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Lexington House has a long history of madness and murder. The mansion rises above the New England coast, in a state where its citizens were once accused and hanged for practicing witchcraft. No one has been able to live in the house without the malice rising up and causing something horrible to happen.
One night, on his way home from the office, attorney Samuel Hall almost hits a boy named Malachi Smith, who’s standing in the middle of the road, covered in blood. When the police arrive, they arrest Malachi for the murder of his family, who had been hacked to death with an ax.
Jenna Duffy heads to Massachusetts after her uncle asks to see her, without the Krewe of Hunters team, about something important. She hadn’t expected him to want her help prove that Malachi is innocent. Now they need to get Sam Hall on board as the boy’s attorney so they can legally investigate—not an easy task, since all evidence points to Malachi’s guilt.
Because of the Salem witch trials, Massachusetts is the perfect backdrop for The Evil Inside, a novel in which a person is considered guilty because he’s different. However, Ms. Graham earns my admiration for not portraying everyone with strict Christian or other religious beliefs as radical and dangerous idiots.
Though Sam and Jenna are interesting characters—Sam a famous defense lawyer and Jenna a post-cognitive paranormal investigator—it’s the setting that comes alive, as a character all its own, as it slithers around, keeping to the shadows while creating suspense and intrigue.
The Evil Inside delivers buckets of chills. The thought of someone insane enough to hack another person to pieces with an ax is so chilling that your skin can’t help but crawl with goose bumps as you read. Even the thought of being alone inside a house where such a murder happened is enough to give me a major case of the creeps that lasts for days.
No one does paranormal fiction like Heather Graham, and The Evil Inside is her spookiest yet—complete with multiple murders in a blood-splashed house, ghosts with sinister warnings, and a Lizzie Borden atmosphere. I love these paranormal plots inspired by true crimes from the past, and I can’t wait for the next one.
