Review of "Holiday Spirit Destroy All Monsters (Book 2)" by John DeGuire

Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)

Holiday Spirit: Destroy All Monsters picks up months after the Vermont chaos of the first book. Killington has mostly gone back to normal, but the “monster crew” has vanished and become global fugitives. Emma, Annie, and Pete head to Paris on a school trip, where they quickly realize that their old allies Dracula, Aoife, and Saul Frankenstein are being hunted as terrorists across Europe.

Across Paris and London, a whole rogues’ gallery assembles: Ralph Ellison (the Invisible Man and our personal highlight of the previous book), a tormented Henry Jekyll and his brutal alter ego Hyde, a righteous but murderous Quasimodo, a gleefully sadistic Jack the Ripper, and an evil witch building a “new crew” of monsters for an ominous plan centered on London. These villains stage spectacular atrocities: blood rain and insect swarms at Paris Fashion Week, a demon goat named Djali lighting people on fire, Kong’s public execution at a show that turns into carnage, and a bombed out Notre Dame wedding that kills clergy and shatters Saul and Lorna’s big day.

Eventually the core trio of monsters are captured and taken to Moreau’s institute, where the staff treat their supernatural identities as psychiatric delusions while running horrific experiments in the basement “House of Pain” on animal human hybrids locked in cages. Saul is prepped for a head transplant onto a gorilla body. Aoife is pumped full of oxytocin so she will go into labor on Moreau’s timetable. Dracula is used and studied as an immortal specimen, even as he quietly plots and broods about the threat to his unborn children.

While this book is a lot less dark and disturbing than the previous one, this particular part of the book is quite violent (somewhat comically so). It is a bit like the animal experiments scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.

We noticed that a lot of this book (especially the first half) actually focuses on King Kong and his persecution alongside the wider “monster problem” in Europe. Those sections almost feel like an animal-rights parable wrapped in a kaiju tragedy. Kong is chained, sedated, poked, prodded, and paraded as a freak for human amusement, all so that a bloodthirsty crowd and a cynical system can feel safer and more righteous after killing something they never bothered to understand. The big show that is meant to be his public execution turns into one of the book’s most chaotic, violent set pieces, and it drives home one of the series’ key themes: the worst cruelty often comes from the humans who insist they are civilized.

This actually makes this book a little bit of a courtroom drama which then leads into a lot of social commentary. Like the first book, the monsters are actually treated a bit like illegal immigrants and/or minorities, with people blaming them for society's ills via protests and such.

This book does a lot more to humanize the monsters. For example, Kong himself isn't just presented as a monster born to be a monster, he actually has gigantism and also scoliosis. Similarly, Quasimodo is presented as probably having a genetic condition like kyphosis rather than outright being a monster. Likewise, Dorian Gray is sickly, having a medical condition, and—as you might expect, he has a portrait which essentially keeps him alive.

In a lot of ways, this entry leans even harder into that moral inversion. The so-called monsters are the ones who show loyalty, compassion, and self-sacrifice, while many of the humans (Moreau, Jack, the witch, even Maria by the end) become the real monsters. We especially liked how Ralph Ellison remains a kind of conscience of the group, and how Saul and Lorna’s relationship gives the story a tender, almost domestic center in between all the carnage. Actually, on that note, this book is a lot more emotional and sweet than the previous book, largely because of the romantic angle. We're not sure if it'll make you shed a tear, but it is warm at times.

Aoife’s pregnancy and eventual delivery of the twins might be the emotional high point of the whole book, giving us a rare moment of genuine joy and hope in the middle of alarms, fire, and escaping experiments.

At the same time, this is a very crowded book. Between the Killington kids, the returning “monster crew,” Kong, the London villains, Maria and her family, the hybrid experiments, and the whole staff of Moreau’s institute, there are a lot of moving parts. Most of them are interesting, but the sheer number of characters and subplots can make the pacing feel a bit lopsided. The first half lingers a long time on Kong and the buildup to the various spectacles, while the second half has to juggle the institute, the House of Pain, Dracula’s fate, Maria’s breakdown, and Aoife’s birth in relatively quick succession. Readers who prefer a tighter, more focused narrative may feel a little overwhelmed.

Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (who we mentioned before) also gets a lot of attention in this book. It's similar to how Erik from The Phantom of the Opera got a lot of attention in the previous book, but sometimes seemed squeezed in. It sometimes seems like, throughout this series, the author has wanted to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the reader.

We also felt a bit of tonal whiplash at times. The series’ voice is intentionally snarky and self-aware, and a lot of the gallows humor really works. There are great one-liners and absurd images that help to keep the story from collapsing under the weight of its own brutality. But there are moments, especially around Ivy’s death and Dracula’s final scenes, when the quick cut from horror or heartbreak to a joke can feel jarring. Some readers will love that “monster movie meets edgy comic book” rhythm. Others might wish the story sat in its grief and horror a bit longer before reaching for a punchline.

Speaking of punchlines, this book is actually a lot more lighthearted and comedic than the previous book, even with the messed up stuff still happening from time to time. Characters are constantly joking, and there's a lot of self-aware humor as well. In a strange way, this book actually made us feel better than the previous book. It might not be as dramatic, tense, or suspenseful, in our opinion, but it is a solid book.

Also, this might sound a bit weird, but we loved the title (which was inspired by ignorant statements protestors made int he previous book). "Destroy All Monsters" reminded us of the Godzilla Sega Dreamcast video game. Ahh... those were simpler times.

Check it out on Amazon!