Great story, thrilling plot that I could not put down. Well worth a read, and would recommend to others.

I'm not normally one for reading books about the supernatural, demons and such, but this was such an entertaining read, I couldn't wit to finish it! It was thrilling, scary and entertaining all in one. Recommended.

For once I’m speechless!! Sometimes you start a book with an expectation of what it will be about, but this book totally stumped me in a good way!!

Without giving anything away I will say this book is dark, chilling and gave me goosebumps whilst reading it.

The supernatural is not my usual genre but this book had me riveted and would make a great horror movie.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Ich habe selten ein Buch in der Hand, das ich in einem Rutsch durchlesen musste -
dies ist so eins. Fesselnd in mehrfacher Hinsicht: Sprachstil, Geschichte und
Düsternis. Sehrsehr gelungen!

Auschwitz 1944 - Petronella miraculously survives gassing by the Nazis. She is taken to Hitler where something evil and ancient departs his body and enters hers.
Oakwoods, England 1980 - young Paul Christian and his friend Owen are harassing the local witch and she retaliates by attacking Paul. As a result he spends a long period of time in hospital and loses a large chunk of his memory.
West Sussex 2012 - Rear Admiral Paul Christian witnesses the death of his wife Helena when she is burnt alive after her vehicle is hit by an out of control tanker.
Oakwood Residential Home 2018 - the entity aka Lamia continues to inhabit Petronella’s ageing body. Her hatred for humans grows as she waits and plans for the destruction of human souls. Her only master is Satan and she will serve him well
2018 - Paul Christian has found love again with Sally and they move back to her cottage in the village he grew up in. He can’t believe he is lucky to have found love a second time round. Paul discovers a shed full of tools and develops a skill for wood carving. He also learns the witch from his childhood is still alive and residing in a nearby nursing home.
After reuniting with his childhood mate his memory starts to return and a series of strange events make him suspicious they may be linked to the past and involve witchcraft.
A terrific read. The only other thing I will say it you will look at your cat in a different light after reading this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of this book in return for an honest review

I opted to review this book based on the blurb, and quickly discovered all was not as it seemed. The Bitter End is a supernatural thriller about modern-day witchcraft/demonic possession and how it's affected one man, who, as a child with an older, bullying sort of friend, harassed an aging witch. To be honest, if I had known, I may not have picked it up. But I did, and here we are ...

The Bitter End begins on a dark note - a woman surviving a Nazi gas chamber, Hitler and demonic possession.  Throw in a couple of stupid kids who like to knock on the door of an old woman in the woods and you just know you're in for some super creepy reading.

We're soon introduced to our main protagonist, Paul. The hits just keep coming for this poor guy. His beloved wife, Helena, was killed in a tragic accident years before. As Paul moves on with his life and moves into an area that is all too familiar to him with his new partner Sally, strange things begin happening. Paul meets an old friend from his childhood who forces memories to the surface of what exactly happened to Paul when he was a ten-year-old boy and unexplained events and deaths begin happening in the village.

There is plenty of weirdness to go around here, with a mostly fleshed out cast of characters. The writing is very English. So English that even my member-of-the-Commonwealth brain had to go back and re-read some lines. It shouldn't be too much of an issue for your average non-Englishman though, as the themes are pretty universal.

If I had one complaint about this book, it would be that the middle slowed down, almost losing my interest. I also felt the ending was rushed, requiring the suspension of some belief. It did set the scene for a sequel though, so that's something.

If you're okay with supernatural thrillers, The Bitter End is one you should pick up. Or even if, like me, you're generally not. It is a quick, enjoyable read.

When I signed up on Netgalley to read this I was under the impression it was in the mystery/thriller category....not supernatural. I don’t read these types of books because I’m not really interested in them but I went ahead and read anyway. I’m glad I did. This story is very well written. It grabs you right from the start and carries you all the way through. It could have easily gotten lost in its plotting, trying to tie all the revenge/possession components together but these authors kept it all on an even keel. I found the ending disappointing but all in all while I would not read this type of book again I do recommend to people who enjoy this genre. Beware however that it is dark. Very dark.

Loved this book about modern day witchcraft and it left me wanting more from these two authors. Hope there is a sequel to follow.

