Review: The Devil in Silver - Victor LaValle

Kate’s Library

Pepper finds himself an inmate of a mental institution.  A terrifying creature with the body of an old man and the head of a bison visits his room.  He is almost killed.  This happens on more than one occasion, and every time, the hospital staff just ushers the creature away.  He is not imagining this – everyone else in the ward knows exactly what is going on.  The devil roams the hallways and the floor above the institution.

This book was great.  I received it in my “horror box” from Book Riot.  (Side note – these boxes are awesome and worth checking out.)  It was expecting a scary tale, but I was more pleased by the story I actually found.  Yes, the devil is scary.  It was definitely a scary tale.  However, there was a lot more going on.

Scarier than the devil roaming the hallways was the idea of being in a mental institution.  In this particular book, the conditions and treatments were totally sketchy.  And the people really had no recourse.  There’s this being roaming the hallways preying on the patients.  Inmates are drugged to the gills.  Restraints are used as punishment.  And if these people said anything, who is going to believe them?  They’re mental patients.  The idea of being in this institution is far scarier than the devil roaming the hallways.  And that’s saying something, because the description of this devil is pretty damn scary.

If you’re looking for a scary read that has a lot of substance, pick up The Devil in Silver.

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