CarnEvil of Souls

Where Darkness Reigns #1

by Mary Reason Theriot, Zoie Hahaffey (Illustrations), Theresa Theriot (Creator)

Come one, come all, and join in the fun. The CarnEvil of Souls is only open at night. Do you dare enter this Land of Illusion? Joshua has spent centuries making sure that his carnival is one of a kind. Instead of the bearded lady, you get vampires; no wolf boy to capture your attention instead you get werewolves. Leave your imagination at home when you visit because the reality is more frightening than anything you can make up for yourself. Pay your admission, enter the gates, yell and scream ... Yes, just like every carnival you have went to except at this one the admission could be your very soul, your screams could be your worse nightmare coming true! Will the people of the town discover the difference between fantasy and reality before it's too late for them? With time being limited before the CarnEvil disappears as quickly as it arrived, Private Investatgators Guy Mayon and Mike Bailey have to find out who is behind all the missing people. Can they close down the CarnEvil of Souls forever or will it continue on the path of evil?

230 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2013

Reviews

[Katie Harder-schauer]

I was hired to provide post publication proofreading for this book. Because Ms. Theriot has hired me in the past, she was probably expecting a review would be written for this book (because I know she's read previous reviews), but it was not part of our agreement. I made the decision on my own because I like to review every book I read and reading is an integral part of proofreading. If you feel my connection with the book makes my review suspect, so be it, but this is my honest review.

This story got off to a slow, somewhat repetitious start, but I liked it. It really built up to the action later on, and the repetition was more suggestive than flat our repeating (if that makes any sense.)

What I really loved about this book is that it made me want to go to this particular carnival. The names of not only the rides, but also the food vendors and snacks are enticing for a horror junkie like me. And the descriptions are ghastly, but that's a good thing. The only caveat to my desire to visit this carnival is that I want to go with a whole gaggle of friends. Read the book and you'll understand why.

Because I read Haunted Visions (book 5 in this series) before CarnEvil of Souls, I had certain expectations for this story. These expectations were not met, but I understand why and know (assume) they will be in one of the next two books. Furthermore, this book ended at a satisfying place even without meeting my expectations.

Overall I give it 5 out of 5 stars because it made me want to visit this carnival so badly in spite of who staffs it.

Reviewed on Just Another Girl and Her Books blog
http://www.justanothergirlandherbooks...