Beautifully written. I was hooked from the first page. The story was unique, entertaining, imaginative, and thought provoking. The characters were deep and well written, and I didn’t have one that I didn’t enjoy. The plot was great and like I said previously very captivating, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The ending was perfect!! I will definitely be picking up more of Brom’s work in the near future and would highly recommend this book to anyone.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tor Publishing Group, for an advance copy of this novel of terror dealing with occult rites, ancient practices, the 80's, punk rock and the weird, wild and wonderful people that drawn to these things.

Stories of the supernatural in music have been popular since the legend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made a deal at the crossroad outside of Vienna with a demon, trading his soul for Pachelbel Canon in D Major. Blues singers, pop singers, even Tibetan throat singers have bargained, cheated, upsold and gave away for free whatever parts of them could make them superstars. Souls, self-respect, privacy, love, band members, all have been traded to be jukebox heroes, results have varied. Auto-Tune has probably rid the physical world of more demons than any exorcist can claim. The novel, Evil in Me by writer/artist Brom takes us back to the 80's when music was changing, Reagan was claiming that the apocalypse was coming, and the Satanic panic was real, at least in this part of America.

The book begins in 1951 in Brooklyn with a young man stripping off his clothes, taking only a briefcase containing bottles of gasoline, a ring on his finger, and socks on his feet. The man is consumed by hate, a hate that makes him burn, and want to burn others, no matter how much he tries not to. After this the book moves to the mid 80's where we meet Rudy Tucker, 23 years-old and to quote the Ramones a punk rocker. Though her life is a little bit of a mess, being on parole. And maybe without a band, which is the only dream Rudy really has. Rudy is helping a neighbor, a weird fellow into religious artifacts and esoteric knowledge, and Rudy's life gets even worse. A familiar ring has wrapped itself around her finger, and will not come off. Even worse the strange visitor, a demon who abides in the ring has taken possession of Rudy. The ring also serves as a weirdness magnet, calling other demons, creatures and and even serial killers to Rudy. To save her soul, and safe a lot of lives, Rudy must get the band back together, or be damned in many different ways.

I have always been a sucker for music and horror joining forces. Many of the stories, and movies though have not been good. Evil in Me is the exception. Brom is not only a talented artist, the book is to be illustrated, my advance did not have them, but a very clever wordsmith. An artist who enjoys music also. The idea of Jewish mysticism is something that comes up rarely in comics, and is welcome here. Brom creates characters that love or hate, and something Rudy can be both, one does want to know what will happen to them. The setting of the 80's is done well also. Considering Brom and I are close in ages, he knows what he speaks of, and much of it isn't written in that, oh the 80's were awesome style. The 80's were a dark time, with art under attack, people dying from a disease no one was sure about, a president who seemed to want the end times, and religious people trying to tell people how to live. Sort of like today, only in the 80's we had hope. Punk rock is a good genre for horror, and Brom really knows what he is talking about, and how to portray it.

Great story for fans of Brom, and for new readers. The mix of music, 80's nostalgia, and gore will keep readers on record needles until the end.

I will start by saying I wasn't a huge fan of Slewfoot, which is the only other Brom I've read. My big gripe there was that it wasn't in the least bit scary, and shouldn't have been defined as horror, so much as historical fantasy.

Evil in Me is correctly identified as horror. And this premise is great. Possessor/possessed Buddy adventure? Hell yeah! I also love multiple POVs like this.

I'm clocking this at 3.5 stars because I feel like it lacked proper research of Judaism. I grew disappointed in the beginning with references to Hell and the devil from a Jewish perspective. Jews don't hold the same views of hell and Satan that Christians do, and it was so painfully obvious that this was written by someone surrounded by Christian culture who thought Judaism was just Christianity without Jesus. At first I was excited about some Jewish representation in horror, but this just didn't land because it didn't actually feel Jewish. Which, in a time like this, with antisemitism on the rise, just felt like a slap in the face.

I would have rated this 4.5-5 if it had been more genuine to Jewish belief systems. Or had just stuck with Christianity.

What I wanted to be able to say was how much I adored this, and how this would be my book of the year, bc it's Brom! What I can't say is any of that. I can tell you that this reads like a slightly gorier YA, with a lot of heart, a big cast of varied characters, all at different points in their life, and a heavy lean on rock and roll. There's a ton of 80s nostalgia, and I think folks from that era will be thrilled to see how well represented their lives might be within these pages.
A solid 3.5, that you should give a shot when it's released.

