The Graveyard Shift (24/7 Demon Mart, #1) by D.M. Guay

The Graveyard Shift (24/7 Demon Mart, #1) Reviews

• 
  Eli Hornyak

  Very good read. Definitely laughed out loud. Fast paced and fun.
• 
  Frank

  THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT had a lot of heart and good intentions but it failed in execution. This is the type of story that's right up my alley, a fun monster romp that doesn't take itself too seriously. Unfortunately, I found the narrative clunky and over-repetitive. If this went through a solid editing process, it could sparkle. Instead, it falls flat for me.
  
  The premise is very good. An unsuspecting, directionless kid takes on a job at a convivence store. Thinking its just another throwaway job to keep his mom happy and bills paid, he finds the job pays ridiculously well and is chock full of corporate level perks. Of course, he's unaware of the hazards he must face every shift. Turns out, the 24/7 Demon Mart is a gate to Hell after mindnight. And the demons stop in for more than just a pack of smokes and a Red Bull.
  
  The book is loaded with fun characters. The manager is a talking cockroach. One of the regulars is a giant centipede and the doughnuts in the doughnut case are not to be eaten at any cost. There's even a magic 8-ball that doubles as a guardian angel.
  
  Everything, on paper, should make this a home run read for me. But, its the writing. Barely passable. I wanted to quit the book many, many times. But I fought through. There's a ton of potential for a great book here but it needs a lot of cleaning up.
  
  There are more books in the 24/7 Demon Mart series. I just don't see myself following through on the rest based on the rough writing in this one. I hope D.M. Guay has gotten better with time or at least get's someone to give her an honest edit. Her storytelling has got tons of potential with improvement.
• 
  Janet (iamltr)

  I dunno how to start this one. I laughed my butt off for most of this, but the main MC, Lloyd is really unlikable. I mean, he is a "My Dear" fedora dude in the flesh and I would think he spent a lot of time on certain sections of reddit, because that is how he comes across. He dropped out of college, got kicked out of his girlfriends apartment, and now lives with his parents. He also owes a lot of money to everyone. He has no job, no money, no self respect. Nothing.
  
  One day, he decided to go get a slushie with the remaining money he had only to find out that he must have lost some of the coins as he rode his bike to the store. Having already made the slushie, he was thinking of stealing it. Then some weird stuff happens and suddenly he has a job. Now mind you, he never reads the manual for the job so he was thinking that this was a normal store and that is not what he got.
  
  He literally spent the rest of the book learning things he would have already known had he read the book. Or asked questions. Or even used two brain cells.
  
  I have no idea why, but I was sucked into this audio and this new to me narrator, and I am about to start book two.
• 
  Natalie

  I saw horror comedy pop on the recs and thought I’d give it a go. Was not disappointed. It was nuts and only got crazier with each new encounter. I’m not sure if I felt sorry for Lloyd or not. He’s slowly becoming a hero and I liked how he takes down nearly every foe with food. Favourite character was Faust and just how easily he gets what he wants. The guardian angel was entertaining and the demon Caroline was just creepy. Curious about Kevin’s roommates. Looking forward to the next one.
• 
  Cujo

  1st book in a series that I already know I'm going to love and one that I hope has an extremely long life. It is filled with likeable, almost believable characters who it is very hard not to root for. Hell, I even found myself rooting for the love interests which is something I hardly ever, ever so. I must be getting soft in my old age
• 
  Mark Cain

  Crazy fun story!
  
  A wacky tale of a young man, down on his luck, who discovers his inner hero in the aisles of a convenience store. Odd characters, odder situations. Lovecraft monsters and Bruce Campbell attitude!
• 
  Chris Tullbane

  In which a hero's journey is more like an ultramarathon... and Lloyd Wallace hates cardio.
  
  This was a delightful read. Quick, imaginative, and funny, with a great cast and a ton of potential for sequels (some of which are already out, waiting for me to read them). I don't think anyone who's ever been to a 24/7 quickmart--especially after dark--would be totally shocked to find it contained a portal to hell, and D.M. leverages that central idea to great effect in introducing not just those tasked with monitoring the portal but also the wide range of creatures who come through it.
  
  The central protagonist, Lloyd, would score somewhere in the negatives on the zero-to-hero scale, but he's helpfully surrounded by a delightful cast of characters who make up for at least some of his many inadequacies. It also helps that his primary concerns (debt, failed romance, and a lack of both direction and motivation) are relatable to a lot of us. By the end of the first book, he hasn't evolved so much as recognized that maybe he needs to, and that sets a great foundation for future books in the series.
  
