Evil in Me

Brom is one of my favorite horror authors, in part because his stories are just that good, but also because I love that he writes horror with heart. Evil in Me is no different, and it’s also an exploration of emotional turmoil.

Even before her possession, Ruby felt out of control of her own life. Beel, the demon possessing Ruby, is only doing so because he’s controlled by a more powerful demon. Control is an extremely prevalent theme as even side characters have suffered due to circumstances beyond their control, or circumstances they believe to be beyond their control. It’s easy to relate to Ruby as she struggles not just in the fight for her soul, but the fight for her power, the control she lost long before the ring found its way into her life.

As always, Brom created a fun cast of characters for Evil in Me. I loved Vuto (I actually don’t know how his name is spelled because I listened to the audiobook), as I expect most people will (I’m serious – I expect you to like him and if you don’t, we can’t be friends), and everyone needs a friend like Tina. The book has major “roadtrip with a punk rock band of weirdos” vibes, which makes it really fun for a horror novel. There were high stakes, but aside from one scene, I didn’t feel particularly tense. This one definitely had more of a fun, lighthearted feel.

The narration of the audiobook was honestly amazing. Stephanie Németh-Parker voiced most of it and I loved how she laughed, scoffed, sang, etc. along with Ruby, instead of just telling us Ruby was doing it. I’ve never listened to an audiobook with a narrator that consistently added those types of emotions into their narration. Shahjehan Khan also did a great job with Richard’s narration. You can really hear Richard’s confidence in the beginning and how the events of the book affect him in his voice. But the narration itself isn’t the only thing to rave about because there is MUSIC. Ruby has to write a song and when she performs it, an actual band, The Maxines, performs it on the audiobook. It is the bee’s knees, as Richard would say. I love audiobooks that include more than just a simple reading of the book, so this one really checked off a lot of boxes for me.

The print version of Evil in Me has nearly two dozen illustrations and I’ve seen enough of of them (and Brom’s art in general) to know they are not to be missed, so I recommend listening while reading if possible for an immersive experience with both music and illustrations. Best of both worlds!

Thanks very much to both NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, from whom I received an ALC of Evil in Me.

Brom is one of my favorite horror authors, in part because his stories are just that good, but also because I love that he writes horror with heart. Evil in Me is no different, and it’s also an exploration of emotional turmoil.

Even before her possession, Ruby felt out of control of her own life. Beel, the demon possessing Ruby, is only doing so because he’s controlled by a more powerful demon. Control is an extremely prevalent theme as even side characters have suffered due to circumstances beyond their control, or circumstances they believe to be beyond their control. It’s easy to relate to Ruby as she struggles not just in the fight for her soul, but the fight for her power, the control she lost long before the ring found its way into her life.

As always, Brom created a fun cast of characters for Evil in Me. I loved Vutto, as I expect most people will (I’m serious – I expect you to like him and if you don’t, we can’t be friends), and everyone needs a friend like Tina. The book has major “roadtrip with a punk rock band of weirdos” vibes, which makes it really fun for a horror novel. There were high stakes, but aside from one scene, I didn’t feel particularly tense. This one definitely had more of a fun, lighthearted feel.

The narration of the audiobook was honestly amazing. Stephanie Németh-Parker voiced most of it and I loved how she laughed, scoffed, sang, etc. along with Ruby, instead of just telling us Ruby was doing it. I’ve never listened to an audiobook with a narrator that consistently added those types of emotions into their narration. Shahjehan Khan also did a great job with Richard’s narration. You can really hear Richard’s confidence in the beginning and how the events of the book affect him in his voice. But the narration itself isn’t the only thing to rave about because there is MUSIC. Ruby has to write a song and when she performs it, an actual band, The Maxines, performs it on the audiobook. It is the bee’s knees, as Richard would say. I love audiobooks that include more than just a simple reading of the book, so this one really checked off a lot of boxes for me.

The print version of Evil in Me has nearly two dozen illustrations and I’ve seen enough of of them (and Brom’s art in general) to know they are not to be missed, so I recommend listening while reading if possible for an immersive experience with both music and illustrations. Best of both worlds!

Thanks very much to both NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, from whom I received an ALC of Evil in Me.