3.5 Stars

It starts with Hitler, a woman who survives the gas ovens, and Hitler's plan for the 'witch woman'.

Paul has no memories of his childhood before the age of 10. An accident left him in a coma for almost a year .. but he's not sure it really was an accident.

He lost his beloved wife in a car accident, but found a second love with Sally. He moves in with her, and starts having flashes of memories from when he was a child. Most of these memories have to do with a childhood friend, Owen. Much to his surprise, when Paul is introduced to one of Sally's friends, her partner is none other than Owen.

Flashes of memories continue to haunt Paul, particularly the memory of his first wife Helena burning in the car crash.

As dark things start to happen, and local people begin dying in horrific accidents, Paul must face his past and will end up fighting for his life.

This is a dark mystery, with many elements of the supernatural. Although this is outside my preferred genre, it kept me intrigued and wanting to see what would happen next. The ending was slightly disappointing, but I enjoyed the journey to get there.

Many thanks to the authors / Bloodhound Books / Netgalley for the digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I must admit I was a little thrown when I started reading this book – The blurb reads like a standard psychologically thriller, what I wasn’t expecting was the supernatural element. The book starts in Auschwitz with a lady that survives the gas chamber and is taken to see Hitler. Where she is then processed by a demon. The story then jumps forward several decades.
Paul is the main character in this book, a complicated person who has no memories before the age of 10 and later loosing his wife in an awful accident. He meets Sally and moves in with her back to his childhood village, I liked them both as a couple, warm and loving. It was interesting to see Paul’s memories unfolding, especially after meeting his childhood friend. This is mainly told through a series of flash backs.
As expected the lady that survives Auschwitz plays quite a crucial role in this novel, I enjoyed trying to work out what she was up and how she entwined her self in the plot. I did ultimately end up feeling very sorry for her – what an awful life she must have led.
The pace proceeds at a steady clip, with the story unfolding nicely as you go. If you are looking for an easy summer read with a darker element then this is a book for you. Many thanks to Bloodhound books and NetGalley for allowing me a copy to review.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this The Bitter End by Ann Evans and Robert D. Tysall. This book was super thrilling and very enjoyable! There was a lot of action and it will keep you entertained. I would definitely give this book a chance if you like not so average thrillers!

This was different type of book for me I don’t usually go for a supernatural/mystery book but I enjoyed this book. It held my interest and was quick read only because I wanted to know what would happen next! Sometimes the past is best left in the past is one thing I picked up from this book! Four out of five stars for me!

4☆ A Very Dark Thriller/ Horror

The Bitter End is a very dark psychological thriller that gave me chills!

At times it was a little too dark for me, i had no clue where the book was taking me at times as it crossed over to the horror genre.

To start with the story opens up with a hard hitting scene from a gas chamber.
One mum survives and they think she is a Witch. So Hitler calls on her to become his next shell when he dies. Basically Hitler has been possessed and needs the gypsy to be his new body.

There is lots going on. At times a lil too shocking for My liking.

But what I will say is this book is dark, disturbing, kept me on tender hooks, i didn't want to carry on reading but I was drawn in and couldn't stop turning the pages.

If you love thriller horrors that literally play with your mind, creepy, atmospheric, tense, a lil sadistic then pick up The Bitter End you will love it!

The Bitter End begins at a shocking moment; the gassing of a group of Jews in a death chamber at Auschwitz. Incredibly, when the Nazi guards open the chamber to remove the bodies, one woman is still alive. Immediately proclaimed as a witch, she is taken to the Fuhrer himself, where the demonic spirit possessing Hitler, called ‘Lamia’, decides to jump ship to a more powerful and useful host.

From there, the story jumps forward several decades, to two young boys fascinated by the ‘witch’ who lives in the English woods near their home, and then to the present day and the protagonist Paul (one of those young boys, now grown up) as he moves back to the village where he lived as a child and finds strange memories resurging as odd things begin to happen around him.

