The Object of Evil by Chris Duryea

Is Evil a living entity or is it a state of mind?  After being framed for corporate crimes he did not commit, Daryl Tempest unwittingly summons a cast of evil personae to lead his gruesome revenge.  With the famed Hotel Del Coronado in the background, Daryl is pushed into a downward spiral of psychotic confusion and soirees of eroticism, mystery, and ghostly illusions of Kate Morgan.  Once unleashed, Evil will not be contained. (Taken from the back of the book)

I have to be honest.  The sheer size of this book turned me off initially.  Don't get me wrong.  I love to read.  Sometimes a huge book is just what the doctor ordered.  At other times you want something you can read in two hours.  Since I've lately been in the mood for shorter books, I picked this one up with dread.  I knew I'd put it off too long though and had to force myself to pick it up.  As it was, reading in between life events, it took me two full days to finish it.  I have to admit it was a well-spent two days, though. 

Chris states that when writing this book he just sat down and began writing and watched to see where it would take him.  For me, that was obvious in the reading.  The story has a flow that's absolutely breathtaking.  The characters are well-formed and alive with no stunting.  Personally, Daryl was my favorite.  His mannerisms change so much in regards to whoever he's speaking with.  We all do that to some degree and it's wonderful to see that implemented in characters.   It's easy to open page one and plunge in head first.  Chris takes us all along on an intriguing and thrilling ride with him.

I do have to admit that I have one huge problem with the book.  If it were presented in movie format, it wouldn't be an issue at all.  As a reader, though, I found it a trifle annoying.  In the beginning we're presented with insurmountable description.  Each person, item, place is painstakingly drawn out for us.  It's difficult to get past the first chapter because the description of each character and the lumber yard, as well as the operation of the lumber yard, really bogs you down.  It's well-crafted description, don't get me wrong, but entirely too much for my tastes.  As the story unfolds, however,  it becomes a much more tolerable level.  The other issue I have, which interlocks with the vast amounts of description, is that in places of the book dialogue consumes everything.  Because of the need to keep characters straight without adding little descriptive phrases, names and nicknames are used repeatedly in sentences creating a monotonous reading tone.  I feel, personally, that if the description were spaced a bit more evenly throughout the book, it would make it a five star read.