Better the Devil

By: Erik J. Brown

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a queer homeless teen who, in a bid for safety, assumes the identity of a boy who went missing ten years ago...only to find that his new home is anything but a safe haven—from All That's Left in the World author Erik J. Brown!

Perfect for fans of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson, and Ryan La Sala.

When a runaway teen is arrested for shoplifting, he's desperate not to be sent back to the hyper-religious parents he knows will never accept him. While at the police station, he notices a resemblance to the aged-up photos of Nate Beaumont, a child who went missing ten years ago—and, in a moment of desperation, he takes Nate’s identity in hopes that it will help him make a quick getaway.

Before he can run again, Nate’s family arrives and welcomes him home to a life he never had. As ""Nate"" watches and waits for his chance to escape, he finds that the Beaumonts are nurturing and loving, very different from his own parents.

But soon unsettling things start to happen—vandalism, alarms going off in the middle of the night—and it becomes clear that someone knows ""Nate"" isn't who he says he is...and that the real Nate wasn't kidnapped, but murdered.

As he starts to unravel the mystery, he gets ever closer to the devil he may know—and learns he might be their next victim.

Edge of your seat thriller

A twist in every chapter, great story, great narration.
Erik J Brown delivers again and again.

Amazing

if I could give this title more than 5 stars across the board I definitely would.

Fun

Minor spoilers

4 STARS

What. A. Wild. Ride.

When a teenager runs away from home to avoid being sent to gay conversion camp, he never plans on taking on the identity of Nathaniel Beaumont, a boy who went missing ten years ago. Nate has never felt love like Valencia Beaumont dotes on him. He can’t believe how lucky he is to have happened into the perfect family. But there’s no such thing as a perfect family.

I enjoyed BETTER THE DEVIL even more than I thought I would. This psychological thriller kept me on the edge of my seat, hoping for a good outcome.

Nate/NotNate was such an interesting, well-developed character. He had a conscience, even when making bad decisions. He cared and had empathy.

SPOILERS BELOW

Two aspects of the book kept me from giving BETTER THE DEVIL five stars. First, the “bad guys” were one dimensional. The homophobes had no redeeming qualities. Not only were they religious zealots, they never loved their son even before discovering he was gay. Villains are more interesting when they have depth. Casting evangelicals in the stereotype of being homophobic is the same as using any stereotype for a minority religion like writing the only Muslims in a book as terrorists or the only priests as pedophiles. The “bad guy” from the Beaumont sector written as if the writer looked up signs serial killers showed as children and gave the character each of the diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder in children. I highly doubt a ten year old boy could strangle a six year old. From what I’ve read, strangulation takes about ten minutes, unlike what we see on tv. No matter how strong the older child, he probably couldn’t even strangle a toddler, but possibly could an infant.

The second aspect that kept me from adding a fifth star was the multiple spree killings at the end of the book, again making the perpetrator a one dimensional bad seed.

Omg who hurt you! lol

There was a few moments in which I wanted to move forward and skip stuff but I stuck it out and the ride was worth it. The narrator’s voice could sometimes a bit too comical so when you get to some serious sections it starts to ruin the setting of the story.