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The Living Evil
DEADLY GIFT
No question about it. Zenoa, the gift from Gramma, was a beautiful doll. Beautiful hair reaching her shoulders, a dimpled chin, and those penetrating brown eyes. It was beyond imagination that she might be capable of repeatedly driving an ice pick into the bodies of those unfortunates that shared a home with her ...
SCAPEGOAT?
Pamela Armand was the only one that suspected what actually happened on that fateful night. And Pamela was the one that stood accused of the brutal murders. After all, Pamela was found covered in blood, with the murder weapon in her hand. And there was no one else in the house … The trial, of course, was swift.
With Pamela safely housed in a jail for many years, Zenoa enjoyed near total freedom. She began to take full advantage, growing her capabilities day by day.
FINAL CONFLICT
The stage was set for the final conflict. Zenoa had those several years to prepare ...
No question about it. Zenoa, the gift from Gramma, was a beautiful doll. Beautiful hair reaching her shoulders, a dimpled chin, and those penetrating brown eyes. It was beyond imagination that she might be capable of repeatedly driving an ice pick into the bodies of those unfortunates that shared a home with her ...
SCAPEGOAT?
Pamela Armand was the only one that suspected what actually happened on that fateful night. And Pamela was the one that stood accused of the brutal murders. After all, Pamela was found covered in blood, with the murder weapon in her hand. And there was no one else in the house … The trial, of course, was swift.
With Pamela safely housed in a jail for many years, Zenoa enjoyed near total freedom. She began to take full advantage, growing her capabilities day by day.
FINAL CONFLICT
The stage was set for the final conflict. Zenoa had those several years to prepare ...
- GenresHorrorHistorical
366 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1993
9 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
Ruby Jean Jensen
39 books211 followers
Ruby Jean Jensen
Born McDonald County, Missouri, USA, March 1, 1927
Died November 16, 2010
Website http://www.rubyjeanjensen.com
Twitter RubyJeanJensen1
Facebook www.facebook.com/Rjjhorror
Ruby Jean Jensen authored 30 published and 4 not yet published novels, and over 200 short stories. Her passion for writing developed at an early age, and she worked for many years to develop her writing skills. After having many short stories published, in 1974 the novel The House that Samael Built was accepted for publication. She then quickly established herself as a professional author, with representation by a Literary Agent from New York. She subsequently sold 29 more novels to several New York publishing houses. After four Gothic Romance, three Occult and then three Horror novels, MaMa was published by Zebra books in 1983. With Zebra, Ruby Jean completed nineteen more novels in the Horror genre.
Ruby was involved with creative writing groups for many years, and she often took the time to encourage young authors and to reply to fan mail.
Ruby Jean, a supreme story-teller, quickly captures and holds your attention. Her books, written for adults, are also suitable for adolescents and young adults. She continues to have an enthusiastic following in the Horror genre.
Born McDonald County, Missouri, USA, March 1, 1927
Died November 16, 2010
Website http://www.rubyjeanjensen.com
Twitter RubyJeanJensen1
Facebook www.facebook.com/Rjjhorror
Ruby Jean Jensen authored 30 published and 4 not yet published novels, and over 200 short stories. Her passion for writing developed at an early age, and she worked for many years to develop her writing skills. After having many short stories published, in 1974 the novel The House that Samael Built was accepted for publication. She then quickly established herself as a professional author, with representation by a Literary Agent from New York. She subsequently sold 29 more novels to several New York publishing houses. After four Gothic Romance, three Occult and then three Horror novels, MaMa was published by Zebra books in 1983. With Zebra, Ruby Jean completed nineteen more novels in the Horror genre.
Ruby was involved with creative writing groups for many years, and she often took the time to encourage young authors and to reply to fan mail.
