German Bradley's book, Adramelech is a long but astonishing journey into the realm of the violent and the twisted.

One day, Yonah wakes up and finds herself naked without memories of what has happened to her. She does find a satanic symbol tattoo and many scars causing her a good deal of pain. Being an escort girl she cannot call the police. At least she has a friend to turn to, Scandinavian porn star Linnea, who is also her lover. They think Yonah must have been drugged by some pervert. The truth is stranger, as all these events have to do with the coming of a powerful demon called Adramelech. The only thing the forces of evil, so determined to get Yonah's soul, are not prepared for is the love of a woman. Linnea's love provides her with incredible strength, enough to try to fight them.

Creating the main characters in this way provides the author with plenty of opportunities to include sex scenes, not to mention Yonah's hot scenes with the demon. German Bradley has obviously learnt this part of the trade.

What I miss most from this book is more of the story, and more horror, though, from the latter, there are some elements used. (Winged infernal women, a killer demoness, and even cannibalism, just to mention a few.) Still, there are few scenes in the book where nobody is having sex or is not thinking of it, and for me this is not what horror is about.

I see it as a major fault that there are few scenes from the outside world. In everyday life, even in times of crises, people tend to enjoy a good meal or can go for a walk, and do and think of many things for which you do not have to get naked.

These women live in a world where they do not have to choose what to wear, and they do not have to put on make-up or do the washing, they just look perfect all the time, as if these things were just given. Similarly, the flat also seems to clean itself. All the time they have is for having fun, even though Yonah and Linnea also try to find out what is happening. This makes the main characters much less realistic, and, thus, the book becomes a disappointment.

In the surreal scenes with demons, even though the descriptions are rather long—at times too long—too much remains untold. According to the blurb, the writer did research into occultism, so the problem may be the lack of such background knowledge on the reader's part.

Reviewed By Ilona Hegedus
© June 2005