This was a great novel with a perfect balance of menace and humour throughout. Really liked the way Jim and Jed got along and the way Jim’s character developed.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The Evil Within by S.M. Hardy is an intricately crafted, psychological thriller with a menacing edge. The main character, Jim Hawkes, is an emotional wreck following the death of his fiancée, desperate for respite and ends up in a small Devonshire village.

Here he soon discovers a strange link to a child’s death and sets off on a twisted and perilous journey. Through vivid and detailed imagery Hardy paints a picture of a haunting atmosphere which has a real presence, expertly raising the suspense levels of the reader. The creepy nature of this work makes it highly entertaining, but it also covers emotional depth with themes such as grief and the longing for justice.

In summary, The Evil Within is a cleverly crafted and totally compelling read which grips its audience from the very first page and doesn't let go until the very last.

This was a creepy story, almost a murder mystery combined with some ghosts, imagine Angela Lansbury and Ghost whisperer combined, and then you'll get an idea! The book was well written, and even though this is not my normal cup of tea, it was still a good solid read, and i will read the next one in the series.

This book is a murder mystery and a ghost story.
This book is written so cleverly. It is unlike anything I have read before

Jim Hawkes, feeling on the verge of a mental breakdown after the loss of his fiance, escapes his high-pressured London life and retreats to a quiet English village. But the cottage he rents was the site of a mysterious murder and as Jim begins to see and hear strange things, he's not sure if he's really having a mental breakdown, or if someone is trying to send him a message.

I really enjoyed this paranormal thriller. I thought the setting of the sleepy English seaside village was perfect for building the suspense and making the cottage a creepy place. I suspected several different characters at various points of the book and didn't predict the ending.

I did think the book was too long and started to feel repetitive at times. I felt the ending may have been rushed given the length of the build-up throughout the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and would read more books by this author.

This is not a bad read, but there was a little too much woo and supernatural for me - not a fault, just a personal preference. It kept my attention to the end, however, and was overall an enjoyable read.

Jim suffers a major tragedy in his life and shortly afterwards resigns from his high powered stressful job and decides to rent a cottage in a small Devon village. Perhaps he should’ve chosen somewhere else! From the start things are weird, seeing and hearing things. I loved this book, it was creepy, atmospheric with a few shocks thrown into the mix. There was plenty to get your teeth into and I’d definitely read other novels by this author. The cover was also enticing and I would definitely pick it up for a closer look.

I finished this book only because I had to know who the killer was....With that being said.....it was just too much with ghosts, seances, bodies being consumed by the dead, etc. Not my style but still interesting enough to finish. I rate this book a 2.9

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

I loved this book. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

My thanks to Lesley at Allison And Busby for the blogtour invite and my gifted review copy of 'The Evil Within' which was published in hardcover on March 19th-it's available wherever good books are sold!

This supernatural thrilller keeps you on edge from page 1-Jim has the kind of meeting that we have all been in, the one where you dream of just saying 'I can't do this anymore' and walking out, except he does it. He has had enough, after two years of carefully balancing his sanity following the mysterious death of his fiance.

He rents a cottage in the village of Slyford St James, hoping the quiet surroundings of country life will be a million miles away from the stresses of London . But you never really leave the horrors of the past behind you...

Enter the strange sight of a girl running through the bottom of his garden, a girl who cannot be there. Bumps and noises in the attic escalate into an attempt on Jim's life, is he being haunted or is a very corporeal presence trying to get him out of the cottage?

How much you find this novel scary and chill inducing depends on how much you believe in life after death-the secondary characters, Jed and Emma who are both locals , and psychics, are convinced that the village has somehow drawn Jim to it. And that he has a higher purpose, namely that of trying to solve the impossible death of the child that Jim has seen since moving in...

The suspense and characterisation are great, you totally get the sense of the village and the house, the grounds and surrounding buildings are described so well that you feel you are walking on these steets. The story teases you with details about Jim's fiance, the sudden moving away of the couple who owned the cottage and you are kept on tenterhooks waiting for the big reveals. The story is intriguing and gave me chills, it is a really good piece of escapist fiction which I enjoyed a lot!

This was an easy to read thriller thaylt kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend!

In S.M. Hardy's The Evil Within, this dark thriller will send you goosebumps in every page that would keep you up at night. For Jim Hawkes, he needed a clean slate and to retreat to a sleepy village town. He's still wheeling and dealing with the loss of his fiancé Kat and needed time for his heart to heal. But when he arrived in Slyford St. James, it wasn't the respite he was looking for and expected. He learns from his two newest friends that his cottage has a shady history of sorrow and of neglect. Little did Jim know, that on his first night there, he listened to the voices and the sounds from a ghost haunting the home and later attacking him. This started for him to look deeper and harder to find out more about the cottage and who could've haunted him and harming others in the process. Meanwhile, he finds new love with a woman named Lucy, someone who could mend his broken heart. As they grow closer, they learn more about the evil spirit that's been inhabited and possessed a local resident. The danger's escalated and heightened near him as they race against time to exercise the spirit and rescue Lucy from its evil clutches with a fight to the finish in the end.

4-5 chilling stars! Looking for a chilling supernatural thriller, which will give you goosebumps down the spine, thrills, and plenty of shocks? This is your book! A scary ghostly story, which also makes sure to provide the themes good thrillers do! Well written, intense, and genuinely scary in parts! I highly recommend to those who love a well written supernatural story, with a thriller sliced into it!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms!

Mystery wrapped in a paranormal setting raised my goosebumps as I kept turning the pages. I love me a good ghost story.

My first book by this author, I loved how the story pulled me into its arms with the supernatural feel to it. Psychics and ghost child added to the chilly atmosphere. The author was quite talented. The prose though slow, kept my interest going. There was this vibe that something was kept hidden from me. It was this which made turn pages faster.

Overall, the story could creep me out where the characters gave the setting a sense of completeness. A great read.

Jim’s fiance has been dead for 2 years but he still hasn’t got over it and feels guilty. After suffering a breakdown he walks out of work and on a whim rents out a cottage in the small town of Slyford.
But strange things happening. Noises in the attic, seeing a young girl in his harden, a dog scratching at the door....It’s just his imagination isn’t it?
This was a long book but it really kept me immersed and wondering how it would play out. It wasn’t scary, more so intriguing for me. All I can so is that it was paced well but for me, I didn’t like the ending. This though was a book out of my usual genre.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for a copy to read.

Oooo yeah I liked this one...I forgot how much I love a supernatural thriller. This is a great book that really builds the tension and I must admit made me a bit goosepimply (if that's even a word!).

It's about a man who, after experiencing a terrible loss, decides to pack his high flying job in and moves to an incredibly quiet and fairly isolated village. He rents a small cottage and starts to explore his new surroundings with the local pub being the first obvious spot. There he learns that the cottage he lives in was home to a young family who tragically lost their daughter in a freak accident and so the spooky goings-on begin. OK so some of it was a little far fetched but I thought it was a great. Sometimes when you read a book or watch a film its nice to suspend all belief and just enjoy it for what it is.

Would recommend if you love a spooky supernatural thriller with a somewhat strange twist!

This was a fascinating, make your heart race type of book. It is a paranormal mystery that has fantastic character development in a small village where everyone seems to have a secret. There were a few parts that were slow, but the rest of the book made up for it. Highly recommend. 4.5 stars

I was excited to read this book, I always love a good paranormal thriller. It started out promising, even if the initial premise was not at all original; personal trauma followed by a mental breakdown and an escape to a secluded cabin in the woods. However, the longer I read, the more I realized that I was to be severely disappointed.

Again, a cabin in the woods followed by the untimely death of a loved one is hardly a new concept, so in order to make it succeed, the following story line would need to be mind blowing. Instead, I read a very wordy, British, small town version of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy by Stephen King. All of the suspense and tension fell flat due to the author's overuse of adjectives and her tendency to over explain a scene. She somehow managed to not leave enough to the imagination while also leaving me confused due to a lack of information. It seems that sometimes she got so wrapped up in descriptions that she left out actual, necessary details. I was constantly going back a few pages to see if I had missed something crucial, only to realize it hadn't been explained, or at least not clearly enough.

None of the personal stories or people were realistic, or relatable; everyone lacked depth. Their "mysterious" stories either weren't worth hiding in the first place or just boring. The "fight scenes" were muddled and hard to follow. Everything, really, was hard to follow.

This author clearly has talent, but suspense is not her forte.

****Review****



Mystery murder meets haunting.

The dead can’t hurt us right?
Unlike most books I’ve read like this it has just the right amount, it makes for an easy read and I found myself engrossed and guessing until the last chapters. I find the ghost sweet and eerie at the same time but I found myself cheering for Jim o find out the truth and free the poor souls but can he before someone or something tries to kill him and his friends?
I will be following this author and can’t wait to read his other books and future books.
Thank you to Netgalley/S.M. Hardy/ Allison & Busby for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.