The Evil Within Review

Being asked to review a book you know nothing about can be intimidating.  On the other hand it's kind of exciting to be surprised. On the other other hand at least I'm not the writer hoping this reviewer enjoys their book.

The Evil Within: The Interlude written by Ryan O'Sullivan, artwork by Szymon Kudranski and Damien Worm, additional colours by Guy Major, letters by Simon Bowland and published by Titan Comics.

It's a psychological thriller/horror/science fiction fun house. The story focuses on a detective named Sebastian Castellanos. He's a great detective despite some questionable mental issues. He and his wife, Myra, have a daughter named Lily and she's gone missing. He also believes he's been trapped in someone else's mind, or several someone elses.

“You were kidnapped by an organisation...this...Mobius. And they trapped you inside someone else's mind using something called stem?”.

 This story is supposed to be a tie in to the video game of the same name. It tells what happens in between game one and two. The Evil Within game was developed by Shinji Mikami, best known for Resident Evil. The game is described as survival horror. However if you've never played the game you can still find the comic book entertaining.

Sebastian explains how, during an investigation, he was teleported through different dreams or memories. Even though all of this stuff is going on in his personal life his professional life is still demanding he keep working. Sebastian seems to be a very good detective and they need him on the case of what is most likely a serial killer.

At first it feels like the story bounces around too much but towards the end it sort of makes sense. The main character doesn't seem to have all his wits about him so jumping back and forth and only releasing bits of information puts the reader in a similar situation. There are several characters we only catch a glimpse of and top secret agencies that are more than intriguing. The art is decent. Some pages are designed really well, especially the page where Sebastian is explaining/walking you through his memories of being in someone else's mind.  If you've played the game you probably have more information going in than a reader who hasn't played or has prior knowledge to the story.

So far it's unfolding like a puzzle and if you're into solving puzzles you'll definitely come back for more . What is the STEM Initiative and who is Dista? If that's not blood under the dead man what is it? What does the missing daughter have to do with any of this? Sometimes having too many unanswered questions can be annoying but on the other other other hand it can get your mind working and see if you can figure out all the pieces to the puzzle.

If this hadn't have landed on my desk to review I honestly would have passed it over but now that I've read it I'll definitely keep reading and probably start playing the game.