The Devil’s List: Terry M. West
Reviewed By Steve Stred
Last year I was introduced to Terry’s work, with his release ‘Transfer‘ being one of the best things I read in 2019. He kindly sent this along and I’ve seen him describe it as ‘very dark’ and ‘brutal.’ Those two descriptions alone had my interest and I was excited to dive in.
KR: You can read the Transfer Kendall Review HERE
This is a very fast read, I think it took my about 45 minutes from start to finish. That’s not a negative – in fact that speaks to just how engrossed in the story I was, as well as Terry’s writing in this makes you read it quickly.
What I liked: I also saw Terry mention that this was loosely based on a serial killer from the area where he’d grown up and that he had gone to school with them. I’ve yet to research into the real-life version of our main character, but after reading this, I’ll be checking the Wikipedia link Terry posted.
We are immediately thrown into the darkness as we get introduced to Charles or Chuck to some. We get some back story and some family history before we are given some folklore occurrences. Does this sound vague? Yup. Can I be more specific? Nope. Charles is a monster, but a character you feel empathy for and want to see how things play out.
What I didn’t like: In the grand scheme of things, I do wish this was a bit longer and we saw more of Charles metamorphosis and internal battles, but what’s presented works really well. Terry has a way with dark descriptions and some of the extremes here are very extreme, which was great.
Why should you buy it: As mentioned, this is a very fast read, which can be great for slump-busting, but the story itself needs to be read and while some may suggest it reminds them of ‘Kin‘ by Kealan Patrick Burke, I found the struggle with the internal versus the external to be more in line with ‘Brother‘ from Ania Ahlborn. Either way, you can’t go wrong by reading this one.
The Devil’s List
The Devil’s List is a dark tale of insanity and horror from Terry M. West. In the small Texas town of Pleasant Storm during the summer of 1985, Chuck Beall embarks on a journey of brutality and madness. Convinced he’s possessed by a demon that compels him to kill, Chuck’s murderous attention shifts from random transients to those he blames the most for his abusive past.
You can buy The Devil’s List from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Steve Stred
Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.
Steve is the author of three novels, a number of novellas and four collections.
He is proud to work with the Ladies of Horror Fiction to facilitate the Annual LOHF Writers Grant.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
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You can visit Steve’s Official website here
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