New Review of “The Color of Evil” (July 4, 2012)

Tad McGreevy has a power that he has never revealed, not even to his life-long best friend, Stevie Scranton. When Tad looks at others, he sees colors. These auras tell Tad whether a person is good or evil. At night, Tad dreams about the evil-doers, reliving their crimes in horrifingly vivid detail. But Tad doesn’t know if the evil acts he witnesses in his nightmares are happening now, are already over, or are going to occur in the future. He has no control over the horrifying visions. He has been told never to speak of his power. All Tad knows is that he wants to protect those he loves. And he wants the bad dreams to stop. At Tad’s 8th birthday party (April 1, 1995) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the clown his parents hire to entertain Tad’s third-grade classmates is one of the bad people. Pogo, the Killer Clown (aka Michael Clay) is a serial killer. So begins 53 nights of terror as Tad relives Pogo’s crime, awakens screaming, and recites the terrifying details to his disbelieving family. The situation becomes so dire that Tad is hospitalized in a private institution under the care of a psychiatrist—who also does not believe the small boy’s stories. And then the police arrest Pogo, the Killer Clown. Flash forward to the beginning of Tad’s junior year in high school, 8 years later. Tad is 16 and recovered from the spring of hi third-grade year. When Michael Clay was caught and imprisoned, the crime spree ended and so did Tad’s bad dreams. Until now, in the year of our Lord 2003, when evil once again stalks the land. This is a terrifying, intense story of the dark people and places that lurk just beneath the surface of seemingly normal small-town America. As one reviewer says, “Wilson nails the darkness beneath the surface of small-town rural America.”
*-*-*-*-* My review:
This was a good suspense novel. The characters were believable and you could really picture them. They were also well developed with a sense of history and background to them. You really see a lot of the small town characters and how an event can happen that affects the entire town.
This story itself is not an easy read if you are looking for something light in the small town vein. It is not a light read by any means. But it is a good story which pulls you in and keeps you reading to find out what happens.
My only issues were minor. I am not a fan of the cover. And there were some parts of the book that seemed a bit repetitive and awkward. But they were not enough to make me want to stop reading. And I am looking forward to seeing what she has in store for these characters next. If you are looking for a suspense novel with twists and turns and am interesting mix of characters you should definitely be checking this one out.