Garden of Evil

by Edmund Plante, Jill Bauman (Cover Artist)

Nine-year-old Molly had always been shy and reserved, living in a quiet little world of her own. But when she moved to her invalid grandmother's house, she was suddenly cut off from almost all human contact. But Molly didn't mind, for she had discovered an ancient box containing curious-looking seeds. She knew she'd have to plant a garden. What she didn't know was that she had discovered seeds of evil, each containing a horror greater than the last. Molly labored each day in her garden, oblivious to the hell that awaited her, for she had sown seeds of terror, and soon she would reap a harvest of destruction.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Total 80s trashy pulp horror. This is my second book by Plante and I might read another if I stumble across one, but you really have to be in the mood for his work. Garden of Evil starts with a prologue in the 13th century where an aging friar, who practiced the 'arts', is on his deathbed and gives his assistant a box of seeds, "To be planted later." Then the story kicks in, concerning Lara, our main protagonist, along with her daughter Molly and new husband Steve.

Steve grew up in an old colonial mansion in Rhode Island but now lives in Mass and owns a restaurant that is doing well. One day his twin sister calls him up, saying their mother is on her deathbed and he better haul ass out to the old homestead ASAP. While the family makes it in time, Steve and Shelly's mom soon passes, leaving the two children the house. Now, Shelly loves the house and is now a fairly successful romance writer. Steve hates and fears the house, due to some 'event' down in the basement when he was a child, and basically wants nothing to do with it. Yet, his daughter and wife are enchanted with the place. Meanwhile, while the family members argue about the place, the daughter Molly explores the place and finds, hidden away in the basement a box of seeds. Since there are four different types, she decides to plant four gardens, one on each side of the huge estate. Needless to say, strange things start to grow...

I love a good pulpy tale, but Plante is pretty far down the list of mid-listers. Steve is a complete asshole and Lara? Well, the primary reason she wants to stay in the house is to rile her step sister Shelly, who also is a complete asshole. Molly is kinda a neat kid, just about deaf; with her hearing aid, she can catch some tones and so forth. She likes to play 'silent detective' and eavesdrop on people by reading their lips. While this began decently, the last 100 pages or so really were a stretch. Good horror manages to get the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief and by the end, this failed to do so for me. I could say more, but will not to avoid spoilers. BTW-- totally unrelated cover art! If you are in the mood for some mediocre 80s horror pulp, this may fit the bill. 2.5 stars, rounding up for the beginning.

[Daniel Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A random book I found in the box of second handers my mum in law had ready when I arrived here in Australia.

Good idea, with the young protag planting ancient seeds and each sprouting somekind of horror. This was ultimately spoiled by her mother, who is one of the most dumb characters ever created (think Tea Leoni in Jurrassic Park 3). This woman was so dense, that she still thought everything was fine, even when a plant was chewing on her face. God, I wanted her to die.

The finale follows the final, man-shaped pod opening. A naked man with a funny voice and glowing green eyes then turns up at the house. What does mum do? Invites the poor man of course and tries to look after him.

Why didn't she die?

[Craig "NEEDS MORE DAMN TIME TO READ !!!!" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly, while that is a great cover design it is very misleading! Upon viewing it I thought this book would be a more violent take on The day of the triffids possibly...I was wrong. It wasn't a bad book per say it just tried to fit in too many ideas at once. It's saving grace is a quite good plot twist towards the end but I feel the book would have been better if this plot point was introduced much earlier.

[Tyler Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the story and the characters.
I made a short book review here.