Side note: the art, as always, is impeccable. Even if this wasn't my number one Brom story, I am bowled over by the quality of the art for this, and you will be as well.

I received a free arc from NetGalley and the publisher. I voluntarily wrote this review.

I give this 3.5 stars. I absolutely loved this book up until Ruby got possessed. After that the story felt a bit meh, until the finale. The finale was good. Ruby was pretty annoying. I didn’t like her attitude. Luckily she found some emotional healing at the end. After all the events I wonder if she will be able to have any sort of normal life.

Brom has outdone himself with this action packed punk rock possession story. Like all of his books, the heroes and villains are both extremely complicated and this one has possibly the most lovable demon in modern horror fiction!

This was an ok read for me. Not bad but not great. Loved the premise but seemed like a lot was going on, serial killer, mental illness, cursed ring, possession, terrible stepfather, a maybe evil God. Love Brom but this was just ok. Thanks for the ARC, @NetGalley!

The beginning is a blast, a gory, scary, messy (in a good way) start, fully promising of a fascinating horror book. But then it calms down and turns into something else. I enjoyed it, overall, but I expected something entirely different (in a word, I expected horror!). This is a nicely done coming-of-age tale via theology and Jewish mysticism, with a good pace, some interesting concepts, and an abrupt ending. That said, it's a Brom book, I haven't seen the artwork yet, and there are demons, there's world-building galore, and a B-movie type of atmosphere, combining dread and nostalgia in ways not always easy to pull off for less talented writers. So the book still gets my 5 stars!

Brom took us on a chaotic, creative journey through hell dimensions and beyond. Overall, the characters were engaging and I thought Ruby underwent a believable character arc that left her wiser but still herself. Ruby's path to freedom from demonic possession was fun and effervescent with just enough emotion to explore deeper themes in a nuanced way.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. It was a mix between boring and chaotic. Reading this book feels messy. It zooms in the beginning and then a few pages later it's full stop. The first few pages were so brutal and graphic and quite confusing. Then the next few pages are about Ruby's mundane life as a music teacher. Ruby isn't interesting at all. The demonic ring isn't interesting. The world-building isn't interesting. Every attempt at reading this book was met with "Why should I continue reading?" Now I have my answer "There is no reason to". I will continue to read the rest of his back catalog, but I'll pass on this one.

I've yet to be disappointed by Brom, and his most recent work, Evil in Me, might just be his most vulnerable novel so far. Ruby is instantly sympathetic and relatable to anyone ever made to feel like an outcast.

Aside from one character, pretty much everyone in this gets a well done redemption arc, which I personally appreciate in horror. While Brom has a track record of utterly beating down his protagonists, there's more restraint in Evil in Me, which is a very good thing when you come to expect brutality.

This is why I think this is his most vulnerable and relatable novel to date: yes there are monsters and bad people, but the bad people are...believable? They're not the most evil of evil, or even the meanest: it's how the mundane repetition of dealing with shitty people in shitty situations wears you down.

Having it take place in the 80s gave it a nice nostalgia feel, and there's a scene in my hometown, Charleston, SC...so it's no surprise I got a little sentimental. It's always a treat when people that are used to living in the south write about the south (perpetual shout out to Grady Hendrix). It doesn't smell like magnolias and the weather isnt "balmy". It's so hot the bugs sweat and they're all trying to eat us. Brom has always been brilliant with building atmosphere, and it shines here in the subtleties.

The only thing I'm bummed about is that since this is an arc, I didn't get to see any of Brom's GORGEOUS artwork. All the more reason to pick this one up again once it's released.

One would be forgiven for recognizing certain glaring similarities between Evil In Me, Brom’s latest occult novel, and Slewfoot, his 2021 hit. Both involve a young, rebellious woman who refuses to bow to the strict religious culture that surrounds her. Both involve demons and a richly imagined cosmology. Both pit our heroine against hypocritical patriarchs. Both have spooky yet adorable demonic sidekicks that aid our heroine on her journey but are, perhaps, not quite her friends.

Yes, in its rough outlines, Evil In Me looks like familiar ground, but the experience of reading is so vastly different, that it serves as a great reminder that ideas are dime a dozen and execution is everything.

