'My name's Henry Dudlow. I'm fifteen and a half. And I'm cursed. Or damned. Take your pick. The reason? I see demons.'

So begins the latest thriller by horror master Dave Zeltserman. The setting is quiet Newton, Massachusetts, where nothing ever happens. Nothing, that is, until two months after Henry Dudlow's thirteenth birthday when his neighbour, Mr. Hanley, suddenly starts to look ... different. While everyone else sees a balding man with a beer belly, Henry suddenly sees a nasty, bilious, rage-filled demon.

Once Henry catches onto the real Mr. Hanley, he starts to see demons all around him, and his boring, adolescent life is transformed. There's no more time for friends or sports, or the lovely Sally Freeman—Henry must work his way through ancient texts and hunt down the demons before they kill any more innocent children. And if hunting demons is hard at any age, it's borderline impossible when your parents are on your case, and your grades are getting worse, and you can't tell anyone about your mission.