With her last two books, Walking with the Dead and The Mysterious Mummer, Toronto writer and former teacher L.M. Falcone drew on her experience writing for the pre-teen television series Are You Afraid of the Dark? to produce novels for the nine- to 13-year-old set that leaven elements of horror with over-the-top comedy. Her new book, The Devil, the Banshee and Me, tells the story of Will Trenom, who lives across the road from a mysterious cemetery. When Will is sent to borrow some eggs from the woman who lives in the cemetery cottage, he is chased away by an egg-juggling sumo wrestler and laughed at by a strange man in a tree.

And then things start to get really strange. Will is awakened by the scream of a banshee outside the cottage; he meets the man from the tree (who claims to be the Devil’s nephew); and he befriends the girl hidden in the cottage, who seems fated to die on her 13th birthday, mere days away.

Falcone does a good job of building tension and educating her readers about the world of banshees and other demons. The novel’s climactic sequences are suspenseful and fairly intense. Her dialogue is effective and lifelike, and while the characters spend most of the novel being led around by the plot, there are passages when they come to life in their own right.

Unfortunately, the novel’s humour is heavy-handed and excessive. While young readers may enjoy the slapstick elements of The Devil, the Banshee and Me, there’s just too much of it. The surreal joviality and the constant striving for punchlines detract from the novel’s power and interfere with the establishment of a meaningful theme. As a result, The Devil, the Banshee and Me will likely be a pleasant enough distraction, but probably won’t have a very lasting impact on readers.