And Then There Were Crows

Levya’s high-energy debut, in which angels and demons haphazardly provoke the end-time, excels at humorous characterization but gets lost in the uneven pacing of its zany plot. Amanda Grey’s Craigslist ad for a roommate brings in Gaffrey Palls, who immediately tries to murder her. After she kills him in self-defense, five weird crows and a blobby, infomercial-loving demon emerge from his corpse. She’s desperate enough to rent her spare room to the demon (who pays in cash)—to the consternation of her upstairs neighbor, Barnem, an introverted seraph. Barnem holds Amanda responsible for dealing with the crow-shaped shades that have flown off to find other people to possess. Levya misuses the New York City setting: few real landmarks appear, politics and news reporting feel small-town, and a plot point centers on there being only two people named Grey in the city. Abundant blood-soaked violence quickly loses its impact, and depictions of figures such as the pope and the angel of death as everyday people get stale after the initial hit of incongruity. Readers will find many amusing moments, but the larger story sits poorly in both its personal and its world-changing frameworks. (July)