Devil Tree [Kindle Edition]

I've been a fan of Steve Vernon's since "Long Horn, Big Shaggy" came out in 2004. I've scoffed up everything he's published since then and "Devil Tree" ranks up with his finest work.

This one is a bit of a departure for Steve; it's dark, way dark. Though Steve has broached the themes of murder, gore, and eroticism in the past, never has he combined them in a tale that is as brutal and soul searching as he has in Devil Tree. The birthing scene alone, when Jezebel (Duvall's mate) pushes out her disgusting spawn to be sacrificed to the Devil Tree is about as gruesome as it gets. And anyone who has had a cheating spouse can't help but share the mental anguish that Lucas suffers.

As I've discovered with his prior novels, "Hard Roads" and "Gypsy Blood", Vernon isn't content to just drag his readers into the depths of his horrors blindly. He reaches into the parts of all of us that we aren't too comfortable with, and then he grabs these fears by the throat and forces the readers to confront them. Fading love, guilt, betrayal, and lust all play a part in our lives and Vernon has done a brilliant job confronting these troubling aspects in "Devil Tree".

So yeah, I loved "Devil Tree", and I think anyone who picks this up will too.

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.

Just finished Devil Tree.

This book is... *evil*. Don't know what or how this body of work came into existence, but I think Steve went to some very dark places to bring it back into the light. Even then, it's a dark piece of horror fiction, extremely moody, and creepy as all hell. If this was a movie, it'd be one of those flicks where you would notice the absence of music, where the only sounds are those made by the characters, or things pulling themselves free of the earth, and where you might have anxiety attacks when the night scenes start. There isn't a lot of gore, but dread permeates this whole story like the stench of bad meat becoming worse.

I liked it. God help me I did.