Evil Hours (Paperback)

by Raymond Benson (Author) "My mother was murdered when I was six years old..." (more)
Key Phrases: nylon hose, Gary Harrison, Kelly White, Buck Barton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
From the acclaimed author of the James Bond novels comes Evil Hours, a classic tale of small-town murder, betrayal and, ultimately, redemption.

Shannon Reece's mother was one of several women murdered in the small Texas town of Limite when Shannon was six years old. Her mother's alleged killer was convicted and sent to jail, where he was subsequently killed by fellow inmates. Now, 26 years later, Shannon has decided that the unresolved questions about the case, which continue to haunt her, can no longer be ignored.

With the help of a private eye, Shannon sets out to find the answers, and what she finds reveals some truths that several prominent Limite citizens would rather she had not discovered.

In a style that tens of thousands of James Bond fans have come to love, Raymond Benson pulls us, revelation by revelation, into a story you'll not soon forget.

From the Inside Flap
"My mother was murdered when I was six years old." Shannon has become used to giving this explanation when getting to know new arrivals in the small West Texas town of Limite. She has never hidden the truth about her mother, but she is haunted by the unresolved circumstances surrounding her mother’s murder and the deaths of a series of other women around the same time. It is when she sets about uncovering the truth, with the help of an investigator, that the true depravity of Limite’s underbelly begins to emerge.

The very ordinariness of the small town lends a chill to Evil Hours, as revelations from a murky past begin to form a pattern; but much worse they begin to cast their shadow over the present.

As Shannon delves behind the curtain of silence raised by the prominent citizens of Limite, she finds herself caught up in a sequence of events that mirror those of the previous generation…and the past and the present merge into a chilling web of evil.

In Evil Hours Raymond Benson revisits his roots and brings to life the intrigue of a small West Texas Town. Benson is the author of the original James Bond continuation novels: The Man With the Red Tattoo; Never Dream of Dying; DoubleShot; High Time to Kill; The Facts of Death; and Zero Minus Ten. He has recently released a thriller set in New York, Face Blind. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: Publishing Online (September 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401102859
• ISBN-13: 978-1401102852
• Product Dimensions: 17 x 8 x 5.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,283,781 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evil Hours Will Keep You Reading for Hours, May 6, 2004

By	Mark P. Rodrigues (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Evil Hours (Paperback)

If you like Michael Connelly, you'll enjoy Raymond Benson's Evil Hours. Unresolved questions about her mother's murder lead Shannon Reece to explore the seamy secrets of her home town. Along the way, Shannon must come to terms with her personal demons as she questions just how much she really needs to know.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent novel by the "James Bond" author., March 19, 2003

By	John Cox (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

Raymond Benson is known for writing the continuation James Bond novels, so when I picked up this, his first non-Bond book, I expected a tightly crafted fast moving mystery thriller. I wasn't disappointed. But what did surprise me was how darkly moving EVIL HOURS was as a neo-noir crime drama. I've heard other reviewers liken this book to Twin Peaks, and while I do see similarities, I think that's selling this book a bit short. I was reminded more of intense real-life crime dramas like The Onion Field and The Thin Blue Line. Benson's masterful use of detail makes the book so believable that, by the end, it has evolved from a mystery thriller into something that's very tragic and profound. And darn right creepy in a "this-only-happens-in-real-life" sort of way. The emotional reality of the book is what sets it apart from other thrillers by better-known authors, and what makes it surpasses even Benson's Bond books as a work of fiction (suggesting a bright future for Benson after Bond). By the end of this book -- with the ultimate revelation and CHILLING reenactment of the crime -- I found myself creeped-out and moved at the same time. Wild. This book was a real experience and one I would recommend highly, especially if you're a fan of character driven true-life crime. It would also make a terrific film.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moody and haunting!, November 20, 2001

By A Customer

Raymond Benson, author of the recent James Bond novels, has given us something completely different: a novel that reminds me of that movie "Lone Star" or similar-- it takes place in a small Texas town and is the story about a murder, or a mystery of a murder, and how one woman searches for the truth about what happened. The narrative is interesting, moving back and forth from the present to the past, and slowly revelations are unravelled. I found it to be haunting, moody, and compelling.