Review – The Best of Evil

Aramis Black has got a new life. Saved from destructive vices and a dangerous life-style, he’s left his old world behind to start anew with his country-singer-hopeful brother, Johnny Ray in Tennessee. Armed with new faith and a gritty understanding of how the “other side” lives, Aramis is determined to defy the message tattooed on both his arms: “Live by the Sword; Die by the Sword”. In Tennessee, he’s got family in Johnny, a refreshing change of venue, an up and coming coffee shop backed by an attractive and business savvy partner, and a gradually brightening future.

The problem is, the “old man” inside doesn’t die as easily as we’d like it to sometimes. Haunted by his mother’s death, scarred by the cruel, abusive treatment of his father, Aramis is living proof that even when you cut yourself free from the sins of the past, sometimes they don’t loose themselves from you. He’s dogged by nightmares of his father’s heavy fists and their blows, pursued by the belief that if his mother was alive today, she’d be ashamed of the man he’s become.

Still – Aramis pushes on. Painfully aware of the mistakes he’s made, determined to make restitution, trying to get a handle on his new belief in God, he lives day by day, knowing that with God’s help, he’s going to somehow make things right.

Everything changes when a stranger is horrifyingly gunned down in his coffee shop, right in front of him. Suddenly, the death Aramis has so desperately sought to leave behind rears its head, once again threatening to pull him into darkness. The waters are muddied even more with the stranger’s dying words, as Aramis works vainly to save him: “Turn your eyes from greed?.they’re comin’ for you, next?.”

Against his will, Aramis is plunged into a draconian mystery spanning the generations, something that is inexplicably tied to his own family, and the mystery surrounding his mother’s death. How much of his life is a lie; what truths will he uncover?and can he bear them?

The Best of Evil, by Eric Wilson, is a page-turning mystery that’ll hook you from the moment the gunshots ring out in Black’s Caf?, dragging you along to its plot-twisting conclusion. Aramis Black is a character verging on the iconic – one whose story isn’t nearly done yet, fresh ground for further adventures.

One area Christian fiction has struggled with in the past has been dialogue, and in The Best of Evil, the characters speak as real people would. These folks are also honest portrayals of real life, and Aramis is like so many Christians today – burdened by their past, mercifully saved by God’s grace and aware that there is Purpose that can’t be contained in any book or church.

There’s a lot in the main character for readers to connect to; Aramis Black knows of God’s mercy, knows there’s a purer, truer way – but he doesn’t have all the answers, and struggles with all the same things regular people struggle with – anger, intemperance, envy, guilt, bitterness. Though he knows God has saved him for a reason, a lot of times he feels like he’s just making it up as he goes along, which – if we’re honest with ourselves – we probably feel the same way, too.

And let’s not forget the mystery itself – because The Best of Evil is one heckuva “whodunit”. The true enemies are least where you expect them to be, and Wilson pulls some nifty plot twists along the way – including one big “honking one” at the end – that will have you figuring this thing out the whole way through. Its narrative is written in a very conversational, dialogue-driven style, not weighed down by heavy exposition. Once this mystery gets its hooks into you, it demands to be read at a furious pace, and it’s written in a way making that very easy.