Prime Evil Hb [Hardcover]

Judith Kelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 1987

A novel of psychological suspense set in a rambling Victorian mansion house, from Judith Kelman, the author of 'The House on the Hill'.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Pregnant and unwed, Erica Phillips came to Bramble Farm to sort out her life and the papers of Theresa Bricklin. A stroke had left the legendary author a disfigured recluse totally dependent on her eccentric husband, who caters to her every need. He is determined to restore the crumbling estate to its former glory and his invalid wife to her former international brilliance.

But Bramble Farm hides a dark secret somewhere in its maze of odd rooms and shadowy passageways. Behind its facade of heartbreak and shattered dreams lurks a malevolent influence that has claimed more than one innocent life in the past. Now it is Erica Phillips and her unborn child who are the unwitting targets -- victims of an irresistible force drawing them ever closer to a shattering climax that has its roots buried in... --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books; 1st UK edition edition (July 30, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861886585
• ISBN-13: 978-0861886586
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,078,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars TURN ON YOUR FAN! THIS ONE's A STINKER!, August 3, 2000

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Prime Evil (Mass Market Paperback)

I am in full accord with a previous reviewer who said this book was excruciatingly stupid. It is of extremely low caliber for an otherwise talented suspense writer. The story is implausible and it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Good question -- why didn't the protagonist just leave Bramble Farm if she had bad feelings about the place? Her host was a bizarre, quasi-gothic figure who maintained he hid parts of his wife's novel so the protaganist could find it and edit it for the market. The whole story is just a foray into foolishess. It is really not good.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Excruciatingly Stupid, April 5, 2000

By 

"sologub" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prime Evil (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm really not picky when it comes to thrillers, but this one seems to have no redeeming features whatsoever. I only finished the novel out of stubbornness -- it was truly awful. Kelman's favorite way to create suspense is simply to describe situations as "terrifying" --- quite arbitrarily. It was never clear to me why the heroine's experience at Bramble Farm was so "terrifying," and I don't know why she didn't just leave the annoying place once it started getting to her. The plot concerns a brilliant writer who is incapacitated after a stroke and who hides parts of a manuscript, which the heroine is editing, around the house. Kelman's narratives include many excerpts from this "literary masterpiece." These pretentious passages are even worse than Kelman's own tedious prose! All in all, Prime Evil reminds me of one of those really bad suspense novels from the 1970s. My advice: skip it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Most ridiculous book I have ever read, December 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Prime Evil (Mass Market Paperback)

Worse than the "Famous Five" books I read as a child. Completely agree with previous 2 reviews. The writing style is laboured and verbose, the plot bordering on insane, the sub-plots even more so... a handsome doctor falls in love with a heavily pregnant woman, who continues to stay in a decrepit old country mansion with a malevolent atmosphere that frightens her while she edits a book by a stroke victim which happens to be the most eagerly anticipated piece of fiction in the world? Yeah - THAT sort of thing ALWAYS happens in real life! Do yourself a favor. Take these three reviews on board and don't bother reading this book. I have certainly been put off reading any of Ms Kelman's other works.