Ruby Jean, a supreme story-teller, quickly captures and holds your attention. Her books, written for adults, are also suitable for adolescents and young adults. She continues to have an enthusiastic following in the Horror genre.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 1, 2022
Great thriller about a killer doll named Zenoa. The story follows her throughout the years, from 1870 to 1993. Beautiful Zenoa is given many times as a gift to different young girls, who eventually end up frightened of the doll, are convinced she moves, and that she is evil. The adults usually don’t believe the little girls which lead to tragic consequences for all. The story is told in three parts, which are somewhat connected. This was a very captivating book, I had a hard time putting it down. The atmosphere was great, Zenoa was totally creepy and scary. There were many interesting characters in this book, some I liked, and some I didn’t. I was sad to see some of the likable ones die.
A highly entertaining and spooky read, full of tension, chills, and suspense.
A highly entertaining and spooky read, full of tension, chills, and suspense.
September 25, 2013
How do you not like a book about a killer doll? Just look at that cover. She Walks, She Talks, She Kills...that has got to be one of the best taglines ever. Ruby Jean Jensen has always had her very distinct style in the mixed bag of cheesiness that was 80s and early 90s horror. Her writing was better than most. She was fairly chaste in terms of not relying on overt gore or sex, yet she was fiercely brutal with her characters, dispatching them left and right, regardless of their age, gender, likability or their leading placements in the story. This is Jensen's magnum opus, 476 pages of smallish print, spanning 126 years or so. It's as entertaining as a book about a vicious killer doll with a serious vanity complex can be, which is quite a lot, really. As much fun as the front cover is, definitely stay away from the back of. I glanced at it halfway into the book and still learned more than I needed to know at that point, too much information there and factually erroneous at that. Fun read. Recommended.
March 24, 2021
This was my first RJJ book, and it was not bad at all.. A bit too long at 477 pages which I believe is her longest book. This could have been a tighter story if about 100 pages were removed. Told in 3 parts. Part 2 tended to drag on the longest, losi g some of that creepy atmosphere throughout the book. But I was surprised at some of the violence and what Ultimately happens to some of the characters. An evil doll sounds tacky, but I admit it had its unnerving moments.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2019
This novel is the 5th of Ruby Jean's "evil doll" novels. Follow along as the beautiful doll Zenoa becomes more and more powerful, and Pam seems helpless to regain any measure of her former life. Ruby Jean creates a twisted scenario in which Zenoa comes very close to becoming a real person and acquiring everything that the survivors value. Anything great story from a consistently entertaining author.
Read
January 27, 2016Ruby Jean Jensen wrote creepy horror novels where no one was safe. Not children, not the main character, people often died in unsuspecting ways. One of her favorite themes seemed to be dolls. She wrote the creepy plastic villains like the best of them. Dark, haunting, and worth a read for a cheesy 80's horror type.
July 10, 2023
This novel was my introduction to Ruby Jean Jensen. As much as I love horror, I am surprised I have not heard of her work until now. It's great that her family has been re-releasing Ruby's work to new generations as well as people who originally read the stories when they first were released. I must say though, some of the new cover artwork leaves much to be desired. I feel like the current artwork for this novel is off-putting and might keep some people from giving the book a chance. It looks like a PS2 game character rather then the simple yet effective look of the original cover.
The story itself spans over a century. When I learned of that, I wasn't sure if it would be managed well. The novel seemed normal length and I thought that might be too short for a story to span that many years. But each time period works for the story and it doesn't feel like a gimmick. You get to follow this doll for over 100 years as it affects two families. I found myself feeling for these characters so it was an emotional punch whenever one of the characters fell to this Evil. Based off of my first experiences with Ruby's books, I am learning it is better to go into her novels knowing that no one is safe from dying.
I do have one gripe with the story. The final act seemed a little too much. Only because we never got much explanation for how certain stuff happened. I have no issues with out-there premises as long as they make sense within the rules of the story. And I feel like part of this novel 's third act could have done with some more explanation.
That aside though, I would love to see a movie or miniseries adapted from their novel.
The story itself spans over a century. When I learned of that, I wasn't sure if it would be managed well. The novel seemed normal length and I thought that might be too short for a story to span that many years. But each time period works for the story and it doesn't feel like a gimmick. You get to follow this doll for over 100 years as it affects two families. I found myself feeling for these characters so it was an emotional punch whenever one of the characters fell to this Evil. Based off of my first experiences with Ruby's books, I am learning it is better to go into her novels knowing that no one is safe from dying.
