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beytwice's review
3.0
A neat little horror comedy with some brilliantly gory sections! I loved the premise of demons Yardley brought to the table, exchanging body parts rather than souls and the whole process was absolutely gruesome. Really nice concept albeit story wise it did feel a little unfinished. Despite the book being short I felt I was lacking any real substance from the characters: they each had primary objectives driving them but I didn’t learn much about any of them beyond that so found it hard to get emotionally attached regardless of what happened to them. If anything I was rooting for Jack the most! Still an easy, quick, and gory read.
horror_hive's review
5.0
What would you do if your girlfriend, the love of your life was taken and there is no clues to as your whereabouts? The Deal Maker is a story of revenge at its very core. The story grabs you by the throat, the grip getting stronger, cutting your oxygen off from the very first page until that last hit to the jugular. In my honest to goodness opinion, this is the kind of novel that Stephen King wishes he wrote. The narrative is as sharp and mind-blowing as a guillotine. Its delivery is as devastating as it is masterful.
What would make someone do a deal with a demon? The Deal Maker that cuts you open and crawls into your soul. It is an experience not merely a story. It is a story that takes over your senses. It makes you question that morally difficult question – what would you do to get revenge? Is an eye for an eye too far or is it an acceptable response to trauma? The evil and coldness of the story is dripping off each page. The story envelops everything you should feel in a horror novel – the fear lurks in every corner, a threatening shadow creeping down your spine.
Ted has lost his girlfriend, Jessie. Conversely, Kelly has watched her someone special, Larry. Murdered in the most gruesome way at the hands of hired killers. Ted has had enough with wallowing in self-pity, he does something about finding her. Aided by the very revolting demon, Jack. The assault on your eyes is absolute. He is made up of his victim’s body parts, held together with pus and dried blood. Being an all-seeing demon has its benefits. He helps give them what they want, but for a price. I suppose no big end goal is achievable without a bit of blood, sweat and missing appendages.
The story line keeps you on your toes. Lou Yardley’s writing is compulsive. Its threatening narrative set my senses on red alert. The gore and the evilness screamed out at my giddy black heart. I was enraptured with the plot and character progression that slowly began to reveal themselves.
The Deal Maker is fast-paced and incredibly twisted. One bit of advice – keep the lights on, ALL THE LIGHTS ON!
What would make someone do a deal with a demon? The Deal Maker that cuts you open and crawls into your soul. It is an experience not merely a story. It is a story that takes over your senses. It makes you question that morally difficult question – what would you do to get revenge? Is an eye for an eye too far or is it an acceptable response to trauma? The evil and coldness of the story is dripping off each page. The story envelops everything you should feel in a horror novel – the fear lurks in every corner, a threatening shadow creeping down your spine.
Ted has lost his girlfriend, Jessie. Conversely, Kelly has watched her someone special, Larry. Murdered in the most gruesome way at the hands of hired killers. Ted has had enough with wallowing in self-pity, he does something about finding her. Aided by the very revolting demon, Jack. The assault on your eyes is absolute. He is made up of his victim’s body parts, held together with pus and dried blood. Being an all-seeing demon has its benefits. He helps give them what they want, but for a price. I suppose no big end goal is achievable without a bit of blood, sweat and missing appendages.
The story line keeps you on your toes. Lou Yardley’s writing is compulsive. Its threatening narrative set my senses on red alert. The gore and the evilness screamed out at my giddy black heart. I was enraptured with the plot and character progression that slowly began to reveal themselves.
The Deal Maker is fast-paced and incredibly twisted. One bit of advice – keep the lights on, ALL THE LIGHTS ON!
johnlynchbooks's review
4.0
As humans, we have wants and needs. Even the most selfless among us have desires. The latest novel by Lou Yardley comes with the tagline “everyone has a price…what’s yours?” By the time that you reach the end of The Deal Maker, you may find yourself thinking twice about just how badly you desire something.