While Slewfoot is set in 17th century New England, amid panic about witchcraft, Evil In Me is its own kind of period piece, set in the 1980s rural south, amidst the “Satanic Panic” of its own age, and in the center of this charged moment is Ruby, a mid-twenties wwoman with some mental health concerns and some complex family dynamics.

When we meet Ruby, she has just decided to go off of her lithium, mere days before her parole ends. Not a bad way to get a plot started, that.

But while one part of Ruby is at war with everyone and everything around her, the other part is acting as caretaker for an elderly Jewish man who is himself caretaker to a bizarre collection of occult memorabilia. One item in this collection is a ring that sometimes looks like a spider and sometimes looks like an eye, and when it calls to Ruby, our woman of zero inhibitions answers.

This connection to the rings sets off a rapid fire series of events that continually ramps up the stakes for Ruby, as she finds her self not only inhabited by a demonic presence but also hunted by that demon’s master, the owner of the ring.

Soon, the story turns into a road trip as Ruby flees to Atlanta to meet up with her old friend and bandmate, perhaps the only person left who might help her. Together, they do what anyone would do in such a situation: they get the band back together.

Oh, there’s also a serial killer who finds himself obsessed by Ruby and the odd, demonic music that emenates from her, as well as a gung ho step-father on the hunt. It’s a lot.

But unlike Slewfoot, Evil In Me is mostly just silly fun. There’s a lightheartedness to the whole affair, even when people are being tortured and killed, that gives it all a kind of popcorn movie feel. That’s not a criticism, either. Evil In Me is fun and wild and deeply imagined, and maybe it ends just before reality can reassert itself, but we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc of this upcoming release!

I am fascinated with the way Brom tells his stories. Using the power of pictures along with story. This was no different, however in my opinion, this was not his strongest. Slewfoot, for me, remains his best work yet! I will however recommend this to anyone who loves his work because this proves he is a talent in the field!

I thought this was incredible - it had everything I love in a story. It’s dark, gory, immersive, atmospheric. There were parts that made me laugh, had me tearing up, and parts where you really feel Ruby’s rage. My jaw was dropping throughout. It made me wish I could be part of the 80’s punk rock scene! I came to truly care about the characters and was rooting for them, even a couple I didn’t expect to by the end. If you are a fan of Brom this is a must read!

I’ve previously read and enjoyed Slewfoot, so I was very excited to get my hands on this ARC.

This book immediately dumps you into a very intense (and gory!) ride, with lots of interwoven POVs. Everything was pretty easy to follow, and each character had a unique voice and was compelling.

Thank you to Brom and NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a perfectly fine book that was neither excellent or terrible. Brom did a good job bringing the characters to life and I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t have that ineffable quality that takes a book from 3 stars to 4 stars. Still, I’m glad I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This story is more than it seems.
Ruby is a seemingly troubled young lady that is just trying to get her life right.
At every turn she's thwarted. Even moreso when she's enchanted by an ancient relic containing the soul of a demon.
I was able to get this as an ARC and truly stopped reading after the smallest blurb of "saving the world with rock and roll"
Brom once again has written a story that I became invested in and eager to finish to find out what happens to our main character.
A very fun read and dark read.

Thank you for the e-arc! I’m with many other reviewers who said they missed the more serious tone of Brom’s work. I still enjoyed this, but I had super high expectations especially after The Chilc Thief

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is quite different from the other works by Brom that I've read.

I did enjoy the cursed object and possession elements, as well as the 80's punk style and coming-of-age story.

However, the characters were very hard to connect with, and I struggled with the dialogue. There were too many POVs for me. It wasn't confusing, just felt unnecessary.

To be fair, Slewfoot didn't "wow" me as much as it did others either. I'd still like to read Krampus this winter, but I'm starting to think that maybe Brom just isn't for me.

Lets start by saying this is not something I would usually pickup, but the cover caught my attention and I was enthralled from the first chapter. This read like a movie. A movie set in the 80s full of rock and roll angst.

The main character is a young woman who has found herself in a difficult situation - possession. She now has to find a way to navigate life and the demons she's faced in the past with an actual demon haunting her.

I had a few moments that made me laugh out loud, some moments that made me say "what the heck is happening?" and some moments that made me see the characters true growth.