Demon's Beach

by Nicole Davidson

“THE DEMON IS AMONG US… LEAVE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!”

The old lady’s voice shakes with fear as she speaks, and the eyes of her cat glow a savage green. But the ominous warning goes unheeded. The Archeology Club from Fort Johnson High has come to the Florida Keys in search of sunken treasure and won’t be scared off by the ravings of a crazy old woman.

NOW THE HORROR BEGINS…

Members of the group are behaving strangely. Accidents are happening. The Evil is closing in -- reaching out to destroy them…one by one.

HE WATCHES…AND WAITS

“I’ll get rid of them all,” he snarls beneath his breath. With a grim smile he lowers himself beneath the dark waves.

HE IS PATIENT…

Genres: Horror, Young Adult

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Nicole Davidson is a pen name for Kathryn Jensen.

Reviews

[Erica Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A high school archeology club gets to spend a few weeks in the Florida keys researching artifacts (lol sure), but things are getting a little strange on the island. Is it the CURSE the locals warned them about? Is it the hot stranger?? Is he a DEMON???

A couple of things haven’t, uhh, aged well (describing the one Asian character as having “oriental features” and one of the characters chastises another for not speaking English).

Very predictable but I do love the setting, and there are a few laugh out loud moments. I did find some of the writing to be a little more risqué than usual, which was fun.

[Richard L. Haas III · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's decent. I wouldn't say I was immediately engaged in the story, but eventually I did. The story was almost similar to some other pocket teen novel I read (perhaps one of the Fear Streets?) about a cave hideout. Now, as I mentioned, I liked this book even though I was hardly interested in it at first. As always I had a few nitpiycky issues such as the character Wesley just decided to be called Wes only because a girl called him that. Stupid. Overall the book was entertaining, but it wasn't the best read.

[Bobby Stringini · Rating 2 out of 5]

A so-so 90's YA thriller. A muddled plot wanders towards a decent but obvious ending, but I didn't hate it. As far as pulp 90's teen fiction goes, this one is a pass. There are much better examples of the genre out there.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average YA horror/thriller of its day. I was kinda put off from the very beginning when they called the Asian character “oriental.” Seems strange to use that word even in 1992. Also didn’t make much use of its buried treasure plot. I wanted more details about that and it seemed too good to be true.

[Neha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun campy YA novel from the early 90’s. It isn’t very substantive in terms of character development but overall, easy and nostalgic read.

[Paul Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual page number: 154 pages

Slow but it's short and have some moderate amount of actions and suspense that keeps reader interested. In addition, I enjoy the setting. Tropical beach setting is calming to me and the demon aura surrounding the area does provide some little suspense. Although, the supposed backstory for the demon residing in the setting is rather meh.

However, the book can be slow as there's not enough action. There's a gimmick regarding personality change but 1. It isn't scary and rather silly enough to remove any suspense I have with the book 2. Most characters are bland 3. It doesn't last throughout the book

There's no mystery of who the culprit is either because it's really easy to pinpoint who's the culprit since there's not list of suspects for readers to guess.

The main character's alright but she seems to be the same typical teenage girl protagonist in YA horror as she feels awkward in forming a relationship with a boy, wants to explore other places for excitement, and wants to find some sort of talent she's skilled at.

Probably good for summer read only as it's just an average book.