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The Sum of All Evil
If you're in the mood for a few really weird shenanigans, ending up at a big party at the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, then The Sum of All Evil will be right up your alley. Meet an American university professor who's fixated on Stonehenge, her daughter Violet, a strange German carnival owner whose entire life is wound around the stone monoliths, the owner's family, and a whole lot of other interesting and often bizarre characters. The most important question in this dark, psychological thriller, is WHY are they all headed up to Stonehenge? Take the ride along with them, and find out.
156 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 2011
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 12, 2012
This was a horror about Stone Henge with a Mother and Daughter that was rather strange. The characterization was a bit off, the plot was based in a book within this book, and everyone acted out of character with the exception of the police - who frankly acted like police anywhere in the world. While it way vaguely amusing at first, it was predictable and had only one twist that tried to throw off the reader, but if you couldn't guess it you would have to be brain damaged.
THE SETTING;The setting takes place in the states, as well as in England, just three days before the lunar eclipse above Stone Henge.
THE PLOT: Their are two families involved. The book begins with a brother and sister who each have tattoos on their necks of Stone Henge with a skull in the middle. The Father is abusive, and a Bible thumber. When the children are older, they burn down the house with the parents inside, skipping and laughing down the drive as the house burns. Later we are introduced to professor Angela, whose life revolves around Stone Henge. She is to give an important talk during the eclipse. She will take her daughter Violet with her. Her Mom says she hopes to heal their relationship, but Violet does not believe her. They get to England, and the hotel looks just like the hospital Angela put Violet in last year, making her very upset, so she runs out the door, to the carnival in back of the hotel. There she finds a man named Josef, who brings her on stage while telling a story about scarecrows, God, Cain, Abel and Eve, and how the blood of the first born will wash away the sickness of their parents. This is the story that the book revolves around. There are two first born children in the area - Sarah and Violet. Sarah is Josef's daughter. As things get strange, the police get involved due to things like: a human head in a trunk of Angela's car, scarecrows with human heads, Sarah claiming that Josef will kill her at the eclipse, Angela hanging around with Joseph, a locked trailer with human remains, two dead cops, a deadly plan, Angela's got a secret, incest is best, an antique German horn cross bow, a little book of horrors, the eclipse in two days, other human heads found in England. Only one of three things can happen, Sarah gets killed by Scarecrows at the eclipse, or Violet gets killed, or they both get killed. If no one gets killed, then all kinds of planning has gone to waste, because you just know that people have been planning this behind the scenes for a long time and they don't want to be thwarted in any way. For a plot a give it a C.
THE CHARACTERIZATION: The main characters are Josef, Angela, Detective Fisk, Violet and Sarah, everyone else was secondary to the plot, which was to kill a first born daughter at the eclipse of the moon at Stone Henge to wash away the sins of the parents. The real question is who is the daughter of whom? Who is really the first born daughter? Sarah or Violet? It is clear by Angela's strange behaviour since coming to England that she has had a prior relationship with Josef. So which daughter came first? You will have to read to find out. I'm not telling, it would ruin everything. Who will the scarecrows take to Stone Henge? The characterization is mid-level at best. People did things out of character that made you say WTF more than once. You would not stand there if someone was going to be murdered and one of your parental units were involved, you would hitch hike, steal a car, do something, but get yourself to a police station, and show them that little book, and demand DNA testing, to show who was who and what was what. Incest is still illegal in England. Angela would miss her speech and her murder. The characters acted like they going through the motions out on a stage reading their lines like any old day of the week - sometimes Violet actually got upset and got angry, which contrasted with everyone else in the book, who did some very strange things. Who knows, maybe they were all on drugs like klonopin or some type of sedative. Maybe they took mushrooms. I only know that as for characterization, I give this book a C-.
THE PACING; The pacing in the book was rather eratic. Pointing fingers at different sources of dramatic tension should have built up excitement, at least some type of stress, but I found that that it didn't. Even the two murders of policemen, who very nice and kind, but policemen nonetheless, created no emotion except for Oh well, I guess they won't be in the story any more. Even though they could have saved Violet and Sarah, they were killed out of hand by a thug. No dramatic tension here, just snap and you're dead. Wow! I never wish to write like that, nor read another book that has that attribute.
