What is Carolyn Jess-Cooke reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Carolyn Jess-Cooke, author of The Boy Who Could See Demons.

Her entry begins:

Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds

This collection of poetry is about the end of a thirty-year marriage and recently received a number of prizes, and no wonder. I can’t stop reading it. Olds’ poems are raw and true – so much so that they can be hard to read. Michael Ondaatje described her work as ‘pure fire in the hands’, and he’s...[read on]

About The Boy Who Could See Demons, from the publisher:

Bestselling author Carolyn Jess-Cooke has written a brilliant novel of suspense that delves into the recesses of the human mind and soul—perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Lisa Unger. The Boy Who Could See Demons follows a child psychologist who comes up against a career-defining case—one that threatens to unravel her own painful past and jeopardizes the life of a boy who can see the impossible.

Dr. Anya Molokova, a child psychiatrist, is called in to work at MacNeice House, an adolescent mental health treatment center. There she is told to observe and assess Alex Connolly, a keenly intelligent, sensitive ten-year-old coping with his mother’s latest suicide attempt. Alex is in need of serious counseling: He has been harming himself and others, often during blackouts. At the root of his destructive behavior, Alex claims, is his imaginary “friend” Ruen, a cunning demon who urges Alex to bend to his often violent will.

But Anya has seen this kind of behavior before—with her own daughter, Poppy, who suffered from early-onset schizophrenia. Determined to help Alex out of his darkness, Anya begins to treat the child. But soon strange and alarming coincidences compel Anya to wonder: Is Alex’s condition a cruel trick of the mind? Or is Ruen not so make-believe after all? The reality, it turns out, is more terrifying than anything she has ever encountered.

A rich and deeply moving page-turner, The Boy Who Could See Demons sets out to challenge the imagination and capture the way life takes unexpected turns. In the best storytelling tradition, it leaves the reader changed.

Learn more about the book and author at Carolyn Jess-Cooke's website and blog.

Writers Read: Carolyn Jess-Cooke.

--Marshal Zeringue