Special thanks to Sparkpoint Studio and Storytide for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

TL;DR: Better the Devil wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. The title, cover, and synopsis led me to expect a slightly more “horror” take on a psychological thriller. While maybe that was my misinterpretation, I do think this wound up being much less thrilling than I wanted. This was a very slow-paced mystery thriller, and while there were interesting parts, I didn’t find that enough happened to make those 400 pages feel worth it.

Perhaps my biggest issue was that I didn’t feel any tension, which led to my not feeling very invested in what was happening. Yes, I did want to know whodunit, and that’s why I kept reading despite feeling the need to skim the further I got (though I’m proud that I didn’t)! I really wished that I felt any kind of buildup in tension or stakes as the story progressed and things seemed to get worse for our MC.

Of course, part of me did feel for Nate. He has gone through so much, and it was sad to see him experience what nobody should, especially not as a young adult. I think the parts that felt the most emotional to me were the parts where the author talks about LGBTQIA+ teens growing up in extremely religious families in conservative states. The way Brown shares Nate’s experience with the reader makes it clear how important this issue is to him, and that made me feel connected to Nate’s character. Nate struggles with his actions and the lie he’s living, but at the same time, he’s finally experiencing a family life that he has only ever dreamed of. One where his “family” sees and accepts him for who he is, one that treats him with kindness and shows him compassion and empathy. A family with many moments filled with laughter, camaraderie, and love—no matter how imperfect they can be at times.

It was definitely interesting to see him build a relationship with the Beaumonts, especially knowing how he’s lying to them. Valencia, Marcus and Easton were interesting characters. I especially loved Gramma Sharon—she was without a doubt the best character! I didn’t know what to think about JT, and honestly, I didn’t really feel much about Miles either. I also found it interesting how we never learn our MC’s “real” name, but once he *is* named in the book, it’s as someone else’s identity. I’m glad that the author made that choice!

That said, the book almost dragged at times, and despite things happening in the book, it didn’t really feel like the story was going anywhere. Not to mention discrepancies in details and moments where you really had to suspend your disbelief. The story felt stuck at times until all of a sudden, everything just kind of whooshes forward and we get reveal after reveal until the very end. Again, I think because I didn’t feel the tension in the writing, it only came across as “wow, this is happening very suddenly, and I really don’t know how to feel about it.” I wasn’t very shocked, but when things started happening, it seemed to come out of nowhere! At one point, Nate questions how he was ever so bamboozled by the killer, and the first thing that came to my mind in response to that was: well, you didn’t do very much sleuthing to figure anything out! Obviously, I don’t want to give spoilers because I do think this book will find its home with readers, but it just felt like a “duh” moment to me due to how it felt like nothing really happened.

This did get slightly more gory than I expected, but with how over-the-top psychopathic the killer was, I guess it fit? Ultimately, I’m sad that this didn’t entirely work out for me because I didn’t connect with it the way I thought I would.

Have you read Better the Devil, or do you have it on your TBR?

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