multiple pantheons.
For those who don't know anything about the series, Demon Squad follows the adventures of Frank Trigg, the Devil's Nephew (later revealed to be his son) as he works with an organization called DRAC to fight the supernatural after God and the Devil leave the world. The series straddle the line between urban fantasy and epic fantasy given one day Frank might be fighting demons in his hometown in one book only to be trapped in an Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom-inspired dimension another.
The book opens with Frank on a three-month-long bender of alcohol and hard drugs designed to numb himself silly after the murder of his love interest. Frank has descended into a self-hating funk not only because he can't resurrect Karra from the dead but because he wrecked a horrifying vengeance on her killers which would make Saw's Jigsaw proud.
Abandoning his daughter with his angelic cousin Scarlett, Frank knows he's being both a horrible father as well as person in general but can't help himself. Tim Marquitz captures Frank's emotions extremely well while maintaining the character's trademark wit. I really think it's some of Tim's best writing and I think he's outdone himself writing it.
Then someone nukes the hick town Frank's staying in.
Aftermath seems to be a novel designed as a "jumping on" point for new readers in much the same way comic books frequently make it possible for new readers to catch up despite ages of continuity porn. This is an odd choice for a novel but one I don't think is a bad idea in today's digitized world. Aftermath re-introduces the cast to Tim Marquitz's world, re-establishes their relationships, and gives a self-contained plot which broadens the scope of the world significantly.
The biggest change Aftermath produces, with no spoilers as this is revealed in the opening chapters, is the introduction of other cosmologies than the Judaeo-Christian one. God, it turns out, is just one of many gods which have been there all along. The Demon Squad Yahweh has always been morally ambiguous in the series but shifts over to outright villainous when we find out he's stolen the world from the other pantheons.
Speaking as a religious person, I don't mind this as I'm able to separate my real-world beliefs from my fiction. Other individuals may prove to be bothered by this change but since Demon Squad was always a series drawing heavy inspiration from the Hellblazer comic, this doesn't come as a huge surprise to me. It also provides Frank with potentially hundreds of opponents ranging from Surtur to the Aztec pantheon.
I also liked the depiction of what the mortals have been up to in the past situation. With the many cosmological fights against gods and demigods, they've been often left behind. Discovering what the government, DRAC, and other groups have been doing to fight the many supernatural threats unleashed in the wake of Frank's actions. While I will always hate the character of Shaw, she's one of the few characters who can stand up to Frank as an antagonist while remaining alive. She's deliciously hateable.
In conclusion, Aftermath is an awesome book. If you want to see the series at its best, you should pick this book up. Its got snark, humor, drama, anger, angst, despair, and world-building all combined together.
10/10
For those who don't know anything about the series, Demon Squad follows the adventures of Frank Trigg, the Devil's Nephew (later revealed to be his son) as he works with an organization called DRAC to fight the supernatural after God and the Devil leave the world. The series straddle the line between urban fantasy and epic fantasy given one day Frank might be fighting demons in his hometown in one book only to be trapped in an Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom-inspired dimension another.
The book opens with Frank on a three-month-long bender of alcohol and hard drugs designed to numb himself silly after the murder of his love interest. Frank has descended into a self-hating funk not only because he can't resurrect Karra from the dead but because he wrecked a horrifying vengeance on her killers which would make Saw's Jigsaw proud.
Abandoning his daughter with his angelic cousin Scarlett, Frank knows he's being both a horrible father as well as person in general but can't help himself. Tim Marquitz captures Frank's emotions extremely well while maintaining the character's trademark wit. I really think it's some of Tim's best writing and I think he's outdone himself writing it.
Then someone nukes the hick town Frank's staying in.
Aftermath seems to be a novel designed as a "jumping on" point for new readers in much the same way comic books frequently make it possible for new readers to catch up despite ages of continuity porn. This is an odd choice for a novel but one I don't think is a bad idea in today's digitized world. Aftermath re-introduces the cast to Tim Marquitz's world, re-establishes their relationships, and gives a self-contained plot which broadens the scope of the world significantly.
The biggest change Aftermath produces, with no spoilers as this is revealed in the opening chapters, is the introduction of other cosmologies than the Judaeo-Christian one. God, it turns out, is just one of many gods which have been there all along. The Demon Squad Yahweh has always been morally ambiguous in the series but shifts over to outright villainous when we find out he's stolen the world from the other pantheons.
Speaking as a religious person, I don't mind this as I'm able to separate my real-world beliefs from my fiction. Other individuals may prove to be bothered by this change but since Demon Squad was always a series drawing heavy inspiration from the Hellblazer comic, this doesn't come as a huge surprise to me. It also provides Frank with potentially hundreds of opponents ranging from Surtur to the Aztec pantheon.
