Angel Trouble (24/7 Demon Mart #3) by D.M. Guay

Angel Trouble (24/7 Demon Mart #3) Reviews

• 
  Richard Martin

  Angel Trouble is book three in the horror-comedy series, 24/7 Demon Mart (book five if you include the tie-in novellas ‘Hell for the Holidays’ and ‘Creature of the Poo Lagoon’) by author D.M. Guay. The series tells the tale of lowly convenience store worker Lloyd Wallace who finds his new job at Dairy Mart also entails occasionally saving the world from demons and all other manner of hellish creatures. Joined by a motley crew of co-workers, including a suave demon and a talking cockroach, Lloyd tries to get through his shifts without causing too many world-threatening apocalypses along the way.
  
  ‘Angel Trouble’ introduces a new character in the form of a grim reaper called Zackumzaphielhermesiappotholonian (don’t worry, you can call him Zack for short), who takes a shine to poor Lloyd, but leaves a trail of bodies in his wake wherever he goes. Soon the Dairy Mart is overrun with ghosts, and with nobody to guide them over to the afterlife, Larry must find his inner-hero and once again save the day with the help of his unrequited crush DeeDee and belligerent boss Kevin.
  
  Horror comedy is a tough nut to crack and I can count on one hand the number of authors who have tried their hand and done it well (I’m looking at you, Jeff Strand). ‘Angel Trouble’ succeeds by leaning much further toward the ‘comedy’ in ‘horror comedy’, using the supernatural as a springboard to tell outlandish and funny tales. It’s all very light and fun. For all the implied peril, no character ever really feels in any danger, as the rules at play in this supernatural world offer all kinds of convenient get-out-of-jail-free cards. It makes the book unpredictable in a fun way and helps to keep the tone light and enjoyable.
  
  The premise (average Joe in over their head when employed by a company with lots of supernatural shenanigans afoot) reminded me a great deal of the hapless Paul Carpenter from Tom Holt’s fantastic ‘Portable Door’ series, although ‘Angel Trouble’ reads more like Christopher Moore or A Lee. Martinez, with 100% more sex, swearing and heavy metal.
  
  The book's humour largely comes from how out of his depth Lloyd is. He is constantly finding himself in situations where he has no idea how to act and he is a great lead, in that he is our window into an otherwise manic and crazy world where anything can (and does) happen. There isn’t much in the way of story when it comes to ‘Angel Trouble’, more of a series of unfortunate events that culminate in a life lesson for Lloyd, leaving him a changed character by the books end (although hopefully not too changed, otherwise book four may be a bit dull)!
  
  An enjoyable entry in a fun series, ‘Angel Trouble’ is heavy on comedy and light on horror, but you can’t help but get swept along in the fun. It’s pure, unashamed entertainment and easy reading for when you want a book that’s engaging and more than a little bit silly. Consider me a new fan.
  
  
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• 
  Janet (iamltr)

  Audiobook Review
  
  This series got to me. Not gonna lie. I started this not liking Lloyd and then slowly but surely, like what he is doing in the story, he grew on me.
  
  In this one, he is trying to better himself. That is what starts the whole shebang and clusterfreak this time. In here we have ghosts, reapers, werewolves, vamps, strippers, and a ghost child who is looking for her unicorn. All topped by someone out to bring down Zach - the saddest reaper who ever reaped.
  
  Zach decides that Lloyd is his best friend and follows him around everywhere. This is a problem cause Zach is a grim reaper and no one wants one around.
  
  This time however, Lloyd was able to be the hero of his own story and brought down the bad guy in this episode, as he finally started paying attention to his manual.
  
  Then to find out who the guardian angel really was made me gasp.
  
  I am really enjoying this series and it would not be the same without the narration of Todd Haberkorn.
• 
  Gilbert Stack

  After almost getting eaten by zombies in book 2, Lloyd is finally ready to stop messing around and get his body into shape. Unfortunately for him, the bizarre problems that are a daily occurrence at the Demon Mart do not plan to wait for him to get ready for them. This time, the trouble centers upon The Grim Reaper (actually, he's only A Grim Reaper) who has been laid off from his job while the other angels investigate some rather nasty accusations against him. To make matters worse, The Grim Reaper's girlfriend of a mere 5000 years has broken up with him and so he's doubly heartbroken and has come to the rather strange idea that Lloyd (whom he has just met) is his best friend in the whole world. He then goes about accidentally destroying Lloyd's life, screwing up his company-paid-for gym membership and getting Lloyd put on review and in danger of losing his job. Oh, and the Grim Reaper is also apparently accidentally killing lots of people he runs into.
  
