Review: Nice pace and mystery to this story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2012
This is the first time I've read Steve Vernon, so I wasn't sure what to expect. First of all, the book is beautifully written with its detailed description and imagery. Though it was tedious to get through at times given the abundance of detail, I found myself getting used to it as I moved along. The story started out a little slow, but once Duvall showed up, things took a turn for the better. Duvall is a difficult man to figure out. I wasn't sure if he was good, evil, or something in between. In any event, his character - and the mystery surrounding him - added to the creepiness of the whole story. There are some gruesome parts to this tale. A couple of them even forced me to collect myself before continuing. The book, however, is not a drawn-out gore-fest by any means. The specific instances that are meant to disturb serve a purpose. Overall, I really enjoyed the pace and mystery of The Devil Tree. As a writer myself, I like to leave certain parts to the reader's imagination. While some like to have everything neatly tied together by the end, I don't mind that Steve leaves us with an element of the unknown.