The Evil Beneath is one of those books that you continue reading, literally every chance you get. Every story line is connected somehow, and half the fun is figuring out how. The action is constant, the plots are nail biting and there's even a hint of romance. A. J. Waines has definitely created a five star read on her first attempt.
Juliet Grey is a psychotherapist working out of her home, and she also works at an abortion clinic as a counsellor. Her clients are strange, morose and some are even downright creepy. But she motors along, trying to make everyone else's life better despite her own painful past. Her older brother Luke passed away in a fire when they were children, and her ex-boyfriend was an abusive alcoholic. Her parents have fled to Spain to avoid their troubles, seemingly leaving Juliet behind to battle her demons alone.
Then along comes a body attached to a London bridge....wearing Juliet's clothes. Then another.....and then more. They are all connected to Juliet in some way; past clients of the clinic, and with some memento that belongs to Juliet attached to them. Weird? Oh yes! And during this process, Juliet is also discovering that the fire which killed her brother wasn't an accident.
The first scene in this novel is marvellous. It's a technique I've never experienced. A. J. Waines created a scene where the reader could see the scene in first person....through the eyes of the first discovered body. Brilliant.
The author has a very different writing style. Some of her character descriptions were both vivid and humourous. You could visualize what the person looked like, but at the same time grin, thinking how clever she was to put it that way.
It was tough to pick out excerpts to share without becoming a spoiler, but here goes:
Where was everybody coming from so early on a Sunday morning? It was like watching wasps gather around a spoonful of raspberry jam.
I gave her a noncommittal look. I'd never told anyone that there had been three in our relationship: Andrew, me and Johnnie Walker.
"What have you been dreaming about lately, Juliet?"
The question seemed ludicrous. Why do Freudians have to pay so much attention to the hours we know so little about? Wasn't there enough to go on, drawing on the sixteen hours a day we are awake?
"You know what your problem is, don't you?" said Laura, who occupied the booth next to me and was always handing out good advice and stale digestives.
In turn, he nodded through the window and a figure, masked and gowned on the other side, pulled down the sheet covering the girl's face. I craned forward in the cautious way one looks over the edge of a cliff, holding on to the thin ledge that ran under the window.
Here I was, sitting in the DCI's private office, assisting the police with an investigation and viewing dead bodies as if this was normal life. It sent a shiver up my spine; an odd combination of intrigue and revulsion, with a smattering of excitement sprinkled over the top for good measure.
He was at the age where it had become necessary to keep ear, eyebrow and nasal hair at by, but sadly such gentility had passed him by.
Her hair was drab and thin and her chin stood out from her face like a half-opened drawer.
`Fancy see you here?' she said, as she opened the door, although didn't look the least bit surprised to see me. Perhaps her psychic sense had already told her I was on my way.
It was tempting to allow nostalgia to bed the truth, to usher the good memories to one side and pretend that was all there was.
He had the effortless, but radically diminished recall of the elderly; he could have told me the tie he wore when he got married, but wouldn't remember where he'd put the oven-gloves, a few minutes ago.
"Have you got any news about the fire?"
"Not much. A few things to tell you about the case, too."
"Okay. When and where?"
"I thought a takeaway pizza...tonight, your place, if that's not too presumptuous."
"I'll need to ring and cancel Orlando Bloom," I said, "but I'm sure he'll be fine about it."
This was a very enjoyable novel if you really like psychological murder mysteries. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole read. Well done A. J. Waines! I can't wait to read more of your work!
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- livia SbarbaroReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2019
A Stunning Twisting Heartwrencher of A Read...