The Deal Maker primarily follows Ted and Kelly, two characters that for their own reasons, find themselves mixed up with a demonic creature who goes by the name “Jack”. Jack has a penchant for bartering. A service for a price. As you might imagine, deals with a demon come with a steep price, and Jack will utilize his customers desperation to his advantage. The premise of Yardley’s latest is a fascinating one, and both of the main characters plights were intriguing enough to keep the reader hooked. During my time reading The Deal Maker, I found Kelly’s story to be a bit more interesting than Ted's. She’s on a quest for vengeance and the book does a good job of fleshing that out. Ted’s story begins with his girlfriend missing, but I found it tougher to care as we hadn’t gotten to know either her or Ted yet. Having never really connected with Ted, I found it unfortunate that his character had more page time than Kelly, although when you come to the end of this book, you’ll have discovered your time with Ted pays off. As far as Jack is concerned, he’s the trickster you’d expect a demon bargaining with humans to be. Yardley does a wonderful job of describing this grotesque creature. Once you visualize him, you’ll wish you didn’t. Gore fiends will find something to love in The Deal Maker, as I found myself cringing on more than one occasion. My only complaint with the novel is that Ted and Kelly’s parallel paths seemed a bit repetitive at times. There were also a few occasions where I felt that a scene had spent too much time describing the same thing, adding to the repetition. It’s worth noting that these minor issues didn’t really hamper my enjoyment of the book, and as I approached the fantastic conclusion of The Deal Maker, I hadn’t been able to guess where the story was going.
The Deal Maker, by Lou Yardley uses a simplistic question to tell an entertaining story. What is your price? For the right reward, you may find yourself willing to pay
4/5 stars
The Deal Maker primarily follows Ted and Kelly, two characters that for their own reasons, find themselves mixed up with a demonic creature who goes by the name “Jack”. Jack has a penchant for bartering. A service for a price. As you might imagine, deals with a demon come with a steep price, and Jack will utilize his customers desperation to his advantage. The premise of Yardley’s latest is a fascinating one, and both of the main characters plights were intriguing enough to keep the reader hooked. During my time reading The Deal Maker, I found Kelly’s story to be a bit more interesting than Ted's. She’s on a quest for vengeance and the book does a good job of fleshing that out. Ted’s story begins with his girlfriend missing, but I found it tougher to care as we hadn’t gotten to know either her or Ted yet. Having never really connected with Ted, I found it unfortunate that his character had more page time than Kelly, although when you come to the end of this book, you’ll have discovered your time with Ted pays off. As far as Jack is concerned, he’s the trickster you’d expect a demon bargaining with humans to be. Yardley does a wonderful job of describing this grotesque creature. Once you visualize him, you’ll wish you didn’t. Gore fiends will find something to love in The Deal Maker, as I found myself cringing on more than one occasion. My only complaint with the novel is that Ted and Kelly’s parallel paths seemed a bit repetitive at times. There were also a few occasions where I felt that a scene had spent too much time describing the same thing, adding to the repetition. It’s worth noting that these minor issues didn’t really hamper my enjoyment of the book, and as I approached the fantastic conclusion of The Deal Maker, I hadn’t been able to guess where the story was going.
The Deal Maker, by Lou Yardley uses a simplistic question to tell an entertaining story. What is your price? For the right reward, you may find yourself willing to pay
4/5 stars
unwrappingwords's review
4.0
When Ted’s beloved girlfriend Jessie disappears from the face of the earth, he is at a loss. But when he becomes determined to find her, no matter the cost, help is at hand, ready to lead him in the right direction – for the right price, anyway.
As Ted sets off on his journey, we meet a cast of other characters away from the Ted, and as the novel progresses, we start to see how their lives tie in with Ted’s. The characters can be, admittedly, quite vile, but that doesn’t detract from the story. Yardley pulls you along, tugging you with the characters and revealing information to make you question almost everything you think you know. As Jack gives Ted small pieces of the larger puzzle, we get them too, as lost as he is until the novel ramps up towards its climax.
My only gripe with the novel was in a certain reveal, one the characters know about but the readers are left in the dark with. It’s tricky to pull off, but personally I felt that though very small hints were there, it wasn’t quite enough to guide the reader in the right direction.