I do have one gripe with the story. The final act seemed a little too much. Only because we never got much explanation for how certain stuff happened. I have no issues with out-there premises as long as they make sense within the rules of the story. And I feel like part of this novel 's third act could have done with some more explanation.
That aside though, I would love to see a movie or miniseries adapted from their novel.
October 21, 2022
Have some mixed feelings on this one. I liked the story but there were a lot of editing mishaps which were odd.
January 31, 2023
Book 1: The Living Doll
Now Zenoa stood several steps from the chair where Ellie had left her. She was no longer beautiful, she was hideous. Her one eye glared and her red tongue stuck out. Her hair was thin and torn and ratted. As Ellie’s eyes remained pinned to her, she saw the right arm raise, and in the hand something glistened.The ice pick.
Two little girls, eight year old Eleanor (Ellie) and six year old Becky Morris only know a lifetime of sorrows, sufferings, and the sting of their mother's wrathful hands. Becky suffers from terrible fears of the Black Ghosts she see swirling around her mother's head as well as creeping from the shadows in every room she occupied. Waking up from a dead sleep, screaming her voice hoarse didn't earn her any motherly compassion or sympathy; rather it earned her her own mother's anger and violent beatings. Learning from her own mother brought out something monstrous inside of Ellie as she showed the same self-destructive and oftentimes horrifically abusive tendencies to her younger sister. Fed up with her crying, of the constant night terrors, their mother Heather decides time has finally arrived to re-home and remove the disruptive children from her life once and for all. Calling for her eldest sister Aster to take the responsibilities of motherhood from her. Even though she was pregnant with current boyfriend's Thurman Winslow's baby boy, she decided the tiny flat wasn't big enough for her two daughters.
“What did I tell you? Didn’t I tell you to be still? Didn’t I warn you what would happen if you didn’t mind me? I’ll knock your ugly head off. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you. You bad, bad girl. You don’t even deserve to live. I don’t know why you were even born.’’
As if the doll had forgotten her it was standing again over Ellie. Becky saw the arm lift high and then lower, swiftly, and the ice pick plunged again into Ellie’s back. Ellie’s body jolted. The ice pick stayed there, stuck in Ellie, as if the brown handle grew from Ellie’s back.
Whisper, whisper. Beware, beware. You’re alone, alone, alone, except for her, her, her. Zenoa, Zenoa, Zenoa. Shhh, shhh, don’t make a sound, or she will find you, find you, find you. Kill you, kill you . . . Heather sent Zenoa here to kill you, kill you . . .
Welcoming the troubled children into her home, she never expected the trouble to follow them. As a parting present, Heather shocked everyone when she gifted Zenoa - a gorgeous doll who bore a striking resemblance to herself, to her own daughters who she was casting aside. Mesmerized by the beauty it held, Ellie held tightly to the daughter as Becky felt a bone chilling fear from it. She stood horrified as the Black Ghost abandoned their mother and instead chose the doll to harbor it's secrets and cruelty. It wouldn't take long before in fits of rage Ellie took her sufferings out on Zenoa. From tearing clumps of it's hair out, to deep scratches on its cheeks, even going so far as to push it's eyes back into it's skill so one would never open again. Every snap.of anger she felt, Zenoa would come to experience ten fold. On a final snap, she beat the doll before casting it aside to the floor where she figured it would stay unt she felt the need to be close with it again.except this time the doll rose to it's feet, and armed with an ice pick advanced on her. Stabbing her twice in the back, Becky was the first to discover her sister's body, and I'm turn the only witness to the dolls horrific antics. Blamed by her jown Aunt as the one responsible, Aster cleaned and dressed the deceased in an attempt to hide the true nature of her death, instead choosing to disguise it as a simple illness that took her life. It wouldn't be until days later when she would learn firsthand the madness that doll truly possessed. Cornering her alone in the kitchen late one evening, it armed itself with the ice pick once again and left poor Becky to discover yet another gruesome scene. Was this doll truly possessed by evil, or was the woman who gifted it haunted by a monstrous force all along?
