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(Edit: I listened to this one on audiobook the second time around. I raised the rating to a 4. Some of the things that bothered me so much -- like the overly Southern vernacular -- weren't nearly as annoying in audio format. Also, I think edits were made to fix all the errors I mentioned in complaint 1 below. Those things went a long way toward keeping me in the story and not pulling me out of it. Because of that, I was more invested in the story, and I liked it better the second time around.)

Let me start by saying that I adore Brom. I think he is an absolutely phenomenal writer, and his book "The Child Thief" is easily one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. "Slewfoot" was right there with it.

So saying I was over-the-moon excited to be able to get an advanced copy of his new book "Evil in Me" is definitely an understatement.

Unfortunately, though, this one didn't live up to my high expectations for Brom. It was still quite good -- leaps and bounds better than a lot of the crap I've read lately -- but it didn't have that special something that all of Brom's other books have had for me.

Here were my complaints: (Also, here's your obligatory spoiler warning! You may read things you don't want to know about, especially in the "what I enjoyed" section. I tried to keep things vague, but I can't guarantee there will be no spoilers at all. Be warned.)

1. The editing was somewhat poor.

I know this was an ARC copy, so I'm HOPING that these errors will be fixed before the book is actually published. However, they WERE still in the copy that I had, and they really threw off my flow. They weren't huge problems -- just enough to take me out of the story. A few examples include: (all locations in Kindle)
- Location 354 - "she knew he was here because she'd spotted his car, which was hard to miss it." (No "it" needed.)
- Location 2161 - "one other being -- a ghostly thing bound in jug" (missing an 'a')
- Location 2997 - "Give you all my heart and soul. Burin' like a demon bowl" (should be "burnin'")
- Location 4358 - "leaving Tina to wondered if he and Andre shopped at the same clothing store." (should be 'wonder')

Just little things like that. Again, these may be fixed before actual publication, and that will help a lot. They just kind of threw me off.

2. The "Southern talk" was atrocious.

I live in Alabama and have done so my whole life. It's a huge pet peeve of mine when authors write Alabama (or Southern) accents and words that I've legitimately never heard a single person say EVER. There was a lot of that in the first part of this book. Luckily, he toned that down as he went on, and by the middle of the book, I didn't notice it anymore. But it was really, really bad at the beginning. Like REALLY bad. Phrases like, "This here's ugly music." "What kind of deviltry is this?" "No ma'am and no sirree!" "gawd-dang" "They were just bored to death with them old songs." "Please give me another chance with them kids." "Momma's sure getting her nickel's worth out of you, honey. Says you do a right smart job with them bathrooms."

The number of times the word "them" was thrown in front of something -- them kids, them bathrooms, them songs, them clothes, them dogs, etc. -- was mind-numbing. I'm not going to sit here and say that no one in Alabama has ever used the word 'them' where 'those' should go, but for the first few chapters of this book, EVERYONE did it EVERY TIME. It's like the word 'those' simply didn't exist in their vocabulary. It was awful.

3. There was no art!!!!

Again, maybe that's because this was an ARC copy or because the art just couldn't come through using the Netgalley app? I'm not sure. But I was REALLY, REALLY looking forward to some amazing Brom art, and there was none. I hope, hope, hope there will be some in the actual book because I'd really love to see Brom's vision of Vutto and Lord Sheelbeth. And yes, even though I didn't love this book like all the other Brom books, I will STILL be buying it out of support for one of my favorite authors.

4. The story wasn't strong.

This story just wasn't as strong as the stories in Slewfoot, The Child Thief, and Krampus. Even Lost Gods had a stronger story than this one. I guess maybe it's because this one was rooted more in realism? I mean, yes, there were demons and what amounts to exorcisms, but still. The Child Thief was a retelling of Peter Pan -- set in a world of magic (albeit dark and deadly magic) and fantasy. Krampus features ancient Norse gods and plenty of magic. Slewfoot is all about witchcraft and the devil.

And now that I've written it all out like that, it does seem like this book should fit right in with the rest of them. Haha. But somehow, it didn't. It was too "real world" to be magical dark fantasy, if that makes sense. Part of what I love about Brom's stories is how magical and fantastical they are, while still being 100% engaging and suck-you-in beautiful. This one just had too much of the real world in it for me.

Those were my main complaints with the book. Now, for what I enjoyed:

1. It's Brom.

Though this book didn't live up to my high standards for a Brom book, it's still a Brom book. And he has this beautiful writing style that just makes you fall in love with the very writing. This one didn't have it as much as the others, but it was definitely still there. It was a gorgeously written book.

2. The characters were great.

After I got past the god-awful way she talked, I fell in love with Ruby. She was so broken but still basically a decent human being. Tina was a bad-ass, and Vutto ... well, I want a Vutto as a pet, please and thank you. Richard (aka Dick) was horrible, but he was horrible in a way that made him interesting. And I really could get behind Eduardo and Ruby's mom in the end. Brom has a way of writing characters that you love in the beginning and hate by the end and vice versa. He did an excellent job with rounding out Ruby's mom and step-dad by the end of the book, and I was pleasantly surprised that he could realistically change my feelings on them both so well.

3. The ending was satisfactory.

I hate the idea that everything has to have a happy ending. Life doesn't work that way. And the ending of this book, while not particularly sad, wasn't the happy "everything's wine and roses" ending a lot of books have. It was realistic (within the constraints of a fantasy/horror-type book). I can see the situation playing out just like it did, and I appreciate the acknowledgement that, going forward, things probably wouldn't be all okay for Ruby. She made some bad choices (even though they weren't really her fault) and the ending made it clear that she was going to have to pay for those consequences. I appreciate that.

All in all, this was a very solid 3-star book, and I will definitely buy a copy for my collection when it's published. It just wasn't the easy 5-star read I was expecting from a talent as big as Brom's.