Face of Evil is a refreshingly different cross between the thriller and horror genres with a whole lot of intrigue, gore and disturbed minds. Lydia Tune is a psychologist and successful true crime writer who has decided to combine her two careers and pen a book about a serial killer currently on death row awaiting his execution date. Incarcerated at nearly-forgotten facility, Mortem Asylum alongside societies worst and most dangerous offenders, Jason Devere, aka the Krimson Killer, notoriously carried out a brutal killing spree culminating in a gory body display; clearly, the guy had a flair for the dramatic. Against the better judgement of her childhood friend turned local detective, Alex Gilbey, who actually took Devere’s confession, Lydia brushes off his warning about just how manipulative Jason can be and his penchant for playing cat and mouse games with anyone who will engage. Lydia has always had an interest in darkness and in what goes on in the furthest recesses of the human mind and believes she has mentally prepared to meet and converse with Jason but in all honesty, you can never predict with any sort of accuracy what a sick-minded individual is going to come out with or quite how they'll act in the company of a beautiful female visitor. Looking for an insight into his psychology it seems Lydia must learn to play Jason’s mind games if she wants to discover lucrative information.

Then unexpectedly murders begin taking place across the city and they pretty much mirror those of Devere’s. What exactly is happening and will Lydia ever get enough to write the book she imagined? This is a slow-burn violence-tinged thriller that is the perfect trashy read to escape the mundane of everyday lockdown and that is very Silence of the Lambs-esque with plenty of gore and just about every other trigger you can imagine; you're easily offended or triggered this may not be the book for you. As someone who enjoys true crime and criminal profiling I was intrigued at the set up of the plot and how it would play out. Strangely, and rather humorously, I found Jason had more likeable qualities as a serial killer than writer Lydia who was abrasive, arrogant and just a generally unpleasant person throughout the story. She comes across as obsessed with Jason and his crimes and more of a sociopath than him which is a hell of a feat for De’Ath to pull off. It was also a little uncomfortable to see her using sex to lure the deprived Jason into revealing certain things, although I have no problem believing this happens ubiquitously in real life, too. There's even some humour interspersed through the narrative. It's atmospheric and you feel that anything could happen at any time. An interesting and gripping read once it kicks off with a really unexpected and explosive conclusion.

It starts off slow but, before you know it, hours have passed and you have flown through the story. The characters are interesting and complex. I had mixed emotions several times. While I saw the twist coming it didn't take away from the story. What I didn't see coming was the way things played out for Lydia and Alex. Wow! Gripping and sometimes dark, this is one that will stay with you.

From the start I thought Lydia was rude, insensitive and an awful character... I didn't warm to her at all, she was very up herself and I found her really hard to like. I really struggled with how she constantly thought she was better than everyone else, it made her very irritating as a character.

I'm not sure if the author has tried to deliberately make Lydia as unlikeable as possible, if that's the case then they've certainly achieved their aim!

Because the book focused on Lydia I found it very hard to enjoy. I also feel like we didn't get a fair share of the other characters, they were very 2D and flat and as such were hard to form an opinion on.

I felt very indifferent to the book on the whole, it didn't exactly fill me with enjoyment to read it but I didn't hate it.

It wasn't the most original plot, it felt like a cheaper version of Silence of the Lambs and didn't really offer anything new that I hadn't already read. There were no real shock factors.

I also felt the book alluded to a lot of backstory that was never fully expanded upon and I feel would have made Lydia more likeable and generally added more the story.

There were sections of this book that I enjoyed, namely the interactions between Lydia and the killer she was interviewing, they were written really well and were a breath of fresh air through this book.

However, the remainder of the book just didn't hit the spot for me.

I will admit I was shocked by the turn of events within this book, but, once it started to unfold I very quickly guessed where it was headed and what was going on. I don't want to give too much away but I pretty much guessed what was happening/had happened previously...

The final ending of the book just was not it. It added absolutely nothing to the story, and actually went against the image of Lydia that had been portrayed to us throughout the book.