“The doll, the doll, make it go away. Make it go away. It killed Ellie. Make it go away. I saw it. I saw the ice pick in its hands. I saw . . . the doll . . . hurt Ellie.”
Book 2: 1969: The Legacy
As Kit stared, her skin rippling coldly, tightening across her cheekbones and pulling her hair tight, she saw Zenoa’s arms raise. There was a hair brush in her right hand, and as she looked at herself in the mirror she began to brush her hair.Her lips widened into a smile as she gazed at her reflection.Then suddenly her eyes lifted, finding Kit’s face in the mirror, and the soft expression in the eyes turned blank and glassy.
Fast forward nearly a hundred years and the curse of Zenoa continues to drive family's to the grave. The Armand family was a very typical suburban family, with a stable home life and financial security. But when Gramma Vee gave young daughter Kit the birthday present of a large, antique doll, their lives would begin to fill with tensions, fears and eventually bloody ruins. Immediately after accepting the doll, Kit began being troubled by it seemingly moving about on its own, from standing at the foot of her bed watching her late into the night to destroying her Barbie dolls and clothing while locked inside the closet. Yet those glossy eyes seemed far more human than fake when she found her in the powder room downstairs; applying makeup and brushing out her hair. Animated by seemingly her own accord, Zenoa was truly alive and had a deep rooted malicious side that would leave any and everybody associated with her deceased in gruesome and rather bloody ways. Waking her older sister Pamela (Pam) up around two am would be the last time the two sisters would ever speak or see each other alive. Convinced the doll was possessed and alive, Kit urges Pamela to see for herself the doll sitting pretty in the powder room. Believing it more so to be her young sisters imagination, Pam took the doll and carried her to the attic where the story took a turn for the worse. Moving erratically, the doll caused Pam to strike her head before losing consciousness. Grabbing a rusty ice pick from a box in the attic, Zenoa began her descent to the bedrooms where she stabbed Kit to death in the hallway. Awakened by the sounds, their brother Nicky came out of his room to be stabbed a horrific 29 times. Next came their mother Faye and father Ted; first stabbed in their eyes to be blinded before the horrors could ensue.
“Pam,” Kit whispered, “something’s been moving around in my room. Looking at things. Opening drawers, looking.”
When Pam finally regained consciousness, she was left with a blank memory and a horrible ache in her head. Stumbling down the attic steps she was greeted with her deceased family members, before grabbing the icepick and running into the streets. Screaming about the deaths brought countless neighbors and police to the scene, however it landed Pam in jail and being charged for the gruesome deaths. With nobody left to believe her, she turned to surviving sister Beth and Gramma Vee with tales of the doll, yet nobody would believe her. Taking possession of the doll and taking her home, Gramma Vee would wake in the dead of night to the doll armed with a Drstraight razor before it sliced her wrists to make it appear a suicide. With her dying breaths she scrawled in blood one word, Zenoa. Haunted by the revelation of so many deaths, nobody could figure out how a young girl could kill her picture perfect family so callously, so maliciously even. To make the doll walk in the blood around the bodies seemed cold enough, but detectives were haunted to see now the stockings are stained in fresh blood after her Gramma's apparent suicide. As she faces thirty years to life in prison, Pam vows to end and destroy that doll the moment she has freedom. But first, she had to warn Beth to stay far away from the attic and the house her family passed away in. For in that locked door the doll stood and waited for the next chance.
Yes, it had moved. It came toward me, like a real girl, but the moment it came into the light of day it collapsed, whatever that was alive in it destroyed by daylight.
Book 3: 1993 Zenoa:
She had served twenty-four years, and now it was over.
