Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman is a horrormance about a man who falls in love with a demon.
Horrormance is a new category that blends horror and romance. Devil Inside has more romance than I was expecting. Since the romance is with a body swapping demon, this is not a surface level romance. It is about finding a deeper love beneath the mortal coil. The horror comes from the fact that Lilith is a demon who finds this human tasty, and she is not the only one.
The love story is sinisterly sweet. Jordan has recently had a near death experience that left him feeling hollow. He occasionally sees people’s flesh melting from their faces. Lilith is cursed to live as a demon after rejecting Adam in the Garden of Eden. She has spent centuries searching for something that will make her feel again. Jordan has something special, a taste and essence she wants to experience again.
Their love starts with a one night stand that leaves them both wanting more. Lilith has to learn boundaries. She can’t keep going inside other people’s minds and bodies without asking first. Jordan has to learn how to love the demon underneath the flesh.
There is one very spicy scene that I would give two and a half tamales. It is spicy but also disturbing. I have read two disturbing and spicy scenes this year, Devil Inside and Headlights by CJ Leede. Both made me feel the spice and the disturbed.
Chapman also has a lot of fun with love song lyrics. He will sneak them into the story and I’ll find myself thinking, why did my brain just go to a George Michael song or INXS? It became a fun game trying to spot the song lyrics Chapman turns slightly creepy.
The pacing and plotting could have been better. The book reads quickly because of the short, staccato sentences, but for too long I felt like I was a floating head with nothing tangible to see, just thoughts. I have read Chapman before, and this is something he does, but some of the scenes, especially at the beginning, went on too long without giving me something to hold onto.
The A plot is the love story, and I think Chapman did a great job with it and had a lot of fun. The B plot involves the other demons, and it takes a long time for that story to become important. That is where most of the horror comes from, and Chapman can absolutely deliver horror. He may have delivered it too well because I wanted to see more of it. We only get glimpses throughout the story, and it takes until about 85% for that plot to really factor in. That was just too long for me.
The book does save itself with a great ending. The ending gives you both the feels and the chills. It knocked my rating up a half point.
Devil Inside was first published on August 11, 2026 by Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA.
Why did I read Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman?
I’m a big fan of Chapman’s. I have read four of his books so far, along with a fair amount of his short stories, and I own three more books I want to get to.
I met him at AuthorCon and had some great conversations with him about books and horror. I like both the man and the author.
I was excited to get an ARC for this book. Funny story: I actually received two ARCs for this, both eARCs, so the company did not waste too much on me. I requested one, and the publisher sent me another after I had already been approved. I read Devil Inside through Netgalley from Harlequin Trade Publishing MIRA.
The horrormance part of the book really intrigued me. Knowing Chapman’s writing, I knew he was going to have fun with this, and he did.
I read the eARC, so I don’t know how many of the song lyrics will remain in the final version. I don’t know how the rights work when he uses them as dialogue or as part of a character’s thought process, but I feel like that could possibly change. I do think Chapman needs to release a playlist with all the songs he used.
Plot Summary:
Jordan is a bike messenger who only feels free when he is racing through the streets. He gets into an accident and barely survives. Ever since then, he hasn’t felt alive. He sometimes tastes ash and sees people’s faces melting off.
One night at a club when he is feeling particularly down, he meets Lilith. They have an amazing night together, but she disappears the next morning. Neither of them can stop thinking about the other.
When Jordan finds her again, she doesn’t recognize him and goes by a different name. He eventually meets another woman who claims she is Lilith. Jordan is completely confused until Lilith explains, as only she can, that she is a demon who constantly switches bodies.
Jordan has to learn to love the person beneath the skin, while Lilith has to learn not to be afraid to show her true self and understand the importance of consent.
What I Liked:
I loved that Lilith compares invading a body to different vintages of wine, while Jordan is more like chocolate.
I also loved the clever way Chapman worked so many song lyrics into the story. I caught eight or nine, but I bet there were many more.
The love story was told well, and I loved the day at the art museum. It felt like a satire of the way love stories sometimes play out in museums, but there was so much joy in the scene that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.
The little bits of horror we do get were terrifying. The dentist scene and the first horror scene with the unhinged wife and mother were both great.
The ending was great. I loved where the story left off, and the direction Chapman took it was perfect.
What I Disliked:
I wanted to be shown more of why Hell was interested in Jordan. We didn’t get to see enough of his crazy thoughts or behavior. I needed more evidence that this character had an evil bone in his body at the beginning.
The love story was good, but I needed the other storyline to elevate it more. I felt like it eventually got there, but it happened too late. I needed to know the stakes earlier and then see them raised to the level they reach at the end.
I didn’t have enough time to process what was happening when the ending arrived. It felt like the story was playing catch up rather than everything developing organically.
Recommendation:
Devil Inside is a messed up love story that could only come from a mind like Clay McLeod Chapman’s.
I feel like the plot will appeal more to romance readers than horror readers. I would say the book is about 70% romance and 30% horror. There is enough of both that fans of either genre will have favorite scenes, and some of those favorite scenes might even be the same ones.
For fans of spicy scenes, there is one, but Chapman adds some seriously disturbing body horror to it.
The story reminded me a little of Supernatural Season 4 when Sam dates a demon for an arc. This story is much more interested in love than lust.
This book was a little mixed for me, but I will still lightly recommend Devil Inside. I like Chapman and his writing. Of the four books I’ve read from him, every story has been different, and I really appreciate that as a reader.
Rating:
Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman
3.5 out of 5
Ranking:
- 1. Ghost Eaters
- 2. Shiny Happy People
- 3. Bodies of Work
- 4. Devil Inside
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