Sadly, this book just was not good, in my opinion. As we focused a lot on Lydia it was hard to enjoy due to the nature of her character, and with the boring and predictable story I just didn't enjoy it.

This book is the stuff of nightmares, in a good way. The book started a bit slow but once I got in to it I couldn’t stop reading it. I figured out the twists and turns, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this nightmare in the making. Great writing that made me feel I was right there seeing what the characters saw.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Feb 11, 2021
(First of all, this author is George Morris DE’ATH. And he wrote a book about a serial killer. Is this a case of written in the stars or simply a kick ass pseudonym? )
Lydia Tune is a psychologist turned writer, whose new subject of interest is Jason Devere, otherwise known as the Krimson Killer. Devere is incarcerated at Mortem Asylum, among the worst criminals, for brutally killing many people, and then placing their flawed bodies on display. Lydia thinks she’s prepared for Jason, as both her education and her background have prepared her for the derelict behaviours that broken minds can commit. But when she meets Jason, something is not quite right, and she begins to wonder if something else is amiss. As she continues to delve into his background and his kills she has to start playing his game in order to get to the bottom of it all.
I was drawn to this novel for the pure psychological profiling of it all. I wanted to know about Jason’s murders and how Lydia is able to delve into his clearly disturbed mind. Although, obviously, this did exist, it was not at all what I expected.
Lydia is a completely unlikable character. She is supposed to be well educated and professional, being both a psychologist and a writer, yet she seems more sociopathic than Jason, with her manipulative ways and her overtly sexual cunning. Heartless and seemingly cold, I could not relate to her. Although you can see the relationship between investigating officer, Alex, and Lydia developing, the two have absolutely zero chemistry. They have a strange way of interacting with each other, more like two people being interrogated and playing with each other, then two individuals developing a romantic relationship.
The writing was choppy and juvenile too, and I found it hard to stay invested in the story. The only thing that kept me turning the pages was the disturbingly endearing Jason, his murders, and his backstory. I wanted to know how it turned out for him, and, especially, what made him tick.
The ending of the story had its unpredictable moments, which I appreciated. Although it was a little overdramatic and over-the-top in its “villain-continues-to-live-after-many-brushes-with-death” action sequences, the ending did provide some satisfaction and completion to the plot.
Overall, this story had a good premise and the bones were there, but it needed a little bit more fine tuning. I wanted more Jason, his past and his future, and less of the Lydia-Alex storyline. Actually, getting rid of Lydia completely would be fine by me. With a bit more work, I can see George Morris De’ath having the chops to turn out a page-turning psychological thriller.

I toyed between three and four stars for so long. On one hand, it had a few niggles for me, but on the other, I didn't really put it down whilst reading, and never contemplated giving up at any stage. Maybe the niggles were minor enough for me to get over. I did roll my eyes a bit towards the end when it did degenerate onto farce a tad but it also greatly entertained me along the way. I'll keep trying to work through my thoughts in this review so hopefully by the end I will have settled on a rating.
So Lydia is looking for a subject for her latest book. And where better to go than the Mortem Asylum, home to many evil characters. One such person, and indeed her target for interview, is Jason Devere, currently on death row for a slew of heinously grotesque murders. Against the wishes of childhood friend, now local detective, Alex Gilbey, the man to whom Devere confessed, and who now warns Lydia about how manipulative he can be, Lydia throws herself into Devere's case and the more she learns about him from both that and him himself, the more she starts to wonder...
This book starts off quite slowly and, despite what I said above about not putting it down, I do confess to wondering where in heck we were actually going and what would happen when we got there. I do feel that maybe others might not be so patient and do fear that the slowish start might make some fall by the wayside. That said, the slow start is actually quite clever in design. It is used to really set the scene, to introduce the characters and have the two main pit their wits against each other. With Alex providing a bit of light relief (romance) from the psychological toing and froing. Oh be warned too that the murders are described in some colourful detail but then, if you will read books about serial killers, you'd kinda expect this to be the case. Punches are not pulled in this respect. I also felt occasionally that the conversations between Lydia and Devere were a bit vanilla compared to what they had been built up to. But, if you think likewise, hang on in there, it does make sense eventually.
The ending when it came was explosive and surpassed all that had gone before. Almost like it was the ending to a completely different build up. A tad disjointed but so frenetic that I forgot the step up as it consumed me. The ultimate outcome however did disappoint me a tad. You'll have to read to the end to find out why and whether you agree with me.
All in all, a marmite book for me with pros and cons throughout. The ending however does sadly drive this to me rounding down to a three star rating. Whether I'll read this author again... not sure, the jury's still out on that one for now. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed this. Well written and so well described that I felt part of the story and could visualise everything.

