Book Review of More than Evil

To be perfectly honest, this is my first written review. I do review movies with my husband on the regular in our podcast Reel Romance. So this task was a bit daunting. But I“ll do my best so bear with me as I review the book “More than Evil”“ by Bil Richardson.

More than Evil is a novel about a small town that is taken over by the forces of evil. A fun ride if a bit predictable. The main character, Harlan, is the sheriff to the county of Puritan. The name of the county itself is a kind of contrast to the events that will take place over the course of the book. The whole book is full of good vs evil parallels and evil certainly has the upper hand as well as the numbers. The book starts with a mining accident that releases a demon of sorts from a seemingly bottomless hole to the center of the earth. We find out Harlan’s ex-best friend, Andy, was in the accident and it“s especially awkward as Harlan is now dating Linda, Andy“s ex-wife.

The author does have a tendency to get a little verbose but certainly knows how to paint a scene and is particularly descriptive when it comes to blood. And there is definitely no lack of blood. Between the demon and the mutated zombie-esque creatures, the book is full of death and mayhem. It“s not for the faint of heart but personally I thought it made for an excellent slasher. None of the death or violence felt gratuitous, simply necessary because of the type of unstoppable force the main characters were up against.

Tom and Jessie are the other two main characters we follow through the winding backcountry roads of this novel. Tom is the son of Andy and Linda while Jessie is Harlan“s daughter and Tom“s girlfriend. Though I really enjoyed this novel I would say there is a lack of diversity and a noticeable lack of women. Though Jessie is a decent female lead, Linda is the quintessential damsel in distress who has very little character building. I can forgive a lot of this as most of the novel takes place over a few days and there really isn“t much time for that sort of development but I would“ve like to see a few more women that weren“t simply cannon fodder. It“s hard to tell if any of the characters are from other minority groups, as there aren“t a ton of character descriptions, but that“s probably for the better as it allows the reader to picture them however they choose and would allow a movie to pick some top quality actors for the roles.

Overall I think the novel was a fun, scary, if predictable story about good, evil, and one man’s love for his town. I would read another one but I don“t particularly think this book requires a sequel. The ending wraps up things fairly well. Bill Richardson has written a well crafted story but maybe next time we throw in a few more women who at the very least go down swinging.

I give this 3.5 stars out of 5.

Pick up your copy of More than Evil