  Now the reader is pretty sure from moment one that all is not what it seems, but the cast of our Demon Mart epics can be forgiven for not catching on too quickly. After all, Lloyd has a demon personally interested in wrecking his life and all the spirits the Grim Reaper is creating have come to the Demon Mart to haunt everyone (including one of our beloved main cast heroes.)
  
  Lloyd has to really step up and become the principal hero (as opposed to the sidekick) this time. He has to be better than you ever believed he could be or he, Kevin, and DeeDee are going to be seriously dead for all eternity. I was, quite frankly, shocked at how far D.M. Guay took this and I was incredibly pleased how she maneuvered Lloyd into tackling these problems without fundamentally changing who he is.
  
  Now if all of that isn't enough, I cannot close this review without mentioning Lloyd's employee manual. He has been avoiding reading it for two books now and it appears to be very angry at him over his neglect. Now that he needs it, the manual wants nothing to do with him. If you thought it was getting odd and scary in the last book, you ain't seen nothing yet.
  
  This is hands down the best book of a great series. Here's to hoping the next book is just about ready for publication.
  
  If you liked this review, you can find more at
  www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
  
• 
  Natalie

  I’m reading this one for Lloyd’s relationship with his employee manual. The gym made me laugh. I felt sorry for Zack but after the last one, sabotage/curse was the obvious answer. I didn’t see the angel revelation coming, so that was interesting. Poor Kevin, finally had a chance to move on. Morty went a bit too far, literally the pop up pervert now. Looking forward to seeing how death affects Lloyd.
• 
  Auntie Raye-Raye

  This might be better read than listened. Zack the Reaper is a weepy sad sack for most of his appearances. It was grating to listen to.
• 
  Ziggy Nixon

  4+++ fun-filled stars! Hanging out with the... sorry A ... grim reaper hasn't been this much fun since the days of flying around on a giant space turtle with four galactic elephants on her back!
  
  D.M.Guay brings back the Demon Mart team for another wacky (albeit condensed) adventure. Hard to believe that a great deal of the Midwest if not the world depends on the efforts of this wise-cracking crew. And as usual, we're thrust into a situation within the first few paragraphs that we just aren't sure we can recover from, dangling participles or not. And while you may eventually guess who the real bad guy is in all this, you will NOT see some of the rest of the big reveals heading your way until they land! No pun or several puns intended, I'm not sure which.
  
  The strength of 'Angel Trouble' lies in not only the usual shenanigans but also Guay taking a big step forward in terms of spreading the story out over more players and a few more locations as well. If you're like me, well, a hell-like rendition of a gym filled with sweaty buff people (???) is definitely the stuff of nightmares and she handles these scenes with brisk horror and carnage! But even more impressive was that the crazy conglomerate of characters in this book reminded me of the wackiness found in what I think is the best of all the 'Demon Mart' stories, namely, the 'Hell for the Holidays' novella. That hilarious look at the hellscape that is late December not only features about as wide an assortment of loonies as you'll find but also takes place NOT in the confines of our 24/7 Quik-E (with a nod to Morty) Mart but instead mostly Lloyd's family home. But make no mistake: these books are NOT intended as bed-time stories for the kiddies!
  
  Also, in "Angel Trouble"Guay's gut-punch pop culture references were dialed right in to my own AM/FM receivers, even if I am closer to 60 than 50 (that's an age not weight reference). It all makes me feel that Lloyd is less of the loser he might portend (sic) to be and more of an older soul trying to find his way while being stuck in a younger dude's body, even if said body takes way too much abuse (and that poor bike). Needless to say, watching his growth and seeing him get nearer to what is no doubt his ultimate destiny is fun stuff! [Oh and for the record, I truly believe that KISS recording 'Beth' as the B-side to 'Detroit Rock City' is what started the dramatic downturn in that city's fortunes as well as the US Auto Industry (all caps). Yes, it's nothing less than a chanted curse and should be ex-/excorc-ized from our collective consciousnesseseses... (I never know how to stop spelling that word)...]
  