  Definitely a fun one! I'm excited to see where the story goes.
• 
  Nico

  Audiobook review: I stumbled upon this self-published book and I have no regrets, since I’m a big ol’ kid and I love shows like Archer, Futurama (in fact the main character reminded me of Fry) or really anything on Adult Swim. Monsters, demons, talking cockroaches, a motley crew - I’m all in. If you don’t want to read/listen to something with incessant anti-fatness as a device to represent sloth (my opinion of course) or don’t like adult cartoons, especially the crude ones, my guess is you will not enjoy this one. This was excellent as an audiobook and I wonder if that elevated the book for me, regardless I’ll be continuing on and hoping this gets turned into an adult cartoon.
• 
  Gilbert Stack

  I have a confession to make. While I read a fair number of books that are supposed to be comedic at least in part, the comedy often escapes me for most of the novel. That wasn’t the case here in The Graveyard Shift. I was laughing very early in the book and sharing the jokes with my son who would laugh uproariously at them second hand. Guay has a gift for the absurd and it really works in this first book of his 24/7 Demon Mart series.
  
  The hero (Lloyd) is a loser. It’s not nice to say, but even he recognizes it. His major problem would appear to be pure laziness coupled with a remarkable lack of even a modicum of ambition. He seems essentially happy living in his parents’ house, playing video games, and going every night to a convenience store to sample one of their 100+ varieties of slushies. Oh, and I should also mention, that he is really, really, stupid. I’m not saying he has a low IQ, just that he’s really amazingly dumb—but weirdly enough, in a totally believable way.
  
  So here’s the set up. Lloyd goes into the convenience store where he has a schoolboy crush on one of the attendants who probably doesn’t know he exists and while he’s there a demonic snake creature appears and tries to escape the store and he helps his fantasy crush stop this from happening. In addition to the snake creature, genuine magic is displayed. Keep this in mind for later.
  
  Long and the short of it is that the store owner arrives and offers our hero a job at an extraordinarily good hourly rate. Since he is in desperate debt, and it will let him be near his crush, our hero accepts. It is very clear to the reader, and in all fairness, the demon hiring Lloyd tells him, that this store is not a normal place. There are genuine threats to life and limb here. There are demons involved. But Lloyd immediately zones out on the training video and never does get around to reading his employee handbook which tells him how to survive these dangers. He also has a really hard time accepting that the supernatural is in play in this store. All of which produces hilarious situation after hilarious situation. It’s as if he just can’t process magic and the supernatural even when he keeps seeing it.
  
  The author also manages to show Lloyd growing as a person without having him overcome the qualities that have made him basically unsuccessful so far in life. So it’s sweet when his mother’s sheer joy that he has gotten a job keeps him from quitting. And it’s also nice to see him starting to want the things that other adults around him desire. Oh, and I should mention that even though Lloyd thinks he is a coward, he’s actually intensely brave and steps up when he has to. And again, credit to the author, this is done in a very believable way.
  
  So, to sum up this review, I really enjoyed this book and am seriously looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
  
  If you liked this review, you can find more at
  www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
  
• 
  Disgruntled Book Dragon

  WOW!
  
  I LOVED this book! There's a loser dude named Lloyd who can't hold on to a job, a ninja co-worker named DeeDee, and a moody talking cockroach named Kevin... And that's just the employees. What could be better? Oh yea! Throw in some magic, a one-eyed monster, and sketchy (yet delicious looking) doughnuts and you have a fun and interesting first story in the series.
  
  Kevin and DeeDee work at the 24 Hour Demon Mart guarding a gate to where else; HELL. One night in the middle of protecting the humans of the world from a one-eyed monster, in strolls Lloyd... From that moment on hilarity and heroism ensues. With these three guarding the gate, what could possibly go wrong? They might even save the world a time or two... If Lloyd would just read his damn employee manual.
  
  
• 
  Andrew Shaffer

  The action and world-building is campy and fun. The main character is an irritating loser with zero redeeming qualities, though, which is a drag—I’d like to see him grow as a character in subsequent books, or see this world through a different character’s eyes. A writer to watch if you like Christopher Moore and Douglas Adams.
• 
  Scott Burtness

  Metal!
  
  Fantastic world, crazy fun characters, bonkers monsters, wickedly funny story… This was a hell (ha pun intended) of a good start to what’s likely to be a damned (ha pun intended) enjoyable series. Must-read for fans of horror-comedy.
• 
  JESSICA M

  Love this humor. Fun read. Looking forward to more of these.
• 
  John

  What could happen guarding the gates of Hell?
  
