Reviews

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

mckfisher17's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

straylight's review against another edition

3.0

This is a good read, not quite as much 'horror' as I was expecting, given the description, but a glimpse into a poorly-funded, badly maintained psychiatric ward and the intricacies of the relationships between the tenants therein.

The Devil stalks the halls, yet his appearance is more of a side note along the journey rather than the focus of the entire tale. The emotion elicited is more a vague curiosity about what will happen next rather than a creeping dread of the horrific. Nevertheless, it was a decent read.

madisonkc's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

morc35's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

wholesome_chaotic's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tesscantread's review against another edition

3.0

So, this was a good book. But if you’re like me, and you go into this expecting horror, you’ll be disappointed. The premise was SO good. The Devil? Haunting a psychiatric unit? Spooky! However, the Devil plot was barely a plot. It was mentioned in waning capacities every hundred pages or so. This book focuses primarily on the patients, which is fine, but it wasn’t what I signed up for. And the Devil mystery? Was barely resolved? Not that i need every book to hold my hand and explain in great detail everything it’s trying to say. But I’m left feeling confused. Was it really a supernatural entity? No, it was just some guy. Right? So why did he have a bison head for most of his page time? Why did Dorry say he was her son? She went on to say she felt all the patients were her children. Is that why? I guess.

The characters were good. Pepper was hilarious. The writing style was interesting. The ending was sweet. But this wasn’t scary! Idk. Overall I could take it or leave it.

coffeenebula's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

bmurray959's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mickaylie's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

kaeleaxrose24's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have read and loved other novels by LaValle, so I was super excited to read this one. Although this book isn’t “horror” in the general sense, I do think it should be classified as a horror. The author does a good job of proving it’s not always the things that go bump in the night we should be afraid of. 

I can’t say I was blown away the entire time I was reading this book, but I was captivated by LaValle’s way of writing about mental hospitals in the US. He wrote about the injustice of it all, and how they are treated by staff and doctors. 

The story has a lot of humor in it as well. Although Pepper, the MMC, was placed in the mental hospital without a real reason to be there, you see him befriend other patients and learn that there is something very odd going on in the hospital. 

I loved his relationships with Dorry and Loochie. The banter. I thought it was very well done. This book carries a lot of depth to it if you open your eyes to see it. 

I loved the mention of “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” and honestly, it’s what I thought of before I actually picked up this book, but the premise of this book is very different. 

I don’t think this book will be for everyone, but I enjoyed the read and look forward to reading more by this author in the future.