Review: The Devil Crept In

The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I won this book through a Goodreads Giveaway but have only promised an honest review.

Although this is not my usual fare, I do try to read horror from time to time to keep an eye on the genre and get a bit of a thrill, especially in October. I did not know this author, but once the book arrived, I started seeing reviews of an earlier title, The Shuddering.

One thing that appealed to me in the description is the location -Deer Creek is an imaginary rural community in the woods of Oregon. Some of the action happens 30 miles from McMinnville, Oregon, and some of it specifically takes place north of there. I grew up roughly 27 miles northeast of McMinnville, in the woods, so suffice to say this is MY territory and it is easy for me to picture places where evil could linger unprotested in the forest.

While some horror is atmospheric, implied, and the events occur off-stage, Ahlborn writes blood and guts, visceral events, and true evil. So, well, consider yourself warned. There are two stories in the book that alternate, in two different fonts. In one, Stevie's friend and cousin Jude disappears, and Stevie starts encountering potential evil in trying to find him. But because he has a speech impediment (one that may be more indicative of mental distress than anything else) and previous injuries, nobody listens to him. In the other story, Rosie, a woman married to a German, suffers a few tragedies back to back and finds herself in an impossible situation. I don't want to say much more than that because the shiver potential of this book goes up the less you know.

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