Missing the Mark: T L Gardner’s Demon Hunter 

by Robert Butterfield

02/02/2006 

Gardner, T L. Demon Hunter. New York: Q-BORO BOOKS, 2005. 300 p.

There are few African–American writers in the horror field today. When one does rack one’s brain to come up with names, the wonderful Tananarive Due comes to mind, immediately, as do Brandon Massey and Jemiah Jefferson. T L Gardner is a new African-American voice attempting to break into the genre. With Demon Hunter, published by Q-Boro Books, he begins his series of the same name. Sadly, however, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this book to potential readers. It has quite a few serious (and possibly terminal) problems. 

Authorial intrusion is a definite problem, and it can be seen throughout the novel. To be most effective, a horror story should make the reader believe in a given ordinary scenario, and then attempt to interject supernatural elements into the story—in a plausible way. When an author does this effectively, the reader’s sense of reality is challenged, and he/she can (and should) be frightened. Gardner does not achieve this goal. The reader is constantly jolted out of any involvement in the story by lines such as, “Their hearts were ripped from their chests while it still pumped blood.” While potentially an effective image, this type of writing technique (changing the point of view) reminds the reader that he/she is reading a fictional text, and someone is telling a story. 

Demon Hunter concerns itself with the struggles endured by the main character, Elijah. After committing suicide, Elijah is resurrected by the Angel Gabriel, and he becomes a “Protector,” one endowed with supernatural power, a warrior against demonic forces on Earth. Pursued by authorities, Elijah is sent to London, where he receives weapons and guidance from a priest, and vanquishes a demon, the beastly El’Rathiem. He returns to the states and fights an ongoing array of demons, fiends, succubae, and other emissaries of evil. These include rogue FBI agents, who have become allied with The Order of the Rose, a White supremacist organization. The Order’s figurehead leader, Charles Kreicker, has been possessed by a powerful demon, Dalfien.  

Good and evil battle toward a Grand Finale, with Lucifer himself becoming involved, and Elijah coming to a realization about why he was ultimately chosen for his role. There is also a romantic subplot involving Elijah and an FBI agent, Ebonee Lane (Coincidently, she is a dead ringer for Elijah’s true former love, Taysia, the girl whose death prompted Elijah’s suicide).  

Unfortunately, a regrettable lack of consistency mars the plot. Gardner spends several pages relating—in loving detail—how the new, improved, post-resurrection Elijah incapacitates two Philadelphia police officers, along with a hospital security guard, during the course of his escape from a hospital. He snaps one policeman’s elbow and renders the other unconscious when they attempt to prevent Elijah from leaving his hospital room. Shortly thereafter, when his sister is being interrogated by Ebonee Lane as to Elijah’s whereabouts, Agent Lane states, “Actually your brother hasn’t really broken any laws.”  

Had I been able to somehow overlook that statement and continue reading with some degree of credulity, it would have been to no avail, for several pages later, this discourse regarding Elijah occurs between Dalfien, (as Kreicker), and a human disciple:  

I’ll tell you what’s so amazing about it. He took out two of Philadelphia’s finest without so much as lifting a finger. Eyewitnesses said he threw them about twenty feet.

Have your men brought him in yet?

That’s the problem. He hasn’t really broken the law. We don’t have a legitimate reason to make an arrest. 

Was there no editor available to point out to Mr. Gardner that assaulting a police officer is a crime?  Severely injuring two policemen to avoid being held at a medical facility, whether the person being detained felt it was for a valid reason or not, would have serious legal ramifications. This is the literary equivalent of the scene where the cop scratches his temple with his gun barrel in Plan Nine from Outer Space. And just to put a final nail in this particular coffin, Elijah himself reflects upon the situation:

He didn’t know why the police were after him, but they definitely were. All he had done was walk out of a hospital. He didn’t think that was breaking the law. 

The story has now been taken to fairy-tale land.         

There are, simply put, too many other examples of a lack of attention to detail in the book. Charles Kreicker (and also Dalfien) are both introduced to the reader during an Order of the Rose Ceremony involving a human sacrifice, and invocations to Satan.  Later, Elijah confronts a rogue FBI agent who serves under Kreicker. The agent tells him that the Order is comprised of “white Supremacists mostly, and a few atheists.” Elijah then angrily asks the man which of the two he is, before knocking him unconscious. My question here would be, if the members of the Order are atheists, then who would they be making the sacrifice to? In order to write in this genre, an author should at least know the difference between an Atheist and a Satanist. 

Aside from the poor plotting evident here, there are other problems. Many characters are one dimensional, cookie-cutter creations. Dialogue is at times implausible—to the point of embarrassment. At the conclusion of the aforementioned interview of Elijah’s sister Kenyatta by Ebonee Lane (the FBI agent), Ms. Lane utters these parting words: “I might be in the FBI, but I’m still a sistah. And I gotta look out for my peeps.” Can anyone buy that coming from an FBI agent? I know I can’t. 

Neither can I buy her pseudo-Nazi partner, Agent Parks (an infiltrator for the Order, of course). Elijah’s sister, Kenyatta, is also a bit much. She cannot seem to utter a sentence without using some form of the word “fuck”—although she does vary the usage between pronoun, verb, adverb, and other parts of speech.  

Finally, the romantic aspects of the story continually sink into the realm of melodrama.  

This is not to say that some readers won’t be willing to overlook the myriad discrepancies I encountered, and actually enjoy the story as a modern parable of good versus evil. I wish those readers Godspeed.    

d discrepancies I encountered, and actually enjoy the story as a modern parable of good versus evil. I wish those readers Godspeed.