After serving over twenty years in a woman's prison haunted by the horrific murders she never committed, Pamela decides silence might be her safest chance. Deciding against speaking of the true horrors of the night that the doll orchestrated, she instead remained silent through her trial, keeping her own defense to herself and allowing her lawyers to try to plea her case for her. Trying to avoid an insanity defense in fear of a lengthier sentence, her lawyers claimed someone snuck up the trellis and entered through an unlocked and open attic window, where they say in silence to surprise Pam as she brought the doll upstairs. Even with the limited evidence of her committing the crimes, she still was faced with a thirty years to life sentence. Even with the safely of the locked bars, nightmares still plagued her nightly of the doll and something more sinister. Zenoa was alive, and was becoming more real, .lre human with every kill.
Until death do you part,” the minister was saying, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
“No. No,” she said. “Heather. My name is Heather.”
She cried, “Heather! I am—Heather! Beautiful! Never age, never die. Live Beautiful—rich. This is my house! Mine! I was promised!”
After serving her sentence, reduced to twenty four years, the once eighteen years old is now forty two years old. Confused of where life should take her after her adulthood spent incarcerated, she returns to her only surviving family; Beth, her husband Ross and two children Tresa and Justin. With a frosty reception from Beth, everyone was shocked by how warm and welcoming Tresa was towards her Aunt. Accepting her immediately, Tresa believed she was innocent of the murders all those years ago,while her mother Beth clung to the belief of her osnd sister's guilt. However something horrible is beginning, and it all starts with Justin's new fiance. Beautiful, breathtaking, old fashioned Zenoa, the only girl to steal his heart and turn him into a marriage type. Determined to keep her as his forever, he ignores the red flags and objections from his family as after only a few days together they announce their engagement. Most shocking of all, the two are set to wed not even a full month after first meeting. Yet Zenoa has an odd ability to draw in the male gaze, ruining Tresa's relationship with fiance Blake as his eyes begin wandering for her. With Tresa and Pam untrusting of the mysterious woman who seemed to appear overnight, Pam opens up about the murders to her niece, and is shocked to find Zenoa was sneaking into the murder house and stealing Pam's clothing to wear.
Yes, murder. Murder had been done twenty-four years ago, and a hundred and twenty-four years ago. <\b>
Wrapped carefully around her oddly cool fingers, Justin throws all cautions aside as he proceeds to his wedding with Zenoa. Even at the urging fr his sister and Aunt, nothing could stop him fr getting and pleasing his bride. A few hours past the wedding and suddenly a phone call shocks the entire family; Justin's dead from a cocaine overdose after injecting with a needle into his vein. As Pam and Tresa fight to prove Zenoa's involvement, a final horrible showdown will start that left Pam wounded from stab wounds and Tresa standing over the severed pieces of Zenoa. Even as her head was cut from her neck, her body still fought and tried to kill and destroy. This is when the truth of what Zenoa was is truly revealed, a troubled girl from over a hundred years ago, Heather, who sold her soul to the devil for a chance of immorality,beauty, and riches far beyond imagination. As she awoke in a hospital, Pam meets her one chance at happiness as Detective Jefferson comes to her akd, even offering her a place of safety and security far from the nightmares of Twenty four years ago.
Maybe it will all turn out fine.Forget everything I told you.The hour of the wedding had passed.
Now Zenoa stood several steps from the chair where Ellie had left her. She was no longer beautiful, she was hideous. Her one eye glared and her red tongue stuck out. Her hair was thin and torn and ratted. As Ellie’s eyes remained pinned to her, she saw the right arm raise, and in the hand something glistened.The ice pick.
Two little girls, eight year old Eleanor (Ellie) and six year old Becky Morris only know a lifetime of sorrows, sufferings, and the sting of their mother's wrathful hands. Becky suffers from terrible fears of the Black Ghosts she see swirling around her mother's head as well as creeping from the shadows in every room she occupied. Waking up from a dead sleep, screaming her voice hoarse didn't earn her any motherly compassion or sympathy; rather it earned her her own mother's anger and violent beatings. Learning from her own mother brought out something monstrous inside of Ellie as she showed the same self-destructive and oftentimes horrifically abusive tendencies to her younger sister. Fed up with her crying, of the constant night terrors, their mother Heather decides time has finally arrived to re-home and remove the disruptive children from her life once and for all. Calling for her eldest sister Aster to take the responsibilities of motherhood from her. Even though she was pregnant with current boyfriend's Thurman Winslow's baby boy, she decided the tiny flat wasn't big enough for her two daughters.