Lydia is a best selling author who writes about monsters.... Real monster though not the fairy tale kind. Her last book was a big hit so she knows that her new one needs to be even better. What could be better than getting the story from the Krimson Killer himself! She must literally face evil as she uncovers the horrific truth, but will she be able to stop herself being drawn in by the evil?

I'd highly recommend this book, once I started it I couldn't put it down.

I want to start off with i have no clue why this book is so downstarred. For me it was fabulous. The first little bit was slow but after you are like 6 chapters in you become engrosssed. This book was unputdownable. It was gross, gory, real, dangerous, heart racing and plot twisting. now did it end too quickly yes i feel the last plot twist shoudl have been more described and longer but i really enjoyed this and would read this author again!

Lydia Tune, a well known author, is writing a book about serial killers. She begins a series of sessions with Jason Devere, convicted multiple murderer now housed in Mortem Asylum for the Criminally Insane. She thinks the sessions are only research for her book but it soon becomes apparent there is more to his story than meets the eye.

The comparisons to The Silence of the Lambs are fair. Jason Devere does have a Hannibal Lector vibe, a caged animal playing with his visitors. Thankfully, there was no cannibalism involved. I read a few other reviews that said this book was pretty gory. I beg to differ. There was barely any mention of gore, with only his past crimes mentioned briefly. If you're squeamish, it's only a few sentences.

Lydia Tune was a great character. At best she was witty and ballsy, not taking any shit from anyone. Other times she was unrealistic, with way to much pull in a mental hospital. Even if the head doctor loved her, it just didn't add up to me. The warden too was comical as well, a sort of mad scientist character. Lydia was the star and I would love to read more books with her.

I thought I had the ending pegged but I was wrong. Love to be surprised.

Huge thanks to Aria & Aries for my review copy via Netgalley.

The author takes the plot of the narcissistic writer and evil psychopath and gives it a few interesting twists. I guessed a good part of what was going on early in the read, but the story held interest regardless. The murders were a bit creative in their gore which added something. For me the ending is a big tell in how I enjoy a book and for me the ending just didn't work, and in a few ways wasn't a logical flow. Not a bad read if you like the genre.

Dark and mysterious and based at a chilling, tucked away asylum this is the stuff nightmares are made of. The descriptiveness adds to the atmosphere of the book and set me on edge before the story actually began. A writer, Lydia is probing a locked away serial killer who is sickeningly depraved or so it all seems as copycat killings start to happen. This is a spine tingling and pacy read with twists and turns I didn’t see coming. The ending is excellent and a rollercoaster ride of revelations. Very enjoyable.

As soon as I saw the description of Face of Evil I knew I had to read it. Lydia Tune is researching for her next book, and her subject matter is of a death row serial killer. I was definitely pulled into the story right away and read most of it in one sitting. There were creepy, tense, and twisty moments that I really enjoyed. If you like thrillers that involve asylums, serial killers and stories that grab you right away, you need to read this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries, Aria for the ARC!!

Fantastic read. I have been completely unable to put this one down. I cannot wait to read more by this author.
Full review to follow on publication.

Lydia Tune is looking for a subject of her next true crime book when she stumbles on Jason Devere, one of the most gruesome serial murderers of all time, holed away in a near-forgotten asylum. She’s determined to get some insight on his psychology, even though doctors and detectives alike warn her off the case. Lydia will have to play Jason’s mind games to get any information from him, but when fresh murders by what looks like a copycat killer are discovered, she wonders exactly what game she’s playing. Spoilers will be clearly marked. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Aria & Aries. Trigger warnings: death, gore, body horror, rape, misogyny, violence/violence against women, abduction, stalking/harassment, gaslighting, asylum horror, mental illness, shock treatment, threats.

