Review: Relative Evil by Debra Erfert

Published: July 26, 2014, Xchyler Publishing
Genre: Mystery | Crime | NA | Contemporary Thriller
Format: ebook (e-pub)
Source: provided for honest review

Goodreads Summary

Inspired by her father and his pretty young wife, novelist Claire Abney allows her imagination to run wild and pens a best-selling thriller. However, as Glen Abney suffers multiple freak accidents, she wonders exactly where the prose stops and reality begins.

Claire screens her family from the prying eyes of success with a masculine pen name and her handsome editor, her shill for photo ops and book signings. But her father’s unexpected death, and bungled attempts on her own life, force her to admit the strategy may have backfired. Now, with the help of her brother and Max, her dreamy frontman, she must separate truth from fiction. Before life imitating art becomes deadly.

The Good

Relative Evil is a brilliant read! The plot is very intriguing and the characters are subtle but well-developed. This book very well delivers what it promises, a powerful mystery. Connecting with the lead, Claire Abney, was so easy that at times I felt 'one' with her. The plot is absolutely outstanding. I loved how the situations in Claire's life start to look like the ones in her book, but not in a way that makes everything predictable. Just the right amount of things happen to draw your attention close to the answer but not to make the book too predictable.

I also liked the fact that the main protagonist is a novelist, which I guess for any reviewer is a very close-to-heart subject. For me, less emotional content worked best for Relative Evil.

The Bad

There was nothing in particular to not like in this book!

The Romance

The love between Claire and Max starts building slowly and the author has kept it very light on the 'romantic' front, it's more of a cute love. Clair's brother always made sure that Max stays away from her that way! In a way, by keeping the romance mild, Debra has done justice to the book, keeping the entire focus of the reader on the mystery only.

Conclusion

An excellent read with a very intriguing story. I'll recommend it to all the thriller-readers and also to them who like NA. As the main protagonist is a novelist, so anyone related to the field might find it interesting. This book is worth the time and the oh-so-precious money!

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