| Detective Davis Briggs has a problem. A killer has struck the quiet town of Devine, TX, turning the town's children into pawns in a deadly game. Briggs' only leads come from two people who could just as well be on the list of suspects. Wendy Stoffel, a troubled 13 year old girl with a shoplifting habit and the ability to read minds, and Jobe McKenzie, a "vacationing" murderer laying low after an almost-botched bombing. |
| The Lesser of Two Evils is an entertaining, but sometimes uneven supernatural thriller. An air of hopelessness overwhelms Devine as even against the town and the FBI's best efforts the body count continues to climb. Soon an unlikely alliance emerges between the three main characters that may be the town's only chance of ending the bloody wave of crime. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep even the most jaded mystery reader intrigued. Author Zoe E. Whitten does a fine job of weaving the web of clues together into an interesting storyline that keeps the reader guessing. |
| Unfortunately, the story has a cold, dry feeling caused by bland character development. All of the characters sound alike, never really developing any clear personalities for the reader to care about. Briggs has the prerequisite troubled past he's trying to escape, but it never really brings anything important to the story. Wendy comes from the prerequisite troubled home with the sick little brother than needs care, but we never really see her blossom into a character with any real depth. Even Jobe never really develops any sort of personality that would make the reader care one way or the other. Whether he ever gets what's coming to him or finds a chance at redemption never becomes an issue to the reader. You really don't care either way. |
| Many of the allusions to psychic or supernatural activity could have just as easily been explained in a more mundane fashion without compromising the overall story. At first, I thought there was something more psychological going in, but when it became apparent that the reader really was suppose to embrace a supernatural element, it was somewhat disappointing. The psychic angle comes across as more of a gimmick than integral to the story, and causes some of the uneven feeling throughout the text. It may have strengthened the story to remove the supernatural element all together and rely more on Whitten's already solid plot while doing a bit more to develop the human interest side. |
| But despite these issues, The Lesser of Two Evils is still a solid piece of storytelling. The revelation of the killer is one of those "Damn! I should have seen that coming!" moments that makes you both kick yourself for not connecting the dots and applaud the author for pulling it all together. |
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| The Lesser of Two Evils Zoe E. Whitten Paperback, 256 pgs |