Much as I love all the adaptations, I’m not always sure The Silence of the Lambs did great things for horror culture. It’s led to the inevitable knockoffs, but I’m gullible and I’ll take anything with a similar premise. I like reading different versions of the same story and seeing what new directions creators can take it. But aside from a blatant ripoff of the premise, there’s not much comparison to make here, and I can’t say I enjoyed it much. It’s slow-moving, unscary, and too preoccupied with flowery descriptions, especially of its main character. I forget how many times we’re told Lydia’s fingers are “slender,” but more than once is too many. Being gorgeous is her main personality trait, and no woman describes her female characters like that. I try not to hate on beautiful, confident, ambitious female characters (the novel is happy to do that for me), but watching her view every interaction as a manipulation is exhausting. She’s a psychologist-turned-writer, but the book is poorly researched; there isn’t a speck of psychology to be found anywhere. Occasionally, she starts to profile someone and stops herself, but there’s no compelling character analysis of anyone, least of all the killer.

Alex and Jason are equally gorgeous, apparently, so–hang on. What genre am I reading, again? Except for all the murder at the end, I would strongly believe I’m reading an adult romance novel for most of this book, and I’d encourage De'Ath to try his hand at it. If you want beautiful people flirting with and slighting each other for 80% of the book, I hear romance readers are a very welcoming audience. Unfortunately, I don’t think Face of Evil is going to come over very dark or frightening to a typical horror crowd. There are a couple of gory deaths, but Jason Devere is no Hannibal Lecter or Buffalo Bill. And therein lies the main problem: Jason isn’t the least bit frightening, or even all that interesting. His conversations with Lydia are the best parts of the book, true, but the bar was pretty low. The last two chapters are darker than the rest of the book put together, but lacking a compelling villain, it’s a lot of shock value without much suspense or fright. Oh, well. Can’t win ‘em all.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

I didn’t really like Lydia, but the end of the book does her dirty. It’s a clichefest of her finding the courage to love again, losing her love, and being stuck with her murdering rapist’s child. Way to drag a confident, ambitious woman with no interest in starting a family through the mud–which is where she belongs, right? Horror has a long history of violence against women and general degradation of female characters, and Face of Evil does nothing to overturn that. The book would have been better without the epilogue, but not much.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Fans of Chris Carter will love Face of Evil. Author, Lydia Tune is going to interview serial killer Jason Devere at Morton Asylum who is on death row. She is warned he may play games with her. But engaging in a game is the only way to get Jason to talk. A spate of current killings involves local detective Alex Gilbey, that Lydia knows from her home town. Is Jason the real Face of Evil or is someone else involved?
A book you can easily devour in one sitting, looking forward to the next book.

This was truly a new topic and genre for me and I was not disappointed at all.
Currently my full review has been lost on my computer, but I hope to have it up at the end of January after a factory restore.
Highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to sit at the edge of their seats, lots of suspense and sassy MC

WoW! Holy Moly! This book was crazy intense!
I dont think I've read a book like this in some time.
The way this book was written was absolutely amazing. The author outdid himself on this one.
The gore. The way it's written. Its just great!
One of my favorites.

Face of Evil is a mystery/horror novel with a very similar feel to The Silence of the Lambs, where the protagonist is dedicated to finding the true origins of a serial killer. While the plot was pretty simplistic and straight forward, there is a lot to enjoy in this "psychological cat and mouse" game set in a creepy mental institute.

I will be the first to admit that my rating was bumped up a whole star after reading the climax of this novel. It's a super fun, bloody, and fast paced ending that delivered a lot more than I was expecting. A really just mediocre twist was redeemed by at least thirty pages of non stop action. If you crave explosive endings like those in One By One or Final Girls, this will definitely satisfy you when all is said and done.

