The Company of Demons

Cleveland, Ohio, attorney John Coleman, the narrator of lawyer Jordan’s uneven first novel, was traumatized as a teenager by the death of his police detective father, who committed suicide after he failed to catch the serial killer known as the Butcher. A taunting letter addressed to John and signed by the Butcher, deriding his father as a laughingstock, only added to his trauma. Decades later, those demons return with a vengeance when Oyster Frederickson, a casual friend of John’s, is decapitated and eviscerated, apparently by the Butcher. John, who once had an affair with Oyster’s daughter Martha, who’s now deceased, allows himself to be seduced by Oyster’s other daughter, Jennifer, imperiling his marriage. Meanwhile, the Butcher, who may have been copying the slaughters committed by an earlier uncaught serial killer, the Torso Murderer, continues to add to his body count. Jordan does a good job making his lead’s flaws vivid and plausible, but multiple contrivances undercut the suspension of disbelief. Readers should be prepared for some graphic violence. (Jan.)