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EVIL IN RETURN
by Weyman Jones
Five Star, August 2014
276 pages
$25.95
ISBN: 1432829114


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

EVIL IN RETURN works on many levels but doesn't excel at any of them. On the one hand, it is an examination of the Stockholm Syndrome. On another, it deals with fanaticism and its link to terrorism. Another theme explores real estate and finance corruption. Narcissism plays a significant role, and spousal insecurities and power relationships provide additional motivation for the book's characters. Historical mistreatment of Native Americans is a further thread. Any one of these could serve as a central idea around which to build a mystery, but the fact that they are all in play in EVIL IN RETURN means that the book ends up somewhat fragmented and character motivation and behavior become murky.

Several disparate acts take place at the start of the book with the resolution pulling them all together at the end of the book. As the book opens, Ron is involved in a tenement fire that kills several renters, and his wife, Sam, is kidnapped when she meets a client. Sam has hidden her daughter away from Ron with a close friend who ends up tangentially involved in the fallout from Ron's nefarious activities. Sam's kidnapper, Charley, is a Cherokee who is avenging past wrongs and hopes to use Sam's promotional expertise to help a potential YouTube video of his bloody acts of revenge go viral. Pedro, who is seeking revenge for the renters who died in the fire, provides the link between the multiple stories that take place in this fairly short book.

There is something of a sense of claustrophobia in EVIL IN RETURN, partly because of the physical setting of the book and partly because of the constricted emotional quarters in which each character lives. The multiple story lines ensure that each character can be developed only within a tightly focused context. The point that Weyman Jones tries to make with each character becomes that context, and none of the characters develop outside of those theme-based constraints. The resulting psychological limitations are mirrored in the physical surroundings. Small spaces abound: small tenement homes, an overgrown shrubbery maze, and most importantly, the small windowless room where Sam is held captive. The book's references to ALICE IN WONDERLAND do nothing to expand the psychological and physical landscape.

The action moves forward rapidly in EVIL IN RETURN, and it keeps the reader engaged and interested. Nonetheless, I couldn't help wishing that Jones had reduced the number of points he was trying to make in the book and concentrated more on just one. In the end, the book felt as though it had been condensed to make everything fit. The author is talented, and my hope is that he focuses that talent more in the future. This not being a debut, however, makes me wonder if breadth over depth is not just his style. Perhaps I'll have to read one of his previous books to find out!

§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.

Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, September 2014

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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