  Anywho, my main point is the whole 'fun stuff' reference, which is how I would describe not only this third installment but also the first two full-length Demon Mart books which I enjoyed AGAIN before diving into this one (you also need to include the novellas in your reading list... and this is coming from someone that usually spurns any book that doesn't reach novel length status!!!)! Hey, if you find that you can't wait for the new one to come out barely 2 weekdays after the last release (is that true, because one of those was a holiday?), well, something must be going right! See you soon (I hope)!
• 
  Panda

  Book three of "Help! I'm a sloppy Joe working in demon 7/11!"
  
  In this entry a few new side characters get introduced. Most notable is Zack... the unemployed grim reaper.
  
  Well, not so much unemployed as suspended currently so he laches on to our MC. This wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a trail of bodies left behind where ever he went.
  
  Because the rules in this world are nonsense you have no idea where this is going. The focus is on the comedy.
  
  Unfortunately this brings the book down compared to the previous two installment. There is a lack of internal consistency and quite a few jokes are recycled and run to the ground by this point making the characters seem more like broken records that refuse to interact with the world around.
  
  It also comes off as mean spirited at times. In the previous two book the MC was a man baby with most of his problems being self inflicted. He was an annoying character but in context it was working and you don't dislike him, not really anyway. Here however his personality disappears giving him a more Blanky Mc Blank Blank character that other characters are quick to hate on. The way they interact is illogical and unnatural.
  
  For that I am removing one star. It's not a bad book but the humor isn't as good with quite a few misses sadly.
• 
  Andrew Rowe

  Preamble
  
  D.M. Guay’s 24/7 Demon Mart is the best series I’ve read in a long time. I’ve spent a lot of time with horror comedy over the years, but there is a poignancy to the ridiculousness of these books that well-done comedy is all about. It’s easy to write off something like a comedy about a clueless slob in way over his head with the supernatural as light fluff, but there is quite a bit of philosophy written into the story, like most great works of mythology. Monster Burger, the second in the series, was more laugh out loud funny than this but this book really cemented D.M. Guay as a damn fine writer in my book.
  
  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. It’s either five stars or nothing these days – if I don’t like it, no review. 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
  
  If you’re three books deep into the 24/7 Demon Mart series, chances are you’re sold on the entire series. That’s me, in a nutshell. I bought paperbacks of all of the main entries, including the recently released (Re)Possessed (24/7 Demon Mart #4). D.M. Guay is pretty much guaranteed I’ll be getting everything she writes at this point.
  
  OK, enough fanboy gushing. Each of the books seems to have a thematic thing going on, and Angel Trouble is no different. This time personal responsibility and the price of jealousy are a couple of the foci. Well, to be fair, personal responsibility features heavily in all of them, since Lloyd is a growing manchild who is finally getting his act together. The whole jealousy thing: well, I don’t really want to talk about it since it might spoil the plot a mite, but Guay tackles the subject well.
  
  Then there is what I see as the main focus: death. From my experience, death and birth are linked. Interconnected, even, or two sides of the same coin. The themes of death and resurrection feature prominently throughout all kinds of mythological traditions, be they Christian, Hindu, Norse, Egyptian. There is a reason for that, and you don’t need to be an expert in symbology or have read Carl Jung cover to cover or even… gasp… have lived through a metaphorical death and rebirth and come to understand that life itself has a mythological dimension.
  
  It's no secret that this book is about death. Just look at the cover and you’ll see a cutesy grim reaper staring back at you. Guay’s secrets seem to be woven into the fabric of the text, sandwiched between the lines and soaking into your being through metaphor. The truth is, Guay might ostensibly write comedy books, but I think she’s one of those rare writers who are dispensing the mythology of the age. Joseph Campbell said that the eternal aspects of mythology are indeed timeless – it’s the reason we can still glean hints about our own existence through stories and myths from eons past. The parts that are caught in time, though, are definitely of a modern bent.
  It's no surprise: Lloyd is a dude working at a demonic 7/11, cleaning up supernatural messes and doing his pathetic best which seems to be just enough. As his demonic boss Faust often says, he has a lot of heart, and heart is what the whole life game is all about. Lloyd holds on tightly to the calling of his heart, never faltering in his attempts to do the right thing, even if he messes up royally over and over again and must face the maw of the dragon as he grows through his pain. It’s this lesson, reinforced time and again in so many ways and so many stories, that really makes these stories impactful.
  