[William Malmborg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast and easy read, Garden of Evil by Edmund Plante is a novel I would recommend to horror fans, though only to the type who don’t require a full and detailed explanation for why certain things happen. The reason I say this is because several little things occur with the various flowers that seem important at the time, but then just kind of get left behind once the final horror of the garden is revealed. With that final horror there is a brief explanation as to why everything was happening, but it still left several questions unanswered. For instance why did ravenous maggot-like insects appear in one garden? Why did the overwhelming aroma from another garden’s flowers cause some people to hallucinate that they were being killed? Why and how did a plant subdue a person enough to suck blood from their face? Why did some flowers grant wishes at night? And why, by god, did each garden grow at a different time, almost as if each one was a step toward the final garden unleashing its ultimate horror? If there was a reason for this I would have liked to have known what it was, because without an explanation, or a real solid connection, it kind of felt like a cheap filler to beef up the total page number of the novel. Like I said, though, it was still entertaining. It also kept me guessing. For those that can’t enjoy something that doesn’t have a full explanation, however, this probably wouldn’t be a good choice. Last but not least, if you don’t like a book that depicts a seemingly smart woman making really stupid decisions that puts her family in jeopardy -- even after realizing something horrible and unexplainable is going on -- then this wouldn’t be a good selection. At one point I actually tossed the book onto the coffee table in disgust because of this woman, the words what an idiot leaving my lips.

[Meli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Garden of Evil is a schlocky 1980s mass market horror paperback from the Mother of all horror paperback, Leisure Books, and gets a brief mention in Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell which covers paperback horror novels of the 70s and 80s. Once Hendrix got his first taste of this forgotten golden age of horror lit he sought out more of the ilk via Too Much Horror (http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....), so if you are into horror paperbacks of that era I highly recommend Hendrix’s book and Will Errickson's website.

Garden of Evil is pulpy, it is schlocky, but if you are picking this book up (just look at the cover) that is likely what you want, so I don’t use those labels disparagingly. The plot is fairly unique, and as much as I racked my brain I am amiss to find a similar story. Stepfather Steve and his new wife Lara and her daughter Molly move into his childhood home after his mother passes and he inherits the mansion along with his sister. Nothing new there... But the house has a secret past. Ok, still not new. And Molly finds these seeds in the cellar that she plants which harvest an ancient evil. What!? Each garden unleashes a new hell upon the family that is truly tripped out. There are some unforgettably crazy and gory scenes that would make for a great horror movie.

The storyline is inventive, and the plot moves at a consistent pace, but the characters are two-dimensional with some pretty cringe-worthy dialogue at times. Guess you can't have it all.

Totally worth the time for all the boils and ghouls into 70s and 80s horror. It will deliver on what you'd expect with such a delightfully cheesy cover. I only rate it 3 stars because it is only for a niche audience and with such flat characters it can’t be elevated beyond that. For the genre, though, I would give it 4 stars.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was amused and a little disappointed. If you enjoy reading horror with no reasoning behind it, this is as weird as it gets. If you enjoy knowing why something occurred, then don't bother. A 9 year old deaf child finds seeds in the creepy part of the family's huge victorian home, digs four gardens and plants the seeds. Her parents not only don't immediately notice a 9 year old digging four 4'x4' plots; they don't ask where the seeds came from even after the plants sprout. Her mom is somewhat ditzy, her aunt crazed and her step-dad a little overwhelmed as he hates the house and wishes they were somewhere else.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect example of a book being exactly like a low budget 80's horror flick. It's not really a bad thing, if you are into that. Pretty straightforward tale here but lacking in a good back story /history of the house and the necromancer from the prologue. The last few chapters brought it up to 3 stars for me. It gets weird and tense, with a ?? epilogue. A fun no brainer read.

[Ali K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate this cover? 🙌🏻

🌱☘️🌿

I was expecting this to be entertaining in the so-bad-it’s-good kind of way, but honestly it was just entertaining. The writing was decent and easy, there was a lot going on, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I consumed it in less than a day.

[Channing Heater · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plight of Molly and her decisions are really in line with typical 8 year olds and I love it so much.

[Amy]

My favourite book :)

[Daniel Stainback · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read that deserves a slightly higher rating on here. Molly was wonderful and Lara is an idiot.