With the aid of his young sister, great-aunt, and an odd pair of twins,15-year-old Simon Porte fights for his life as his diabolical uncle tries to take over his body.
After fifteen-year-old Simon Porte's family is killed in an automobile crash, his father's brother whom he's never met brings Simon to live with him and his wife in upstate New York. Simon doesn't trust Uncle Raymond, and for good reason. Raymond is dying and using his powers to take over Simon's body. Simon and his allies—his dotty great-aunt Lucinda, his sister whom he finds living with another relative, and a pair of odd twins—wage war against the evil Raymond and his cronies.
Excerpt
Pol stopped swinging and fixed her gaze on me. It was too dark to see her amazing blue-green eyes, but I felt them studying me.
“Did you hear?” she asked. “A girl died yesterday, over in Chatham Falls.”
Death. My stomach started swirling.
“She was going to visit her cousin two blocks away, only she never got there. It was dusk—like it is right now. They found her the next day, lying on the side of a road outside of town.”
Andy said, “The weird thing is, there were no wounds or bruises on her body. No sign of strangulation, stabbing, head wound, or gunshot. Just like the other one.”
Pol yanked her brother’s arm. “We don’t need the details.”
“You started it. I’m just filling in the facts.”
“Poor kid,” Pol said. “Melissa went to Shady Brook, but I didn’t know her.”
A band squeezed my chest so tightly I could barely breathe. “Not Melissa Gordon.”
“Uh-huh,” Andy said. “They think she was murdered.”
“Murdered? I can’t believe it. Last week I was teaching her to swim.”
“I’m so sorry, Simon,” Pol said.
“She was nine years old,” I mumbled. “The same age Lucy would be...”
The twins stared at me.
“Who’s Lucy?” Pol asked.
I shook my head. “Gotta go.”
I took off like a lightning bolt, desperate to get away. I ran down a street I’d never been on before, rubbing away tears brought on by thoughts of my dead sister. I was angry at myself for breaking the one rule I’d set for myself since losing my family: keep your cool, no matter what. But Melissa Gordon! Jeez! She was a cute little thing—two skinny pigtails and a good belly laugh. What monster would kill a kid like that? A few days ago I’d finally got her to put her head in the water. How proud she had been!
I raced across the road and into the path of an SUV. The driver honked, but I was already flying past him.
The twins didn’t know Lucy was my baby sister because I’d never told them about the accident that had taken my family and left me an orphan. I knew they wondered why I’d come to live with my aunt and uncle, but, for once, even Andy knew not to ask questions.
I gulped down air, forcing myself to run faster. Faster. Still, I couldn’t stop the memories from gliding across my brain like a slideshow: camping out with my parents when I was six and Lucy hadn’t been born, seeing my first Broadway show, Lucy’s second birthday party when....
I finally managed to make my mind go blank. I have to be strong so I can get through each day. I said it again and again. I was fifteen years old and alone in the world. The only person I could count on was me.
I slowed down to a jog as I approached Buckley’s Main Street. I passed well-lit stores closed for the night, though the supermarket and eating places were still open. People sat at tables outside the coffee house, talking and laughing like they hadn’t a care in the world.
I stopped to catch my breath in front of the new glass and brick firehouse half a block away. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. I walked in circles until my heart rate returned to normal.
I felt calmer now, more in control. I wouldn’t grieve for a little girl I hardly knew. And I wouldn’t mull over the past. Brooding served no purpose and got you nowhere.
I retraced my steps to the coffee shop. In the men’s room, I splashed water on my face and then went to the counter to order a large soda, which I carried outside. I rarely treated myself from the measly allowance my uncle gave me, but I needed it tonight. I raised the bottle.
Here’s to you, Melissa, I saluted her silently. May you rest in peace.
Professional Reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsSuspense on Every Page
This is a Young Adult (YA) horror story, brilliantly told with suspense on every page. It's the kind of book that one cannot put down until finished. Although written for a young audience, adults can become immersed in the suspense also.The story is told with such dexterity that the reader is caught up in the young hero's struggle to outdo and overcome an evil uncle.
5.0 out of 5 starsFIVE GOLDEN HUGS
A pawn is the piece of lowest value in a game of chess. Pawns are manipulated and used by others in order to carry out their wishes. Pawns often have no choice but to follow the orders of someone who claims to care about them but does not. Taking advantage of these innocent people that are not always naïve but have no choice but to comply with their wishes is the main focal point of this chilling, spellbinding and frightening plot of The Devil’s Pawn by award winning and outstanding author: Marilyn Levinson.
Families are supposed to nurture and take care of their children. Some are closer than others. Simon Porte/Davenport is fifteen years old, smart, astute and has a keen sense of right and wrong. Even more he has powers that allow him to hear what other’s are thinking, see things that most would not and understand that the dangers he will encounter need to be stopped before it's too late. His parents killed in a bizarre car accident and his sister assumed gone too, forced to live with his Aunt Mary and Uncle Raymond he enters a home filled with fear, deceit, lies and worse infusions. Uncle Raymond is more like a vampire or demon whose body dies off and needs energy to replenish. Finding the source in young girls many in the town of Buckley wind up mysterious dead. Rich, powerful and having the right connections, Raymond Davenport manages to overpower many, deplete his wife of any ability to think on her own and has a terrifying goal. As Raymond learns more about Simon and Simon encounters his uncle at rare times during the night he realizes that his goal is to take away his body, his mind and energy and become Simon. Dying off and needing to find a way to replenish his body Raymond even tries to convince Simon to allow him to adopt him or at least become his guardian. Under the pretext of leaving all of his wealth to him in his will, even with his own attorney, somehow Raymond gets the upper hand.
A phone call changes it all and an encounter with an older woman who turns out to be his aunt Lucinda gives Simon the courage to fight his uncle and hopefully reunite with his sister Lucy who is not dead. Fear, anger, deceit and lies fill the pages of this novel as Lucy reveals to Simon where she is, her feelings for Aunt Grace her guardian and her hope to live with her brother. But, first how can Simon stop what his uncle has put in motion? Working in a camp owned by his uncle and for a man named Craig, he learns more about the demonic goals his uncle has, just who might be his next victim and his plans for building condos in place of the baseball fields that the children need to play in. Raymond Davenport is not human. He is pure evil. Can Simon stop him before it’s too late?
Simon teams up with a lawyer of his own, hopes to convince the police of what his uncle is doing when the lawyer relates that he knows more than he let on. The transference that his uncle tries to do kills young girls, will take away Simon’s identity and life as he and his uncle become one and the same. Because he’s young and a teen he is impetus and endangers his sister Lucy who Raymond finds by tracking Simon’s phone. But, Aunt Lucinda might appear to be batty, old and was attacked and hurt by someone working for Raymond, she has a few tricks up her old cloak and wait until you learn what she tells Simon to do. Added in he has to deal with his friendship with a young girl named Tasha, his twin friends Andy and Pol who come to his aid and hopefully Aunt Grace who is distraught over losing Lucy. How will this all piece together? Can a 15-year-old teen stop what has gone on for years? Murder, attacks, a vicious man who wants to take about the playing fields and turn them into condos! Money is the reason and power is his game!
Author Marilyn Levinson takes us into a world filled with evil, demons, psychic powers, demented souls and a poor woman named Mary caught in a web that he hopes to escape but how? This is truly a story filled with deceit, lies, friendships tested, family love and loyalty and the hope that Simon can reunite with his sister and save his aunts from harm. How do you stop someone that has set a plan in motion that would take out Simon and overtake his body, mind and soul but others too? What happens when Aunt Lucinda teaches Simon some really great tricks of her own in order to take down Uncle Raymond? An infusion you won’t believe what this is and how hard it was for Simon to resist what his uncle had planned. But, what would this story be without a little friction between friends, a touch of romance and a spark of fun. Andy and Pol are twins and sometimes who or what is right in front of you well Simon doesn’t see it at first. Not understanding at times why Pol seems upset or distant he decides to go after someone else but what happens teaches him a lesson in how girls often use one guy to get another. With his thoughts about Uncle Raymond in the forefront Simon and Aunt Lucinda take action but what is great is that they can communicate without speaking telepathically and not in the same room and even greater so can someone else. How does this all work out? Wait until you read the explosive and surprise ending that the author created.
Simon is a great character who is smart, astute, and funny at times and definitely worked well with his lawyer and the police officer that was helping him. They realized and believed his outlandish story and one realized that the rumors about his family were true. How was he going to change things and what about Aunt Mary who seemed alert one minute and off the next? Characters vividly created, a plot line that kept this reviewer glued to the printed page and completing the book in one sitting. Let’s hope the author brings Simon back again. With dialogue that was crisp, clear and direct and one aunt named Lucinda that I really loved this is one book that teens, adults and middle school kids will love to read. Let’s give this book FIVE GOLDEN HUGS !
5 stars: I didn't much like this relative who had shown up out of the ..., October 2, 2015
He pointed to a chair, but I remained standing near the doorway. His office gave off negative vibes that kept me on my guard. I didn't much like this relative who had shown up out of the blue at the high school I'd been attending back in Pennsylvania. He’d had the right credentials and looked enough like my dad to convince me he was my father's older brother. Since I'd just lost my immediate family, I had no choice but to come live with Raymond Davenport and his wife in upstate New York.
Simon Porte has lost his mother, father and younger sister. He has no family until his Uncle Raymond shows up to take him into his home and make him the son he and Aunt Mary had never had. At least that's what he thinks is the case. But after living with them for a short period of time he finds Uncle Raymond a bit strange. Even a little frightening. But what can a 15 year old do? Run away? Where to? There’s no one to take him in. And to make matters worse, he discovers he has a great-aunt named Lucinda who looks like the witch in some of the story books he and his sister Lucy used to read.
A young girl Simon taught to swim in the day camp where he works is murdered. Could someone in his 'strange' family have something to do with this girl's death?
Author Marilyn Levinson has entertained me in the past with her creative writing, but this book has to be the best yet. I sat up late at night just turning page after page. Hopefully she'll writes a sequel to this character which I can't wait to read. This is truly a 'Give me More' book.
The Butcher's Boy
- 2011 Readers Favorite Award Silver Medal Winner in Horror - Fiction
A Paranormal/Chiller by Michael Robb
Thirty-one years ago, Buxly the Butcher went to trial for killing h
