Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week. This week’s featured title is Evil in All Its Disguises by Hilary Davidson:
- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (March 5, 2013)
- ISBN-10: 076533352X
- Source: Publisher
Travel writer Lily Moore and a group of other journalists go on an all-expense-paid trip to Acapulco, Mexico. It isn’t long after she arrives that Lily realizes the paradise she is expecting is instead replaced by death and doom. The hotel they are staying in, the Hotel Cerón, is remote and far from the rest of town. Despite the hotel’s supposed popularity there don’t seem to be many guests and the armed guards and extremely watchful staff are disconcerting.
Another journalist on the trip, Skye McDermott, picks up on the ominous feel of the hotel. She asks Lily for her help on writing an article, eluding to revenge. Shortly after she speaks these words she goes missing. Lily informs the hotel staff who don’t seem to be concerned about Skye’s disappearance. They insist that she’s checked out of the hotel but Lily is hesitant to believe them. It is when she herself attempts to leave the hotel that she realizes that she is prisoner, involved in something much more than just the fraud and corruption that Skye alluded to. Lily must confront her painful past and summon all her inner strength in order to escape, saving not only her life but the life of others as well.
Evil in All Its Disguises is the third in the Lily Moore series. While it’s not necessary to read the series in order, it is best to in order to truly grasp the history of pain and loss dealt to young Lily. This is by far my favorite of the series, only because Davidson is so visual and detailed in her writing that she has the reader questioning Lily’s sanity. Is she truly bait in a plot for revenge or is her past with the hotel’s owner tainting her feelings and observations about what is transpiring? Additionally, while the actions that transpire take place in the span of a few days, the intensity in the plot makes it feel as though a lifetime has passed since Lily has walked through the doors of the hotel.
Davidson excels at creating a protagonist that is both incredibly strong but also has a weak, vulnerable side. The truly rewarding part of this series as a whole is Lily’s ability to rise above her painful past to rise above and overcome the challenges dealt to her. Lily Moore has come to be one of my favorite female main characters in thriller fiction, one that I continue to root for as long as Davidson continues to write about her. What stands out for me about Davidson as an author is that, with each book, she continues to impress me with her talent, proving to be an author I can rely upon to truly entertain me with her writing. I know each time I pick up one of her novels that I will be transported to a truly breathtaking setting, captivated by a truly intense plot. If you are looking for a truly addictive thriller series with a incredibly genuine protagonist, this is the series for you. Highly, highly recommended.
