Some books are just so atmospheric, so all-encompassing, that you feel you can’t quite shake them when you put them down. They follow swiftly in your shadow, murmuring soft echoes that cling to your hair and pool at the small of your back. Before the Devil Breaks You is such a book.
I didn’t really think books could be scary until I read Bray. Granted, horror isn’t usually a genre that appeals to me, so I probably hadn’t read very much of it. But scary situations aren’t really scary to me unless people I love are facing them, and that’s what The Devil does so well. Each character is uniquely lovely, and though some get significantly more screen-time than others (Henry and Ling in particular felt a bit shafted this book), Bray does an overall good job of balancing the many stories she’s juggling at this point.
Halfway through the book I remarked to my partner that I couldn’t figure out how there would be a fourth book when everything seemed to be racing so swiftly towards a conclusion, but the book ended without feeling like the plot had been stretched out at all. There were some tear-jerker moments, a whole lot of surprises and reveals, and now I am just utterly desperate for the next one.
Bray, I wish you wrote faster. Otherwise, you are perfect.