There is a lot of completely unexplained ‘witchcraft’ in the book, and since the reader is pretty much only given Paul’s perspective and Paul really never has any idea what is going on, it feels pretty frustrating. We get very brief glimpses into the mind of Lamia, but never enough to explain just how or why many of the odd incidents occur. There were any number of things which didn’t make sense, including why the Lamia hadn’t left her aging and near-immobile host decades before for a younger, stronger one. Most frustratingly of all, the book ends with literally nothing being resolved. I have no idea if the author intends to write a sequel - I daresay it’s possible this is the first of a series - but even so, ending it with the witch having moved on with her objectives apparently achieved and the protagonists completely clueless as to what to do next is definitely suboptimal.

I read the book in one session and it was about twenty minutes after I finished reading when I finally connected the dots and realised just what it was that bothered me so much (apart from the unresolved ending). Having the Lamia be in possession of Hitler from the day he became Chancellor until the day of his suicide basically excuses all the terrible events of the Holocaust and WWII because he ‘was not himself’, but essentially in service to a demon. It excuses the evil done by men, and men have never needed an excuse to make war and do terrible things to other people. With a Jewish woman’s identity being stolen and used as a synonym for the ‘evil entity’ throughout the rest of the book only adds anti-Semitic insult to injury.

I’m not Jewish, or Romani, or Russian or Polish or any of the other ethnic and racial identities so cruelly victimized by the Nazis. I can only imagine how insulting anyone who IS one of those people would find this book, however, and be glad I’m the one who read it so I can warn them to avoid it.

This seriously needed a sensitivity reader, and a content editor to help the writer give it an ending! For the Nazi-excusing, anti-Semitic undertones, however, I am forced to give it one star and put this writer on my Do Not Read Ever Again list. Avoid at all costs.

Paul has his life back on track. This book opens with Paul returning to the area he lived as a kid. When Paul was 9, he had an accident that meant he was in a 9 month coma. But this is the start of all the things in his life.
The Cover with the photo of the axe is pivotal to the story. This is not my usual genre. It almost slips into horror.

Well, this was a far creepier book that I was expecting from the blurb. I thought it was going to be a tense psychological thriller but though certainly not short on tension, The Bitter End is actually a dark supernatural story that has very definite horror elements to it. The prologue takes place in 1944 and it very quickly becomes apparent that malevolent forces are at play which have been active in manipulating the lives of humans for many years.
The book then fast forwards to 1980 with two young boys, Paul and Owen playing in the woods. Owen is the more dominant of the pair, even bordering on bullying Paul as he urges him to carry out acts ranging from animal cruelty to the malicious harassment of an old woman who lives in a cottage in the woods, who they suspect is a witch. A tragic accident results in Paul ending up in a coma for 9 months but it later transpires that the events of that day had even longer repercussions than a head injury. As the timeline moves forward again to 2012 we learn that though Paul survives his childhood accident, he is destined to face yet more horror when he witnesses a terrible crash which kills his wife, Helena. As readers we are not given any time to know Helena but it's obvious that they shared a deep love and he was left utterly bereft by her death.
Most of the action in the book takes place in 2018; Paul has found love again and the story sees him returning to the village he grew up in as he moves in with Sally. At this point in the proceedings I could really picture The Bitter End as a horror film. The suspense builds gradually with just the odd hint at first that things aren't quite right. Paul and Sally seem to have an almost idyllic relationship but even though there are plenty of scenes which underline their love and desire for one another, there is always a feeling that things are not as perfect as they may seem. Even at this stage in the novel, there's an ominous sense of foreboding; we know something terrible is going to happen but we don't know how or when. It's almost a relief when the first death does occur although it's a short-lived respite as Paul gradually begins to understand that though he has years of experience dealing with dictators and terrorists, he now facing a far more dangerous enemy.
The story is mostly told in the third person from Paul's perspective but there are occasional snippets from the evil being which help to ratchet up the fear factor that bit more as we realise long before that characters that they are considered to be little more than puppets, ready to do the bidding of other forces. I liked Paul, he's not perfect but as a young boy and as the man he grows in to, he is obviously principled and prepared to stand up to those stronger than he is when necessary. There's something enjoyably macabre about wondering which of the other characters will fall victim to the supernatural terror because not everybody will make it to the end of the book...
The pace of the story increases towards the end with the concurrent escalation of tension meaning I almost needed to read through my fingers. The Bitter End is a spine-chilling and unsettling novel with a clever plot which I can easily see being expanded further in subsequent novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this rather scary read and look forward to being unnerved in the future by Ann Evans and Robert D. Tysall.