THE ENDING: The ending came as no big surprise, you guessed about one third of the way through the book who was who and what was what. You had it confirmed along the way for you by little comments dropped here and there, and then one big rant by Josef's partner with the long red hair, who was supposed be his sister, but where is her tattoo? The ending was anti-climactic to say the least. The bravest one was Violet again. Poor Violet, always the one to do everything while huge groups of people (including cops) stand around and pick their noses. Give that girl a medal. She was the only thing in this book worth reading. I would recommend this book to people who are not offended by incest, parents killing children, children killing parents, abusive parents and things like this. It will be a small audience. While Stonge Henge is attractive and may have power, it is so far in the background in this book that all the rest is hard to swallow to get to the wee parts about the big rocks in the circles on the Salisbury Plain.
THE SETTING;The setting takes place in the states, as well as in England, just three days before the lunar eclipse above Stone Henge.
THE PLOT: Their are two families involved. The book begins with a brother and sister who each have tattoos on their necks of Stone Henge with a skull in the middle. The Father is abusive, and a Bible thumber. When the children are older, they burn down the house with the parents inside, skipping and laughing down the drive as the house burns. Later we are introduced to professor Angela, whose life revolves around Stone Henge. She is to give an important talk during the eclipse. She will take her daughter Violet with her. Her Mom says she hopes to heal their relationship, but Violet does not believe her. They get to England, and the hotel looks just like the hospital Angela put Violet in last year, making her very upset, so she runs out the door, to the carnival in back of the hotel. There she finds a man named Josef, who brings her on stage while telling a story about scarecrows, God, Cain, Abel and Eve, and how the blood of the first born will wash away the sickness of their parents. This is the story that the book revolves around. There are two first born children in the area - Sarah and Violet. Sarah is Josef's daughter. As things get strange, the police get involved due to things like: a human head in a trunk of Angela's car, scarecrows with human heads, Sarah claiming that Josef will kill her at the eclipse, Angela hanging around with Joseph, a locked trailer with human remains, two dead cops, a deadly plan, Angela's got a secret, incest is best, an antique German horn cross bow, a little book of horrors, the eclipse in two days, other human heads found in England. Only one of three things can happen, Sarah gets killed by Scarecrows at the eclipse, or Violet gets killed, or they both get killed. If no one gets killed, then all kinds of planning has gone to waste, because you just know that people have been planning this behind the scenes for a long time and they don't want to be thwarted in any way. For a plot a give it a C.
THE CHARACTERIZATION: The main characters are Josef, Angela, Detective Fisk, Violet and Sarah, everyone else was secondary to the plot, which was to kill a first born daughter at the eclipse of the moon at Stone Henge to wash away the sins of the parents. The real question is who is the daughter of whom? Who is really the first born daughter? Sarah or Violet? It is clear by Angela's strange behaviour since coming to England that she has had a prior relationship with Josef. So which daughter came first? You will have to read to find out. I'm not telling, it would ruin everything. Who will the scarecrows take to Stone Henge? The characterization is mid-level at best. People did things out of character that made you say WTF more than once. You would not stand there if someone was going to be murdered and one of your parental units were involved, you would hitch hike, steal a car, do something, but get yourself to a police station, and show them that little book, and demand DNA testing, to show who was who and what was what. Incest is still illegal in England. Angela would miss her speech and her murder. The characters acted like they going through the motions out on a stage reading their lines like any old day of the week - sometimes Violet actually got upset and got angry, which contrasted with everyone else in the book, who did some very strange things. Who knows, maybe they were all on drugs like klonopin or some type of sedative. Maybe they took mushrooms. I only know that as for characterization, I give this book a C-.
THE PACING; The pacing in the book was rather eratic. Pointing fingers at different sources of dramatic tension should have built up excitement, at least some type of stress, but I found that that it didn't. Even the two murders of policemen, who very nice and kind, but policemen nonetheless, created no emotion except for Oh well, I guess they won't be in the story any more. Even though they could have saved Violet and Sarah, they were killed out of hand by a thug. No dramatic tension here, just snap and you're dead. Wow! I never wish to write like that, nor read another book that has that attribute.
THE ENDING: The ending came as no big surprise, you guessed about one third of the way through the book who was who and what was what. You had it confirmed along the way for you by little comments dropped here and there, and then one big rant by Josef's partner with the long red hair, who was supposed be his sister, but where is her tattoo? The ending was anti-climactic to say the least. The bravest one was Violet again. Poor Violet, always the one to do everything while huge groups of people (including cops) stand around and pick their noses. Give that girl a medal. She was the only thing in this book worth reading. I would recommend this book to people who are not offended by incest, parents killing children, children killing parents, abusive parents and things like this. It will be a small audience. While Stonge Henge is attractive and may have power, it is so far in the background in this book that all the rest is hard to swallow to get to the wee parts about the big rocks in the circles on the Salisbury Plain.
December 18, 2012
A very...unique book. Not my usual genre but I still enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews