Brom

2.7 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Devil wants me in his belly like a wiggle worm.

Evil in Me started off on a fast chaotic note, Adam is trying to fight the voice in his head telling him to kill. He's powerless as he watches himself burn down a synagogue and stab the Rabbi and his wife to death. Readers are let in that it's a ring that has clamped itself onto Adam's finger and is feeding him these urges. As Adam hacks off his fingers trying to get the ring off, it just keeps spider crawling back onto another one until Adam takes his own life. The story then jumps from 1951 Brooklyn to 1985 Enterprise, Alabama and twenty-three year old Ruby.

“I am Lord Sheelbeth...your savior, your master.” The flames flared as she spoke.

One of my favorite parts of this story was how the author took the time to develop the supernatural background. Taking from religious mythology and giving it some spin, Brom gives us the ring's story. It's from a time when gods ruled and Lord Sheelbeth was in her heyday, until the Baalei Shem cut the ring off Sheelbeth's finger, cut out her eye, tied her to the ring, and imprisoned her in a hell. While Sheelbeth can weave urging magic into songs sang by the souls she has taken throughout her life, that are manifested as worms in her belly, she can't force anyone to act on these urges. This is done by Beel, a shedim (one of god's unfinished souls), who Sheelbeth had previously imprisoned and can possess the body of the ring wearer, controlling their body. I wasn't well versed in these religious stories, so don't fear if you aren't either, I had no problem understanding everything. We get povs from Sheelbeth, Beel, and later another demon, Vutto, controlled by Sheelbeth, to expand their characters and even though they come from a hell, don't be surprised if you start to feel for them.

With the beginning giving us the introduction to the ring, it sets-up a great foreboding feeling as we get to know Ruby. She's on her last week of community service, stopped taking her medication for bi-polar, and just trying to white-knuckle it and not lose it over how everyone aggravates her. Listen, she had some legitimate reasons to. When she heads over to Mr. Rosenfeld's home, the same last name of the previously murdered Rabbi, you know things aren't going to go well for her. Sure enough, the ring ends up on her finger and then we're on a ride to save her life. Josh was the Rabbi's brother and manages to give Ruby a heads-up on what's happening, even manages to douse the ring in red powder (angel's blood) to cloak Sheelbeth's power, while they try to find a way to get it off Ruby's finger. While the ring is cloaked, Ruby is still possessed by Beel, but he's been looking for a way to get from under Sheelbeth's control and helps as much as he can with finding a way to break the ring's grasp.

I got . . . bored.

Help is to be found in Atlanta where Josh knows a Dr. who specializes in ancient Hebrew mythology and theology. There, they learn that if Ruby sings a song from the heart, with the help of many souls, they can compel the ring off. Which is perfect, because Ruby used to be in a punk band and her ex-bandmate just happens to be in Atlanta. The second half gives us ghosts, demons, murder, redemption, and a serial killer. I wasn't really a fan of the Richard serial killer addition, his pov and addition felt clunky added on and honestly the story would have been better without it, wanted kick him out of the band. Along with Richard, Ruby's almost step-father had a story arch that made me think there can be too many musicians in a band, Ruby was the lead singer and could carry this story without those two.

The ending was a wild ride and had some of that chaotic punk music feel but like Ruby's band The Night Mares, this story needed a drummer to anchor it, Ruby had enough characterization for lead singer and Sheelbeth and Beel easily could have anchored but they got pushed and rushed aside too much by those characters I wanted cut-out; the story threads were riffing all over the place without a solid connecting feel. This was a supernatural story that had horror, punk music and satanic panic '80s highlighting, and heart from some unlikely places, fun but off the tracks at times.
(The author also did a really cool collaboration with a punk band, The Maxines, to produce some of the original songs created in this, make sure to check those out!)… (more)

I forgot to write a review of this, and it's receded into brain fog a little bit since, but here's what I wrote at the time in the book Slack channel at work:

"It was really good, but I think I was expecting to love it more than I did. The ending was fab, but I wish the first 2/3rds gave a bit more. 4 stars."

Lately, I've really been enjoying horror of the "Good for her" variety (c'mon Midsommar!), so this definitely fit that vibe.

I guess I was hoping for The-Craft-but-make-it-pilgrim, with a bit more witchy-ness leading up to the climax. It was just little backloaded, which is great for the final set piece, but makes the lead up less compelling of a journey.

But the final set piece though? Ooooh! There were some genuinely affecting and disturbing moments that sets it off, and when the witchy-ness happens, it really ~ h a p p e n s ~. Good for her!

I bought the hardcover edition with a gift card, which was well worth it for the artwork alone, regardless of the story. It's absolutely STUNNING.… (more)