Book Review: All the Demons Are Here

It’s 1977. Ike and Lucy, the kids of Senator Charlie and Margaret Marder, are grown up—and in trouble.

US Marine Ike has gone AWOL after a military operation gone horribly wrong. Now he's off the grid, working on the pit crew of the moody stunt master Evel Knievel and hanging in the roughest dive bar in Montana. His sister Lucy has become the star reporter of a brand-new Washington, DC tabloid breaking stories about a serial killer and falling in with the wealthy, shady British family that owns the newspaper.

As they deal with the weirdness and menace of the time—celebrities, cults, the rise of tabloid journalism, the death of Elvis Presley, the Summer of Sam, and a time of national unease—Ike and Lucy soon realize that their worlds are not only full of compromises and bad choices, but danger. As their lives begin to spiral out of control, they also spiral towards one another. And the decisions they make could mean life and death not only for them—but also their beloved parents.

All the Demons Are Here is the third thriller by Jake Tapper. Coming July 11, 2023, Little Brown and Company provided an early galley for review.

Continuing his series, Tapper gives readers a new decade and a new generation of the Marder family. The story flips back and forth between Ike and Lucy during the mid-70's, and once again weaves in real-life people and events with his fictional ones. It is a style that works for the author. If the series continues, I expect the fourth volume to take place in the 80's with more from Ike and Lucy.

Tapper does take a liberty or two with his history, just as he did with his previous two novels in the series. He does note that he made up a Led Zeppelin song for the book's title, just as he did with a song for the title of his last book The Devil May Dance. However, I caught several anachronistic errors this time - Ike citing a 1980's Uncanny X-Men annual in chapter seven which is set three years prior or Lucy hearing a Rolling Stones' song "Shattered" in chapter eight which would not have been recorded until late '77 and released as a single until '78. A true comic book and music nerd like me would have caught these two.

Still, this was a quick and enjoyable read. It is perfect for a beach read for the summer.