Andrew Taylor, an American with a tragedy in his past, is sent to the prestigious English public school of Harrow after being expelled from a U.S school. Andrew is aware Harrow falls into the last chance category but is a fish out of water in the Lot boarding house amongst the upper crust Brits with their own peculiarities. He soon learns about the mythical “Lot Ghost” and that he has a strong resemblance to Lord Byron, both pieces of information are to prove vital in his near future.

When a classmate dies, Andrew having witness the death, it becomes apparent the Lot Ghost isn't as mythical as Matron and the establishment are wont to believe. Even worse for Andrew the Ghost seems fixated on him. Can Andrew with the help of housemaster Piers Fawkes solve the puzzle of the Lot Ghost before more death and mayhem go down?

Justin Evans is biting off a big chunk of hardship with his second novel The White Devil. Besides tackling a mystery wrapped in a ghost story, not the easiest of structures to get right, Evans, an American, is enmeshing himself in a very British genre that doesn't play well with Johnny Foreigner, witness for example the number of Australian attempts that have fallen flat. No doubt helping Evans in his endeavours was a year spent at the prestigious English Public School of Harrow, where the narrative of the novel is set. Surprisingly the Author manages to hit the right notes while amazingly retaining some U.S verve to proceedings. While I'm not about to foretell the second coming of James Herbert, I'm happy to report that Justin Evans delivers on an English style ghost story that will have the reader happily engulfed in The White Devil.

To avoid spoilers I'm not about to lance the boil of the mystery that forms the core of the novel, but a few words should suffice. Chief protagonist Andrew Taylor, while battling to adopt to his new surrounds in a Heinlein Stranger In A Strange Land fashion, has to come to grips with a natural suspicion about his less than stellar background, and to top it off has to solve the mystery of the Lot ghost. Seems Andrew has a natural resemblance to Lord Byron, English romantic poet and noted paramour, both in looks and I believe hinted at, personality. The Lot ghost is attracted to Andrew, the why of this is something Andrew needs to discover, and more importantly why this should involve attacks on people around him. As a mystery novel Justin Evans nails the requirements, I was certainly humming along to his beat with this aspect of the novel, especially when the stakes are raised with Andrew's new love falling victim to the ghost's particular brand of attack. So right up front you have a standard trope of the ghost story covered, the mystery as to why exactly we have a haunting in the first place. Find out for yourself yo, read the bloody book!

Naturally since this is a ghost story the chill factor has to be coming at you in cold drafts from darkened doorways. Thankfully the Author doesn't come at the reader with Hollywood style crashes and bangs reaching a crescendo of barely believable paranormal activity, Evans is aware of the sensibilities of the English ghost story and doesn't stray from the garden path. There's a number of scenes to keep you up at night, as any good ghost story should have, but the Author doesn't batter us around the head with them. I vaguely thought more could have been made of the apparition loitering around the odd victim, but then that's just me, Evans is more concerned with adding the movement at the edge of the frame, the faint breeze that can't be explained, the hint of malevolence in the atmosphere. It's all wonderfully constrained without the Author feeling the need to add the gross scene to attract teen readers who would be better off rioting in London streets. In short Justin Evans writes for those of us who enjoy a good ghost yarn, rather than a sensationalist blockbuster.

Having pointed out that Evans attacks an English style ghost story with a mystery successfully, I'm afraid I'm going to go further to put the scares up North American readers. Justin Evans has his English style prose on and writes far more in the British style than the naturalistic American one. Wonder if this is due to a year spent at Harrow? - if so my Son is on the first Qantas jet heading over to the “old Country”. Here I mean James Herbert and the modern Brit horror writing style, rather than the staid turn of the century stuff that pervades some would be dark genre writer's styles. Evans can construct a paragraph to good effect, writes efficiently including drama and pathos, and has an innate ability to hit pacing correctly. The White Devil romps along like a well trained race horse, hitting the highs, and galloping toward the conclusion that holds a twist I didn't see coming. At no stage of the novel was I taken out of my read by a glaring fault in the narrative, Evans has a nice style that will appeal to most readers.

So where does the American sensibility come into the English sense you may be wondering. While Evans manages to imbibe his English characters with the feeling that they are English characters, including in some cases what the Brits would politely refer to as eccentric behaviour and which we would term as being “as mad as a cut snake”, he is also able to draw his American lead with a very U.S centric outlook. The entire book has a U.S flavour in fact, in amongst the very English cloisters of the setting. It's a wonderful achievement that must have really pushed the Author to his limit, how easy it would have been to fall back on Americanisms. So in essence, the tyranny of word space here, you have an North American novel wrapped up in the trappings of an English narrative as Justin Evans succeeds overwhelmingly with his writing.

Clearly since The White Devil is at it's a heart an exceedingly well written ghost story I had a great time between the covers. The mystery caught me up in it's resurrection of past wrongs, the current crisis Andrew Taylor finds himself in held my attention, and Author Justin Evans writing prowess held me glued to the page. Full recommendation for The White Devil, if you are going to read one ghost narrative this year then this is the novel for you. Excellent book, I look forward to reading more from Evans if he sticks with the dark genre, unfortunately this very talented Author may look further afield in future novels.

The White Devil is being published and distributed in Australia by Hachette, with the novel falling under the Orion banner. The official Hachette page can be found right here. In case you are wondering about the title, no clues it's integral to the mystery. The White Ghost should be available in all good bookstores, if it's not then demand that your store get a copy or three in.