  This book is outrageously funny. It will make you smile, snort,roll your eyes and laugh out loud. The story is told in the 1st person,and the great humour is in the main character's (Lloyd) mental dialogue throughout the story. The monsters are extreme in character and description.
  The storyline includes the development of Lloyd's meaning in life, beginning of a romance and the fight between good and evil. I'm not going to give a run-down of the story, because the blurb says enough and you really should read it yourself.
  Recommended read.
• 
  Bunny Cakes

  A wonderful parody
  
  A wonderful parody of every awful male character I can think of. The story was put together quite well and I look forward to the next book!
• 
  Jennifer

  Super cute (at times) but always funny! Will definitely continue the series. I'd totally work at a demon mart if it paid off all my debt! Sign me up! Lol. Listening on Audible.
• 
  Steve

  Totally enjoyable, funny book. Great premise: 24-hour convenience store doubles as inter-dimensional portal for demons, staffed by crazy characters working the overnight shift for bonus hazard pay. What’s not to like? Looking forward to the next book in the series.
• 
  Miguelular

  Loved it, read before I joined Goodreads. I await each new book with the greedy anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve.
• 
  Matt

  A fun, light-hearted horrorfest
  
  This seriously needs to be picked up as a series on Netflix. Horror comedy on par with Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, etc. Funny, spooky but with a solid heart that will leave you wanting more. Filled with fun characters, and out of this world action that is one part gross, one part cosmic horror, and one part hilarious.
  
  I've been struggling to find something read and honestly I don't know why I bought this. Fate? Who knows, but I read the sample, didn't skip a beat and purchased the book. Halfway through I bought the Chirstmas tale and the sequel. It's that good, you won't regret it. And DM, stick around please, I will need lots of these, so keep writing.
• 
  Megan Rose

  This book is funny as Hell!!!
  Right out of the gate this book got me hooked. I like Lloyd's obsession with slushies, video game choices, and his attention to detail like a roach with a name tag reading Kevin. Lloyd is snarky, comical, and awkward. Lloys meets "Mr. Impossibly Handsome" (Asmodius Faust keeper of the gate) afraid he is going down for the great slushie theft. Mr. Impossibly handsome calls him out on all his crap and Lloyd realizes how big of a dumpster fire his life is and gets offered a job.
  
  Welcome Lloyd Lamb Wallace to the 24/7 Demon Mart. You're life is about to get crazy interesting.
  
  I loved everything about this book. The characters are great! The book is insanely funny. The pace is immediately set and consistent. I couldn't put this book down.
• 
  Ben Stoddard

  This was a really fun read. It felt like the novel equivalent of a Bruce Campbell movie. Campy, but in a good way.
  
  Excellent pacing and a solid resolution at the end that was both satisfying and tied everything up in the end.
  
  The characters were fun and likeable. I look forward to seeing them in the next book and the antics they will get up to there!
• 
  Brenda Hudson

  I wanted to like this. It had everything I normally like in a book, humor, monsters, good concept, but the protagonist’s inner and outer dialogue irritated me. No one is that stupid or clueless. Even with things spelled out he never learned. Really disappointed because was looking forward to reading the series. Unfortunately don’t know if I can attempt the next book.
• 
  Katherine R

  We didn't finish this book. The main character is so stupid or the author didn't edit enough because the number of times he freaks out or goes over the same details got to the point of exasperation before we'd hit 30% of the book. Also, main character is a self-proclaimed loser and it was hard to listen to all the ways in which he was NOT improving.
• 
  Steve

  Not poorly written, but I just couldn't finish it. MC is too much of a whiny loser, and the humour just didn't do it for me.
• 
  Kathy

  1.5 stars. Don't compare something to Christopher Moore unless it's amazing. This was a fun monster book but the main character's willful laziness wore me out.
• 
  Andrew Rowe

  Preamble
  
  I had been meaning to read 24/7 Demon Mart for several months now. For one reason or another it kept getting pushed down my list. Whilst playing some of the wacky horror comedy Dead Rising 2, I took another look at the Lucifer-looking MFer on the cover and decided that it was time. And boy was I glad I took said time.
  
  A note about my reviews: I consider myself an appreciator, not a critic. I know first-hand what goes into the creation of art – the blood, the sweat, the tears, the risk. I also know that art appreciation is subjective and lernt good what mama tell’t me – if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I’m not a school marm grading a spelling test – I’m a reader who enjoys reading. If a book is entertaining, well-written, and I get absorbed into it, five out of five. I have gone as low as three stars – anything less than that and I will not review a book (chances are I DNFed anyway). Regardless, I wouldn’t even put a star rating system on my reviews but for the reality of storefronts like Amazon.
  
  Take from that what you will.
  
  Review – 5/5
  
  There’s this meme that’s been floating around the ‘net for a while, called ‘Men Writing Women.’ I think there’s a subreddit for it. It’s a pile-on wherein alleged chauvinists, swinish types, sex-starved dehumanizers and what-not get publicly shamed and excoriated for their inability to write women in a way that is not gratuitous and perverse, however one defines that. I pondered this as I read D.M. Guay’s 24/7 Demon Mart, though the notion would have to be reversed, as this was a woman writing a man.
  
