Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre Abacus, HK$104
Christopher Brookmyre is rightly praised for his blackly comic thrillers. Aimed at teenagers, his 13th novel, Pandaemonium, takes his usual mix of violence and farce and mixes in great gobs of horror. This is a novel where hell literally breaks loose. Two plots converge, not far from a wood. On a military base in the remote Scottish highlands, scientist Lucius Steinmeyer believes he has found the gates to hell. With a horde of demons ready to rampage, we meet Cardinal Tullian, to all intents and purposes a 21st-century inquisitor, who sets about the horned ones with holy water and zeal. Meanwhile, a group of children from a local religious school are on a camping trip, organised to mourn the recent death of one of their number. While the ostensible purpose is to bond through sharing, most express their grief through sex, fags and booze. In a nod to The Breakfast Club, there is a jock, a goth, a bitchy princess, a do-gooder and a bully. There are lots of good jokes. After a communal quaffing of wine: 'Liebfraumilch. Shitey German sweet wine ... with just a hint of three different shades of lipstick.' The plot is brash, enjoyable and smart - a romp for all ages.