In the Devil's Name

4.2/5 ( ratings)

Some of the locals in Ballantrae still tell tales about haunted Bennane Head, the cliffs just up the coast where mythical mass murderer and cannibal Sawney Beane is said to have dwelt with his inbred family during the seventeenth century. Never walk past there at night, they say, or heaven help you. Just a ghost story to give the tourists a thrill.

Phil, Griff, Sam and Cairnsey are local boys who enjoy a smoke, a beer and the occasional tab of mind bending acid, and celebrating the end of high school with some trips and a night’s camping at Bennane Head sounds like a high old time. When their drug fuelled revelry descends into a nightmarish fight for their sanity and survival however, those who make it through the night will know that true evil never forgets unpaid debts.

"Dave Watson is the Christopher Brookmyre of horror. He brilliantly evokes the world of ordinary, drug taking young men on the cusp of adulthood and then rips it all apart. In the Devil’s Name is a funny, keenly-observed and fast-paced horror novel that will appeal to anyone who has ever been young. Dave Watson knows his genre and he’s not afraid to subvert it. Readers, on the other hand, will be very, very afraid."

Louise Welsh, author of The Cutting Room

"For a reviewer who constantly avoids going to see horror movies, I can say that this book was very chilling and yet written in a way that makes you pause to catch your breath before the next scare appears."

Michelle Herbert - Fantasy Book Review

"...the action never lets up, this quickly becomes a fast paced romp, with a huge side salad of blood guts and dismemberment."

Jim McLeod - Ginger Nuts of Horror

"This is an exceptional and accomplished debut novel. Wholly original and utterly terrifying. Blood is spilt, friendships tested beyond their limits and body parts fly whilst the story performs corkscrew twists without letting up the pace for a millisecond."

Nathan Robinson - Snakebite Horror

"Slow build-up notwithstanding, this is no “quiet horror” story. Once the first vein is opened, the blood flows in buckets. The violence inflicted by humans and supernatural beings alike is graphic, gruesome, inventive…and integral to the plot and characterization. In other words, the best kind of fictional violence."

Tracie McBride - author of Ghosts Can Bleed