Like I've mentioned before, the Face of Evil probably sounds like a pretty familiar plot. And while you probably will be able to guess where it is going as the story unravels, I would say it could be worth it just from the atmosphere alone. I'm really glad De'Ath took the time to write genuinely creepy set ups instead of just relying on the idea of serial killers to scare the reader.

Finishing this book has left me exhausted. It is dark and evil and shows the worst of human nature in an extremely dark and the evillest of ways. The crime scenes in this story are extremely graphic, bring to mind images not suitable to the faint-hearted.
The Face of Evil explores just that, what you would do if you came face to face with evil. Not a supernatural kind of evil, but evil found in a human being. The main character not only comes face to face with evil, she seeks it out, leading to some unexpected turns in the story.
Be warned, this is heavy reading with loads of gory details and scenes, if you are even slightly squeamish, I would suggest you give this book a miss.
While this tale can be classified as gory, the author has a conversational writing style which draws you into the story so completely you find yourself unable to put it down. I enjoyed the author’s dark descriptions and the way his leading lady was not perfect.
Author, Lydia Tune is looking for her next bestseller. This search takes her too Mortem Asylum, an institution with a very bad reputation to interview the notorious Krimson Killer. But can she get Jason Devere to open up to her? Lydia quickly discovers there is a lot more to the story than meets the eye, but Lydia always gets what she wants, no matter what the cost.
This book truly left me exhausted. I would turn out my light at night and find that I could not get to sleep as the story kept circling round and round in my head. It is gory and scary, and I found it all-consuming for the three days I spend reading it. While I loved this book, it was a relief to get to the end of it.
The characters in this book were a wonderfully drawn cast. Lydia Tune was far from perfect. She has her own demons haunting her. But her desire for success taught her to master the art of using her beauty to get exactly what she wants. This woman uses her looks to her advantage every chance she gets, and she has no shame doing it. She is cold and calculating, and she will do whatever is necessary to achieve her goals.
Jason Devere is the nicest serial killer I have ever encountered in a story. He is a good looking, charming, man and comes across sweet rather than evil. The moment you meet Jason you are immediately know something is amiss. The man simply does not come across as the evil monster he is supposed to be. As Lydia works with Jason, he reveals some secrets you would never have imagined.
Adam Gilbey the detective responsible for capturing Jason and Lydia’s old friend – well, he is simply too good to be true. From the moment he was introduced I found myself not trusting him. Did he have an ulterior motive? I would love to say more here, but if I do I am going to spoil the story so you will have to read the book for yourself…..
Face of Evil is one of the most intense books I have read in a long time – but I love a book that can consume me so completely. It might have left me feeling exhausted by the time the reached the last page but I loved every wakeful moment I spent with this book.
This book is gory and intense and perfect for anyone who enjoys a bone-chilling horror mystery. If you are a Cody McFadyen fan – then you will love George Morris De’Ath.
Do I recommend this book – only if you are open to a brilliantly evil tale with a twist that will leave you unable to sleep for days on end.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Is it possible to truly understand evil without either becoming evil, or becoming a victim?"

First of all, I'd like to say that I was truly intrigued by the synopsis. Sadly, the execution let me down.

My main issue with this book was the writing style. The author tend to tell rather than show and that made the reading experience less engaging for me. It was also the reason why I couldn't care less about any of the characters.

The story hooked me, but I've kind of predicted the plot twist since chapter 7. The big reveal at the end of the story was pretty predictable and I think some parts were really rushed. I understand that maybe it needed to be rushed in order to push the story forward, but some things just didn't make sense.

I also felt that Lydia's characterization seemed inconsistent. She was described as this highly intelligent woman but some of her actions simply didn't reflect her supposed intelligence. It was frustrating and disappointing, especially since I thought I was going to like her. The romance subplot also wasn't believable enough because it was really rushed. The chapters about Lydia and Alex detracted from the overall fast pacing and they weren't interesting.

All in all, I believe this story has potential. It was enjoyable enough that I managed to finish it in two days. I just wish the author could've applied the "show, don't tell" technique so the readers would've been more immersed in the story.