  I’ll be frank: this book had a huge impact on me. You can’t really express some of the things that go on in our own experience of reality. There is plenty that is beyond words, stuff that we can only talk about through metaphor and suggestion. There’s no guarantee that it will impact anyone else as deeply as it has me, but Angel Trouble certainly has certainly lived up to its name in my little neck of existence.
  
  Plus, it’s easy to read and funny to boot.
• 
  James Jones

  Badass, as always!
  
  Besides being very glad she is in remission (I am as well...It's a great place to be) I'm extraordinarily glad that the books keep flowing. Although I do wish she wrote a bit faster, what can I say? I love me some Demon mart. I just do.
  This one was the best so far, imho. It drug me in, clamped cold bony fingers in my collar, and refused to let go until the whole gang was safe again. whew...what a ride! I loved it, and if you're weird and twisted enough, you will too. These books appeal to a wide range of weirdos. I, for instance, am a former fighter pilot/ex cop /retired airline captain in my mid 50's. You just never know. If you've ever wondered about those oddball convenience stores with the creepy vibe and the strange employees,and thought to yourself "I'll bet they're hiding a gate to hell in here somewhere"...this book is for you. Enjoy!
• 
  Damien Casey

  Another 24/7 Demon Mart book(5!) and another few hours spent laughing at Lloyd. If I have learned one thing from this book it’s to never NEVER take a Girl Scouts unicorn. I don’t know how to do it, or where they even get a unicorn but let’s just keep it cozy and not find out. As per usual the characters in this book have great one liners, funny quips, and sometimes some deep stuff to say. A fair amount of time is spent on Zapps evil eye chips, which, I mean, hell yah, those chips rule ass. If you’ve liked the rest of the series as much as I have, don’t skip it, there’s a supremely bummed grim reaper, and you’d be a supremely bummed... person? If you skip this.
• 
  Justin Sylvia

  Not A Fan Of The Reapers
  
  While it should be said that I do enjoy this book series, in fact after a certain point I had to keep going to find out what happened to the Lloyd & DeeDee which meant finishing the book early this am, I did have some issues & maybe it was because of the audio versions of the books I consume them by. My first issue was how the down on his luck character (no spoilers here) cried so loudly. The other I’ll just say how, it was volume related & tone/pitch when it came to another character. However, I do look forward to listening to book 4 & others
• 
  Tessa Kinney

  I never thought I would love a cockroach
  
  These books just make me smile. Snarky without being over the top, easy but still entertaining reads, and written by an author who understands grammar and how people think. You root for our underdog Lloyd and his take no shit manager cockroach Kevin. These books are totally for the hidden comedy loving goth in all of us. Read these.
• 
  Kat

  Keeps getting better!
  
  I may have said that on the last one, but holy moley you guys. This book was GOOD. Character growth thru the roof, comedy and action all on one, sly horror movie bits... I can't wait until the next one!
• 
  Charnel Burton

  Best so far
  
  Each installment gets better and better. I was really hoping Kevin wouldn’t stay…well, you’ll have to read it and see. Angel 8 Ball might make a hero out of Lloyd yet. If he ever reads his employee manual…
• 
  Megan Rose

  So in 3 days I read all 3 books and the holidays book. Surgery resting period and let me say I am so hooked! Look out D.M. Guay I am definitely becoming a great fan. Thanks for keeping me company with all the lovely characters.
• 
  S.R.

  I have loved every single entry in this series. Each one is hysterically funny and poignant. This one especially had me in my feels by the end. Do yourself a favor and pick up this series. It's amazing!!!
• 
  Margarita Rose

  Grim
  
  The grim reaper is suspended and getting Lloyd in all kinds of trouble. One disaster after disaster. Not a moment of rest. Fun read if you like monsters, angels, demons, grim reapers and cockroaches.
• 
  L. L.

  all of the books in this series are hilarious! well written! couldn't put them down! please write more! :)
• 
  Jennifer Roth

  This series is growing on me!
  
  Wishing the author excellent health and good stamina so she can crank out more books soon! The series started off fun and just keeps getting better!
• 
  Ash

  My favorite so far🥰