I also liked the depiction of what the mortals have been up to in the past situation. With the many cosmological fights against gods and demigods, they've been often left behind. Discovering what the government, DRAC, and other groups have been doing to fight the many supernatural threats unleashed in the wake of Frank's actions. While I will always hate the character of Shaw, she's one of the few characters who can stand up to Frank as an antagonist while remaining alive. She's deliciously hateable.
In conclusion, Aftermath is an awesome book. If you want to see the series at its best, you should pick this book up. Its got snark, humor, drama, anger, angst, despair, and world-building all combined together.
10/10
November 11, 2015
Boom and heres another Demon Squad book that just keeps on delivering the action the sarcasm and the story arc just gets better.
I think this is Tims strongest Demon Squad book for a while and that's saying something as there haven't been any bad Demon Squad books and Tim has written some cracking books in other series during this time also.
In this book which again visits the Gods Prison realm we learn some startling facts about the Universe Tim has created. This is great as it really adds depth and vision to this series and opens up a whole load of possibilities for future books. Someone somewhere is gonna have to deal with that prison realm eventually it'll probably have to be Frank eh!
No spoilers in this review but Frank really does go through a personal journey here and has to deal with a whole load of people that he thought he had dealt with coming back and just plain mucking up his life again.
One thing that I wasn't sure of in the book but when Frank offs Gabriel(OK that is a spoiler)does he get a power/soul transfer? it was the only thing in the book I was unclear on.
And whats a few Nuclear bombs between friends anyway!
I have seen this mentioned on a few reviews but yeah this book needs more Chatterbox! We need a chatterbox side series - Chatterbox short stories even!
I think this is Tims strongest Demon Squad book for a while and that's saying something as there haven't been any bad Demon Squad books and Tim has written some cracking books in other series during this time also.
In this book which again visits the Gods Prison realm we learn some startling facts about the Universe Tim has created. This is great as it really adds depth and vision to this series and opens up a whole load of possibilities for future books. Someone somewhere is gonna have to deal with that prison realm eventually it'll probably have to be Frank eh!
No spoilers in this review but Frank really does go through a personal journey here and has to deal with a whole load of people that he thought he had dealt with coming back and just plain mucking up his life again.
One thing that I wasn't sure of in the book but when Frank offs Gabriel(OK that is a spoiler)does he get a power/soul transfer? it was the only thing in the book I was unclear on.
And whats a few Nuclear bombs between friends anyway!
I have seen this mentioned on a few reviews but yeah this book needs more Chatterbox! We need a chatterbox side series - Chatterbox short stories even!
February 27, 2017
"Gone stale – the Aftermath"
p.s. Still, returning back to this series, reminds me somewhat of Sandman Slim series. It stinks like some sorts of cheese, and only after a few bites you can determine the stink is intentional flavour or just usual stinky stink kind.
p.s. Still, returning back to this series, reminds me somewhat of Sandman Slim series. It stinks like some sorts of cheese, and only after a few bites you can determine the stink is intentional flavour or just usual stinky stink kind.
May 20, 2016
When a series gets 8 or 9 deep, you kind of expect some coasting or drop off in story. Not with Tim Marquitz! This series keeps taking new twists and turns with each new book, and it just makes you keep wanting more. After Collateral Damage, where Franks life of domestic bliss with Karra and Abigail comes off the rails in a morning of blood and death, and some epic payback, Frank has left Abi in the care of his cousin, the warrior angel Scarlet and her vampire love Katon, and has crawled into the bottle in some fleaspeck town in Louisiana. Unfortunately, that fleaspeck gets nuked as collateral damage to a group of supernatural baddies using a nuke to crack open a Secret government prison designed to hold big time supernatural bad guys. Well, of course Frank ends up in the middle of the mess. He ends up working with Briana Shaw and her Government team to try and stop the rest of the prisons getting cracked open and releasing some epic level baddies. After a lot of fighting, deception and general mayhem, you find out what the plot is about, who the villains are (Some of whom return from previous books) and we get some closure on some storylines. Some people even get whats coming to them. With a fast paced plot and action scenes that put Michael Bay to shame, this is a must have for any fans of urban fantasy. The author is really doing a great job of expanding the characters, really rounding them out, and showing more about some of the smaller characters like Father Lance. All in all, and excellent bit of writing, with the always excellent Noah Michael Levine doing his usual spectacular job of narrating, really breathing life into the characters.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews