The Devil You Know: A Novel

“Filled with authentic factual information, The Devil You Know contains its own fictional spin to produce a totally riveting novel.”

The Devil You Know tells a harrowing tale about Evie Jones, who at age 21 is working as a reporter for a local Canadian newspaper. Eleven years prior, in 1982, her best friend, Lianne Gagnon was abducted and savagely murdered. The alleged killer, Robert Cameron, is presumably still at large and living under many assumed names.

Now, in 1993, Evie is grown and lives on her own in an apartment in a seedy area of Toronto. The past comes back to haunt her when she is assigned to report on the recent killings of two local young women.

David Patton, whom she met at age 12 when she babysat for him, is now her closest friend and confidant. Evie is only two years older than David, yet the two have become tight over the years. With this new case she is reporting, old thoughts and fears arise about Lianne's death, which Evie shares with him.

Evie observes a man standing on the fire escape outside of her kitchen window, which terrifies her, and she believes he is also pursuing her. Her parents as well as the police determine her sightings of this elusive man are due to stress from her job and from reminders of what happened to her friend years ago. Evie wonders if this could be true, or if she in fact is being stalked.

As she unearths clues from the past Evie is digging up current data on the latest killings. Committed by Paul Bernardo, an actual case taken from Canadian history, Evie sits in her boss's car in front of the suspect's home while the police are searching it and bringing out boxes of alleged incriminating evidence, which only turns Evie's thoughts to Lianne.

Further exploration has Evie conclude her mother as well as David's father are hiding something about Lianne's death, but keeping their information about it from her, making her determined to learn the facts no matter the outcome. As she probes deeper into her investigation, she believes Lianne's murderer is still around and she considers he is aware she is now trying to unearth the truth. Could he be the man she imagines is stalking her? She starts to suspect David's father of having a double life, and the following comments David interjects raise her fear about his dad's behavior.

"Sometimes he [his father] gets mad. I mean, I get hit. I guess just like any dad hits a kid. This one time he pushed my mother and she fell down the stairs, but he ran right down after her to make sure she was okay . . . I should stop him, he said. When he yells like that. My mother cries so hard. I should do something, but I just stay upstairs."

Written in the first person, The Devil You Know reads as though the speaker is talking directly to the reader. The title appears to give assumptions to the perpetrator's identity as one delves deeper into the story to automatically assume who the killer is, but the conclusion is one guaranteed to keep one looking over a shoulder.

One disconcerting fact in the text is not using quotation marks in dialogue, proving to be somewhat confusing. Similarly, characters comments and points of view jump around frequently, distracting the flow. On the whole, the tale is jam-packed with suspense and violence, making it an awesome read for those who love a good whodunit with an unpredictable ending. Filled with authentic factual information, The Devil You Know contains its own fictional spin to produce a totally riveting novel.