4 Disturbing Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Well now... this book was very dark and very disturbing.... i’d say it almost slipped into the horror genre with some supernatural elements... you really do need to suspend belief for this one, so if that’s not your bag I’d avoid it.... it also had a dark creepy atmosphere that made me a little more afraid of the things that go bump in the night....

Hitler... a cottage in the woods... missing memories... this book really has all the elements of a really freaky movie.... the kind of movie I’d spend hiding behind my popcorn for most of.... this book really is not for the faint of heart! Perfectly paste... well plotted... with something creepy around every corner.... this book will keep you on edge, your brain on overdrive, your heart beating fast, and your palms sweating... when I was done I needed a shower, a cocktail, and a romcom!

Absolutely recommend to fans of a thriller with a supernatural and dark element...

*** many thanks to Bloodhound Books for my copy of this book ***

The Bitter End by Ann Evans & Robert D Tysall is an unusual blend of crime, supernatural and maybe even a little bit of horror towards the end.

Paul's life has not been good for a long while, he can't even remember before his 10th birthday. He lost his wife in a terrible car crash, and then to top it all he starts to recall flashes of his past; a burning cat, his friend Owen, and both of them playing knock-door-bunk (as we called it when we were kids) on an old lady's door, just because they thought she looked like a witch! Well, what a mistake that was!

Now, grown up Paul, head of security at MI5, is recalling more of those shady past years he spent tormenting that old lady as a kid, and how he accidentally killed her cat! It soon strikes him that all the bad luck he's had throughout his life, may be more than just bad luck. Could she really have been a witch? Has she curse him? If only he could go back to her and apologise, maybe his luck would begin to change.

As luck would have it, Paul tracks her down, but upon meeting the creepy old lady, things go from bad to worse. He soon realises he is dealing with someone, or rather something, that's planning a lot more than just revenge against him. The powerful witch has set her sights on much bigger things; causing world chaos and war!

I'm afraid this story was not one of my favourite crime books. Don't get me wrong, I love supernatural themes and can cope with the most gruesome horror stories, (and it does get a quite scary and horrific at the end), but the story felt too choppy for my liking and didn't read as smoothly as I'd hoped. I also found it quite meandering, going off at tangents I didn't feel added to the story. On a positive note it was deliciously dark with a great 'nasty' ending, which is where I found this story really came into fruition.

I raced to the final conclusion like someone possessed, eager to discover how protagonist Paul would deal with what was happening to him! A flaming good ending, with a supernatural twist!

Thank you to Bloodhound books and #NetGalley for my copy. This is my honest opinion and not biased in any way.

I just finished reading The Bitter End: Direction from the Devil and I most likely would not have asked to review this book if I had known the full title beforehand. I don’t like or believe in witchcraft and that is what this whole book is about. If you do like witchcraft you would probably enjoy it. It’s a very fast read I started last midnight and it is now 10:30 am and no I haven’t been reading all this time. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I will give this book 3 stars because it was actually kind of interesting but still not my cup of tea.

"The Bitter End" is a dark and disturbing thriller and as most people know I am a sucker for those type of books. I always have been and always will be! It isn't just a straight crime genre read, there are supernatural elements to it too. It's easy-to-follow and get through and the pace is sound. The different threads are tied up neatly to create the conclusion.

It is set in the time Hitler was in power and begins with Paul managing to get his life back on track after a throroughly miserable time. After his wife burned to death in a car crash which Paul was witness to he meets Sally who helps him to move on from the horrific memories of the crash. The setting certainly adds to the creepiness of the book - Sally's cottage in the woods which Paul moves in to. Due to an accident when he was ten years old, Paul has no memories before that time. Then suddenly, he starts to see flashbacks and past memories appear to return and they all include his childhood friend Owen. Was it really an accident or does Owen know more about it than he is letting on? Does he have anything to do with the mounting death toll due to a series of accidents in the local area?

This is one of those novels that if you can manage to suspend your disbelief you will likely enjoy. Those who appreciate a realistic plot may wish to avoid this one. I found it tense and suspenseful enough to hold my interest. At its heart, this is a revenge tale and includes some interesting and unique elements.

Many thanks to Bloodhound Books for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.