“What did I tell you? Didn’t I tell you to be still? Didn’t I warn you what would happen if you didn’t mind me? I’ll knock your ugly head off. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you. You bad, bad girl. You don’t even deserve to live. I don’t know why you were even born.’’
As if the doll had forgotten her it was standing again over Ellie. Becky saw the arm lift high and then lower, swiftly, and the ice pick plunged again into Ellie’s back. Ellie’s body jolted. The ice pick stayed there, stuck in Ellie, as if the brown handle grew from Ellie’s back.
Whisper, whisper. Beware, beware. You’re alone, alone, alone, except for her, her, her. Zenoa, Zenoa, Zenoa. Shhh, shhh, don’t make a sound, or she will find you, find you, find you. Kill you, kill you . . . Heather sent Zenoa here to kill you, kill you . . .
Welcoming the troubled children into her home, she never expected the trouble to follow them. As a parting present, Heather shocked everyone when she gifted Zenoa - a gorgeous doll who bore a striking resemblance to herself, to her own daughters who she was casting aside. Mesmerized by the beauty it held, Ellie held tightly to the daughter as Becky felt a bone chilling fear from it. She stood horrified as the Black Ghost abandoned their mother and instead chose the doll to harbor it's secrets and cruelty. It wouldn't take long before in fits of rage Ellie took her sufferings out on Zenoa. From tearing clumps of it's hair out, to deep scratches on its cheeks, even going so far as to push it's eyes back into it's skill so one would never open again. Every snap.of anger she felt, Zenoa would come to experience ten fold. On a final snap, she beat the doll before casting it aside to the floor where she figured it would stay unt she felt the need to be close with it again.except this time the doll rose to it's feet, and armed with an ice pick advanced on her. Stabbing her twice in the back, Becky was the first to discover her sister's body, and I'm turn the only witness to the dolls horrific antics. Blamed by her jown Aunt as the one responsible, Aster cleaned and dressed the deceased in an attempt to hide the true nature of her death, instead choosing to disguise it as a simple illness that took her life. It wouldn't be until days later when she would learn firsthand the madness that doll truly possessed. Cornering her alone in the kitchen late one evening, it armed itself with the ice pick once again and left poor Becky to discover yet another gruesome scene. Was this doll truly possessed by evil, or was the woman who gifted it haunted by a monstrous force all along?
“The doll, the doll, make it go away. Make it go away. It killed Ellie. Make it go away. I saw it. I saw the ice pick in its hands. I saw . . . the doll . . . hurt Ellie.”
Book 2: 1969: The Legacy
As Kit stared, her skin rippling coldly, tightening across her cheekbones and pulling her hair tight, she saw Zenoa’s arms raise. There was a hair brush in her right hand, and as she looked at herself in the mirror she began to brush her hair.Her lips widened into a smile as she gazed at her reflection.Then suddenly her eyes lifted, finding Kit’s face in the mirror, and the soft expression in the eyes turned blank and glassy.
