Evil Inheritance: Possession of Young
by Andrew Savoy

When patrolman Ken Johnson draws the short straw and gets sent out on what should have been a routine inspection of an abandoned car, his comfortable life gets turned inside out at the discovery of a body severed in half. Meanwhile, teenager Danny Tillman, still struggling with the suicide of his best friend Allie, is confronted with a mysterious stranger who blames Danny for Allie’s death and hints at a way to redeem himself. This sets up a fast-paced and interesting tale of personal tragedy, guilt, and redemption cleverly disguised as a horror story about demonic possession.

Evil Inheritance has the promise to be a great tale. Savoy does a great job of quickly developing the characters, thus allowing the reader to develop an immediate concern for their well-being. And the evil Rathmon is a villain definitely worthy of the reader’s hatred. Like a good horror story should, the book relies more on atmosphere and plot than blood and gore to carry the tale.One of the issues with the story is that Savoy occasionally slips into a dictation style of storytelling, simply listing information for the reader in an almost newspaper fashion instead of allowing the information to be revealed through the story. And at a few points Savoy’s description of a scene doesn’t quite match up to the character’s response to it. The most obvious example of this is in the very beginning, when Johnson first finds the body. The body is described as being severed in half, but all the limbs and everything seem to be attached. But from Johnson’s response, you would think that organs and body parts were strewn from the trees like Christmas ornaments. (of course, this reviewer might just be a bit jaded after decades of horror movies and books). But the scene comes across as awkward, not horrific.

Still, the book was an entertaining read, and had enough skin crawling moments to satisfy this horror fan. The ending leaves a nice set-up for a sequel, and it would be interesting to see how the author’s voice develops with future installments.

Gloomwing Review by Julie Ann Dawson

Pages: 225
Softcover ISBN:1-4116-4240-6
E-Book ($6.96) and Softcover ($16.00) available at http://www.lulu.com/content/156443

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