That aside, The Deal Maker is a gory, violent book that will keep readers engaged right until the very satisfying ending, and the grotesque, mismatched Jack – the Deal Maker of the title – is a character who, I think, will remain with readers, long after they’ve put the book down.
As Ted sets off on his journey, we meet a cast of other characters away from the Ted, and as the novel progresses, we start to see how their lives tie in with Ted’s. The characters can be, admittedly, quite vile, but that doesn’t detract from the story. Yardley pulls you along, tugging you with the characters and revealing information to make you question almost everything you think you know. As Jack gives Ted small pieces of the larger puzzle, we get them too, as lost as he is until the novel ramps up towards its climax.
My only gripe with the novel was in a certain reveal, one the characters know about but the readers are left in the dark with. It’s tricky to pull off, but personally I felt that though very small hints were there, it wasn’t quite enough to guide the reader in the right direction.
That aside, The Deal Maker is a gory, violent book that will keep readers engaged right until the very satisfying ending, and the grotesque, mismatched Jack – the Deal Maker of the title – is a character who, I think, will remain with readers, long after they’ve put the book down.
horror_hive's review against another edition
5.0
What would you do if your girlfriend, the love of your life was taken and there is no clues to as your whereabouts? The Deal Maker is a story of revenge at its very core. The story grabs you by the throat, the grip getting stronger, cutting your oxygen off from the very first page until that last hit to the jugular. In my honest to goodness opinion, this is the kind of novel that Stephen King wishes he wrote. The narrative is as sharp and mind-blowing as a guillotine. Its delivery is as devastating as it is masterful.
What would make someone do a deal with a demon? The Deal Maker that cuts you open and crawls into your soul. It is an experience not merely a story. It is a story that takes over your senses. It makes you question that morally difficult question – what would you do to get revenge? Is an eye for an eye too far or is it an acceptable response to trauma? The evil and coldness of the story is dripping off each page. The story envelops everything you should feel in a horror novel – the fear lurks in every corner, a threatening shadow creeping down your spine.
Ted has lost his girlfriend, Jessie. Conversely, Kelly has watched her someone special, Larry. Murdered in the most gruesome way at the hands of hired killers. Ted has had enough with wallowing in self-pity, he does something about finding her. Aided by the very revolting demon, Jack. The assault on your eyes is absolute. He is made up of his victim’s body parts, held together with pus and dried blood. Being an all-seeing demon has its benefits. He helps give them what they want, but for a price. I suppose no big end goal is achievable without a bit of blood, sweat and missing appendages.
The story line keeps you on your toes. Lou Yardley’s writing is compulsive. Its threatening narrative set my senses on red alert. The gore and the evilness screamed out at my giddy black heart. I was enraptured with the plot and character progression that slowly began to reveal themselves.
The Deal Maker is fast-paced and incredibly twisted. One bit of advice – keep the lights on, ALL THE LIGHTS ON!
What would make someone do a deal with a demon? The Deal Maker that cuts you open and crawls into your soul. It is an experience not merely a story. It is a story that takes over your senses. It makes you question that morally difficult question – what would you do to get revenge? Is an eye for an eye too far or is it an acceptable response to trauma? The evil and coldness of the story is dripping off each page. The story envelops everything you should feel in a horror novel – the fear lurks in every corner, a threatening shadow creeping down your spine.
Ted has lost his girlfriend, Jessie. Conversely, Kelly has watched her someone special, Larry. Murdered in the most gruesome way at the hands of hired killers. Ted has had enough with wallowing in self-pity, he does something about finding her. Aided by the very revolting demon, Jack. The assault on your eyes is absolute. He is made up of his victim’s body parts, held together with pus and dried blood. Being an all-seeing demon has its benefits. He helps give them what they want, but for a price. I suppose no big end goal is achievable without a bit of blood, sweat and missing appendages.
The story line keeps you on your toes. Lou Yardley’s writing is compulsive. Its threatening narrative set my senses on red alert. The gore and the evilness screamed out at my giddy black heart. I was enraptured with the plot and character progression that slowly began to reveal themselves.
The Deal Maker is fast-paced and incredibly twisted. One bit of advice – keep the lights on, ALL THE LIGHTS ON!