Book Review: Demon With A Comb-Over by Stuart R West

Talk about a tough crowd.

Take Charlie Broadmoor’s life. Please. Charlie sucks at stand-up comedy. He gets by, though. Things are okay. His life is decent. Until the night he makes fun of a demon’s comb-over. Big mistake. What kind of demon wears a comb-over? The sensitive kind. The kind who’s not going to let an insult slide. A demon who’s going to take Charlie down. As in down to Hell. And he intends on dragging everyone Charlie cares about along for the ride.

My Review: 
When I was briefly on Netgalley this was a book that I was approved for but I was unhappy that the publisher asked me not to publish a low star review if that was my opinion and I told them I wasn't prepared to do that and never read it. I must say that this was nothing to do with the author who was horrified when it came to his attention, and he kindly sent me a review copy to look at. 

Charlie is a fading comic in a club who is struggling with his audience who don't seem to find anything funny, especially him. He takes the fateful decision to pick on a man in the audience with a dodgy comb-over, hoping to get the crowd laughing at him. Sadly for Charlie the crowd don't laugh anyway and the angry man confronts him after the show about his rudeness. Charlie is unrepentant even when the man reveals himself to be a demon and will get revenge on him and the people he loves. It soon becomes clear that the man is a demon and he will not stop until he gets Charlie.

The demon Kobal tells Charlie that he intends to destroy his life and Charlie quickly believes it when someone he cares about dies suddenly and the gleeful demon makes an appearance at the funeral. He has to turn to one of his fellow comics for help to protect him and his daughter Serena but Kobal ensures that everything Charlie does goes wrong causing all kinds of problems for him to deal with. 

The main problem I had was that I didn't really like the MC Charlie or find him funny. Part of this is down to the fact that I have a particular dislike for comics in real life who decide to make bitchy comments to members of the audience about their appearance. These people have no regard for how upsetting or humiliating this can be for someone who just wanted a night out, as long as they get the cheap laugh for it. This was pretty much how I felt about Charlie and it was hard to feel any sympathy for the mess he was in. He is struggling as a comic because he isn't really much good and his act is tanking badly in front of his latest audience. He decides that picking on a man in the audience and slagging off his comb-over is a good way to get the crowd going, which is a pretty nasty thing to do. It was like watching a train wreck as Charlie gets more insulting and desperate and only infuriates the man. It was Charlie's loved ones that I actually had sympathy for.

It was the side characters that I actually found more interesting. The mysterious Kenneth only appeared briefly as the strange neighbour but he was the one that I really wanted to find out more about and I was a bit disappointed that we never got his back story by the time the book finished. I like the foul mouthed, foul mannered Burgess who managed to be naturally funnier than Charlie ever was and tries to help with the demon problem. His ex Celia, Serena's mother was also quite interesting in the little bursts that we got of her. I'd have liked to see her meeting Burgess and being along for the trip so I could see more of her strange habits. However I found The Angels so annoying that I actually wanted to kill them. I didn't really get the scenes between them and Charlie and what the purpose of them was for the plot.

I did struggle with the book in parts so overall I didn't know whether to give it 2, 2.5 or 3 stars when I finished it. I'm still struggling to rate it. For me the humour fell totally flat but of course what we find funny is a purely personal thing and that doesn't mean that the writing wasn't funny so I'm sure others will be amused by it. I didn't find Charlie funny at all and ploughing through a few of his unfunny routines through the book didn't greatly entertain me. I really hated The Angels but liked the other side characters. I also wasn't greatly keen on the sex scenes with Charlie and Sylvia which added nothing to the story and I skimmed past them. I did finish the book to see what happens, and there were a few things I did like in it but the struggles I had with it means I have little option but to drop the star rating accordingly.

The one thing I did find is that there was nothing wrong with the actual writing style or story development and as I do have other books by the author on my ereader, I might well try something else by Mr West in the future as he seems to write a mix of genres and something else may suit me better.

Read August 2018.
2 stars.