Fast forward nearly a hundred years and the curse of Zenoa continues to drive family's to the grave. The Armand family was a very typical suburban family, with a stable home life and financial security. But when Gramma Vee gave young daughter Kit the birthday present of a large, antique doll, their lives would begin to fill with tensions, fears and eventually bloody ruins. Immediately after accepting the doll, Kit began being troubled by it seemingly moving about on its own, from standing at the foot of her bed watching her late into the night to destroying her Barbie dolls and clothing while locked inside the closet. Yet those glossy eyes seemed far more human than fake when she found her in the powder room downstairs; applying makeup and brushing out her hair. Animated by seemingly her own accord, Zenoa was truly alive and had a deep rooted malicious side that would leave any and everybody associated with her deceased in gruesome and rather bloody ways. Waking her older sister Pamela (Pam) up around two am would be the last time the two sisters would ever speak or see each other alive. Convinced the doll was possessed and alive, Kit urges Pamela to see for herself the doll sitting pretty in the powder room. Believing it more so to be her young sisters imagination, Pam took the doll and carried her to the attic where the story took a turn for the worse. Moving erratically, the doll caused Pam to strike her head before losing consciousness. Grabbing a rusty ice pick from a box in the attic, Zenoa began her descent to the bedrooms where she stabbed Kit to death in the hallway. Awakened by the sounds, their brother Nicky came out of his room to be stabbed a horrific 29 times. Next came their mother Faye and father Ted; first stabbed in their eyes to be blinded before the horrors could ensue.
“Pam,” Kit whispered, “something’s been moving around in my room. Looking at things. Opening drawers, looking.”
When Pam finally regained consciousness, she was left with a blank memory and a horrible ache in her head. Stumbling down the attic steps she was greeted with her deceased family members, before grabbing the icepick and running into the streets. Screaming about the deaths brought countless neighbors and police to the scene, however it landed Pam in jail and being charged for the gruesome deaths. With nobody left to believe her, she turned to surviving sister Beth and Gramma Vee with tales of the doll, yet nobody would believe her. Taking possession of the doll and taking her home, Gramma Vee would wake in the dead of night to the doll armed with a Drstraight razor before it sliced her wrists to make it appear a suicide. With her dying breaths she scrawled in blood one word, Zenoa. Haunted by the revelation of so many deaths, nobody could figure out how a young girl could kill her picture perfect family so callously, so maliciously even. To make the doll walk in the blood around the bodies seemed cold enough, but detectives were haunted to see now the stockings are stained in fresh blood after her Gramma's apparent suicide. As she faces thirty years to life in prison, Pam vows to end and destroy that doll the moment she has freedom. But first, she had to warn Beth to stay far away from the attic and the house her family passed away in. For in that locked door the doll stood and waited for the next chance.
Yes, it had moved. It came toward me, like a real girl, but the moment it came into the light of day it collapsed, whatever that was alive in it destroyed by daylight.
Book 3: 1993 Zenoa:
She had served twenty-four years, and now it was over.
After serving over twenty years in a woman's prison haunted by the horrific murders she never committed, Pamela decides silence might be her safest chance. Deciding against speaking of the true horrors of the night that the doll orchestrated, she instead remained silent through her trial, keeping her own defense to herself and allowing her lawyers to try to plea her case for her. Trying to avoid an insanity defense in fear of a lengthier sentence, her lawyers claimed someone snuck up the trellis and entered through an unlocked and open attic window, where they say in silence to surprise Pam as she brought the doll upstairs. Even with the limited evidence of her committing the crimes, she still was faced with a thirty years to life sentence. Even with the safely of the locked bars, nightmares still plagued her nightly of the doll and something more sinister. Zenoa was alive, and was becoming more real, .lre human with every kill.
Until death do you part,” the minister was saying, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
“No. No,” she said. “Heather. My name is Heather.”
She cried, “Heather! I am—Heather! Beautiful! Never age, never die. Live Beautiful—rich. This is my house! Mine! I was promised!”
After serving her sentence, reduced to twenty four years, the once eighteen years old is now forty two years old. Confused of where life should take her after her adulthood spent incarcerated, she returns to her only surviving family; Beth, her husband Ross and two children Tresa and Justin. With a frosty reception from Beth, everyone was shocked by how warm and welcoming Tresa was towards her Aunt. Accepting her immediately, Tresa believed she was innocent of the murders all those years ago,while her mother Beth clung to the belief of her osnd sister's guilt. However something horrible is beginning, and it all starts with Justin's new fiance. Beautiful, breathtaking, old fashioned Zenoa, the only girl to steal his heart and turn him into a marriage type. Determined to keep her as his forever, he ignores the red flags and objections from his family as after only a few days together they announce their engagement. Most shocking of all, the two are set to wed not even a full month after first meeting. Yet Zenoa has an odd ability to draw in the male gaze, ruining Tresa's relationship with fiance Blake as his eyes begin wandering for her. With Tresa and Pam untrusting of the mysterious woman who seemed to appear overnight, Pam opens up about the murders to her niece, and is shocked to find Zenoa was sneaking into the murder house and stealing Pam's clothing to wear.
