Ah, those pesky succubi, eh? Sexy demon monsters seducing hapless fools. It’s a story that’s been told since stories have been told, I think. We’ve all heard about them, whether it be the seductive succubus or the psexy psiren; tales of men thinking with their weeners have been around forever.
But Nightbird by David Busboon doesn’t fall into similar tropes of this myth (or legend?). This succubus story is more of a coming of age tale set in the modern era. And is frightfully good.
Isaac sees the most beautiful girl of his life and his simply dumbfounded by her deliciousness. He’s instantly besotted with her. And before he knows what’s going on she is inviting him over to her place. Is he dreaming? He can’t be as even his imagination couldn’t make up this girl’s perfection. It’s all a bit too good to be true, but Isaac doesn’t think about any of this. She’s hot, remember?
So Isaac travels to the seductress’ home; a weird place in the woods inhabited by lots of odd people. It’s a little off-putting for him but he’s here for one thing and one thing only. We know something’s not right with her, her name’s Lilith for a start, erm, alarm bells??!! Her whole demeanour is certainly a little ‘other-worldly’ but Isaac puts this aside because, well, he wants to get laid.
When he awakes the next morning he sees his conquest in her true form lying next to him in bed. The view is not exactly the one he had last night. Her bird-like and frightening demon form is creepy as hell. And Isaac agrees. He wants nothing more to do with her.
He moves on in his life and meets a girl, but she has her own personal troubles. Isaac has kind of forgotten about Lilith, but there’s something deep in his mind that will never let him forget her completely.
The urge to see her again rages inside, almost taking control of him. He can resist no longer. Summoning a demon is never a good thing to do, and when you make a pact with such an evil being, things are unlikely to go well for you.
I really enjoyed this quick-fire novella, the constant threat of Isaac’s weakness for Lilith really kept me gripped. ‘Be strong, Isaac,’ was my mantra. You have to read this yourself to really appreciate how tight her hold on him is, such is the tense mood created. We just know he’s going to succumb to the succubus and are with him all the way on his perilous journey.
Just try and resist picking up a copy, I bet you can’t!
Categories: book review
MORGAN K TANNER, Writer of Horror 
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