  But in this case, it features first-person mental décor that at times seems like it was placed there by a valley girl with ADHD. Having identified with the main character a little too deeply based on my past experience, I smirked at the sheer… femininity of some of it.
  
  D.M. Guay’s 24/7 Demon Mart is the story of a young ineffectual man on the cusp of personal disaster, having failed in most of what I would call the ‘normie benchmarks of success.’ His name is Lloyd, for one, which is up there with Melvin and Eugene in terms of trope-y nerd names. Hell, they even called the unassuming nerd Eugene in The Walking Dead, so naming a guy Lloyd in a horror comedy paints the scene for what’s to come: kicking demon ass in what seems to be a fictionalized version of the itself fictional Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart. But we need a raison d’etre, an inciting event for Lloyd’s participation in the macabre demonic blood bath… and we find it in the almighty dollar.
  
  Yes, Lloyd is a (Jim Carrey voice) lu-hu-zuh-her, at least on paper. He can’t hold a job, he flunked out of community college, is living in Mom’s basement, and he owes several thousand dollars in debt. Given that he is unemployed, the situation is untenable – he needs to repay what he owes. Somehow, he wanders into said riff on the Kwik-E-Mart: the 24/7 Dairy Mart. At least, it’s the Dairy Mart for a little while, and then it becomes the 24/7 Demon Mart once Lloyd gets sucked in by the fell magics that protect the place and joins the night shift crew.
  
  The story is ridiculous and fun. It involves Faustian bargains with a demon named… Faust, a fun relationship with Lloyd’s dream girl who becomes his partner in crime (a bad-ass B named Dee-Dee), a fellow cockroach employee who loves Dio, a 90s wrestling-loving insectile demon who also happens to be a sweetie, a Chef with a decaying secret, among other hilarious characters and scenarios that play out as Lloyd starts earning mad scrilla from his extremely dangerous job.
  
  See, here’s the rub: Lloyd has to protect a rift to Hell (only allowing the ‘right’ demons through the beer cooler in back) and he gets paid well beyond the minimum wage for his work. A natural coward, as he begins to realize the danger of his job, Lloyd keeps trying to talk himself into quitting. He also forgets to check his prejudice against demons at the door, as there is more to Heaven and Hell than what literalist interpretations might have you believe.
  
  It doesn’t stop him from dressing up like a corny version of a dutiful Protestant boy in an effort to ‘be good’ at one point.
  
  I enjoyed the discussion of free will and destiny and all of that good philosophical stuff that makes my personal clock tick, but it was a light dusting on top of a pink-frosted donut that happens to bear significant eldritch power (also a plot device). This story is pure ridiculous fun, and it also has some heart and made me smile and laugh throughout. D.M. Guay created something really special with this one, and you can tell by its reception in the community that I’m not the only one who thinks it’s better than a pair of Twinkies and a Big Gulp.
  
  If you have an appetite for the fantastic and ridiculous, look no further than 24/7 Demon Mart.
• 
  Karen Tankersley

  This is a horror comedy, in case the cover wasn't a dead giveaway 😅. The main character, Lloyd, is an unemployed slacker living in his parent's basement who spends his days playing video games. One night he goes to the 24/7 Dairy Mart to buy a slushie and pine after the glamorous DeeDee who works there. But life has other plans, and Lloyd finds himself fighting off a monster with a plastic slushie straw.
  
  With a little luck, Lloyd prevails, and is offered a job. Believing the monster attack to be a hallucination brought on by low-quality marijuana, and also hoping to spend more time with DeeDee, Lloyd accepts the job.
  
  I fished out the name tag. My fingers tingled. The neon sign above me popped and hissed. I looked up. The curlicue neon letters no longer spelled out 24/7 Dairy Mart in cheerful blue, yellow, and pink. The letters glowed blood red. They now read 24/7 Demon Mart.
  
  Lloyd eventually realizes that it was no hallucination. The 24/7 Dairy Mart is a portal to hell, and he is now a guardian of that portal. And it's hilarious. There are magic donuts which are NOT to be eaten; a talking cockroach who is Lloyd's new manager; and Lloyd's guardian angel who appears as a sarcastic Magic 8-Ball (hey, he's working from home, alright?!)
  
  Who are you? "I'm your guardian angel." Are you kidding me? "Sadly, no. I've been assigned to help you through your (failing) transition to adulthood. From the looks of you, we'll be together for a long time. Seriously, where do you even buy a shirt that ugly? We're gonna have to go shopping if I'm gonna be seen in public with you." This had to be a joke. What kind of angel hung out in a Magic 8-Ball?
  
  Anyway, I enjoyed this book. Lloyd was a lovable, relatable character that was easy to root for. His internal monologues are the best 😅. It's silly and fun. I'm planning on reading more of the series at some point when I need something lighthearted.