Yes, murder. Murder had been done twenty-four years ago, and a hundred and twenty-four years ago. <\b>
Wrapped carefully around her oddly cool fingers, Justin throws all cautions aside as he proceeds to his wedding with Zenoa. Even at the urging fr his sister and Aunt, nothing could stop him fr getting and pleasing his bride. A few hours past the wedding and suddenly a phone call shocks the entire family; Justin's dead from a cocaine overdose after injecting with a needle into his vein. As Pam and Tresa fight to prove Zenoa's involvement, a final horrible showdown will start that left Pam wounded from stab wounds and Tresa standing over the severed pieces of Zenoa. Even as her head was cut from her neck, her body still fought and tried to kill and destroy. This is when the truth of what Zenoa was is truly revealed, a troubled girl from over a hundred years ago, Heather, who sold her soul to the devil for a chance of immorality,beauty, and riches far beyond imagination. As she awoke in a hospital, Pam meets her one chance at happiness as Detective Jefferson comes to her akd, even offering her a place of safety and security far from the nightmares of Twenty four years ago.
Maybe it will all turn out fine.Forget everything I told you.The hour of the wedding had passed.
February 13, 2023
One of the best books I've ever read, BY FAR!!!
I really liked the whole idea of a killer doll, and the characters were painted in such interesting ways. This story really had me on the edge all the time! Easily one of my favorite books of all time. My mom introduced it to me, and I'll forever be grateful. Seriously, do not skip out on this novel! It's AMAZING.
I really liked the whole idea of a killer doll, and the characters were painted in such interesting ways. This story really had me on the edge all the time! Easily one of my favorite books of all time. My mom introduced it to me, and I'll forever be grateful. Seriously, do not skip out on this novel! It's AMAZING.
September 27, 2019
I loved this like I loved the other books I read of hers. This was scary and you really felt for the characters in this novel who were well fleshed out. I enjoyed the story and read through it quickly wanting to know Zenoa's origins. Big twist 3/4's of the way through the book! It is jaw dropping!
July 12, 2020
I loved this book. I had it years ago and I want to read it again! Problem is, I cant find it anywhere and the new release is in June! It had me turning pages from Chapter 1 and wanting to sleep with one eye open! One of the best scary books I have read to date!
August 10, 2025
Definitely evil. A wicked plot that makes a person grateful that it can only be fictional.
August 2, 2013
This is the first ever thick book that i read from cover to cover. Honestly I am deeply ashamed to God because during that time instead of reading the holy scripture i am hooked reading fantasy and horror novel.
This book is about Zenoa, the woman who sell her soul to the devil in order to preserved her beauty. You will discover the secret behind this doll Zenoa. This book was divided into 3 book:
book 1 was during the ancient times. as far as i can remember it was during 1950's
book 2 was during during 1970's (if i am not mistaken)
book 3 was during 1990's
This book is about Zenoa, the woman who sell her soul to the devil in order to preserved her beauty. You will discover the secret behind this doll Zenoa. This book was divided into 3 book:
book 1 was during the ancient times. as far as i can remember it was during 1950's
book 2 was during during 1970's (if i am not mistaken)
book 3 was during 1990's
January 7, 2020
Book One: 1870, The Gift
"Make it go away! Make it go away!"
Ellie woke, feeling at her back the jerk of her little sister's body in the beginning of one of her night terrors. She cringed, knowing the scream would come next.
"Make it go away! Make it go away!"
Ellie woke, feeling at her back the jerk of her little sister's body in the beginning of one of her night terrors. She cringed, knowing the scream would come next.
December 22, 2013
Overall well written.
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