In He’s the Devil, Tobi Coventry offers a brash, unapologetic work of queer horror that delivers precisely what its schlocky, Stephen King-esque cover promises. The novel centres on Simon, a self-consciously ‘good’ man: employee of the month at his upmarket restaurant job, neurotically tidy, eager to please and careful to keep his darker impulses tightly contained. His meticulously managed life begins to unravel when his only friend, Josh, moves out of their shared flat and is replaced by Massimo, a new roommate who arrives carrying something far more troubling than excess luggage.

Almost immediately, the domestic space becomes unstable. Strange noises emanate from Massimo’s room and the flat begins to smell like damp earth and spoiled meat. Simon’s nights are invaded by dreams that are at once disturbing and erotic, while, elsewhere in the city, a series of murders unfolds that sees