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The Color of Evil: A Young Adult Paranormal Thriller (The Color of Evil Series Book 1) by [Connie Corcoran Wilson]

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Connie Corcoran Wilson

The Color of Evil: A Young Adult Paranormal Thriller (The Color of Evil Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Connie Corcoran Wilson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Named both an E-Lit Gold Medal winner (Horror), a Silver Feather (IWPA) winner, and a Lucky Cinda winner while leading all books in recommendations for the Bram Stoker in the YA category (2012), THE COLOR OF EVIL: A Paranormal Thriller, is the first book in the young adult series by the same name (THE COLOR OF EVIL).

Tad McGreevy has a power that he has never revealed, not even to his life-long best friend, Stevie Scranton. When Tad looks at others, he sees colors. These auras tell Tad whether a person is good or evil. At night, Tad dreams about the evil-doers, reliving their crimes in horrifyingly vivid detail.

But Tad doesn't know if the evil acts he witnesses in his nightmares are happening now, are already over, or are going to occur in the future. He has no control over the horrifying visions. He has been told (by his parents) never to speak of his paranormal power. All Tad knows is that he wants to protect those he loves. And he wants the bad dreams to stop.
At Tad's eighth birthday party (April 1, 1995) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the clown his parents hire to entertain Tad's third-grade classmates is one of the bad people. Pogo, the Killer Clown (aka Michael Clay) is a serial killer. So begins 53 nights of terror as Tad relives Pogo's crime, awakens screaming, and recites the terrifying details to his disbelieving family. The situation becomes so dire that Tad is hospitalized in a private institution under the care of a psychiatrist---who also does not believe the small boy's stories of having paranormal power.

And then the police arrest Pogo, the Killer Clown.

Flash forward to the beginning of Tad's junior year in high school, 8 years later. Tad is 16 and recovered from the spring of his third-grade year. When Michael Clay was caught and imprisoned, the crime spree ended and so did Tad's bad dreams.

Until now, in the year of our Lord 2003, when evil once again stalks the land.

Length: 254 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Language: English	Age Level: 14 - 18
Grade Level: 9 - 12

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Product description

About the Author

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson (MS + 30) graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at six Iowa/Illinois colleges and has written for five newspapers and seven blogs, including Associated Content (now owned by Yahoo) which named her its 2008 Content Producer of the Year . She is an active, voting member of HWA (Horror Writers Association) and also a member of ITW (International Thriller Writers) which awarded her its Silver Feather Award in 2012 and again in 2014, MWA (Midwest Writers Association), AWP (American Writing Program) and MWC (Midwest Writing Center), which named her its Writer of the Year in 2010. She has won numerous E-Lit awards, a NABE Pinnacle award, an ALMA (American Literary Merit Award), and an IWPA Silver Feather.

Her stories and interviews with writers like David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, William F. Nolan, Anne Perry, r. Barri Flowers and Jon Land have appeared online and in numerous journals. Her work has won prizes from "Whim's Place Flash Fiction," "Writer's Digest" (Screenplay) and she will have 12 books out by the end of the year. Connie reviewed film and books for the Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) for 12 years and wrote humor columns and conducted interviews for the (Moline, Illinois) Daily Dispatch. Connie was a presenter at the Spellbinders Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii over Labor Day. She now blogs for 7 blogs, is a Featured Contributor to Yahoo, and comments on movies, television, politics, writing and anything else that interests her both on Yahoo and on her own blog, www.WeeklyWilson.com.

Connie lives in East Moline, Illinois with husband Craig and cat Lucy, and in Chicago, Illinois, where her son, Scott and daughter-in-law Jessica and their three-year-old twins Elise and Ava reside. Her daughter, Stacey, recently graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, as a Music Business graduate and is currently living and working in Australia. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN : B006WNOZ5U
Publisher : Quad Cities' Press (11 January 2012)
Language : English
File size : 446 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 254 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 1,875,559 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1,519 in Fantasy & Supernatural Mysteries & Thrillers for Young Adults
- 1,934 in Romantic Mysteries & Thrillers for Young Adults
- 4,137 in Mystery & Detective Stories for Young Adults

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laurathomas61

Creepy good!

Reviewed in the United States on 25 July 2014

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When Tad McGreevey opens the door, he falls back in fear. Standing before him is Pogo the Clown, hired to entertain the kids at his eighth birthday party.

It’s not the clown suit that terrifies him. It’s the aura that surrounds him. Tad can see auras, or colors, around people. Different auras show whether that person is good or bad. Pogo’s aura is gray-green, or khaki, the worst color.

Nothing happens at his birthday party, but Tad suffers 53 days of nightmares. Pogo is a serial killer and Tad sees each violent killing in his dreams.

Night after night he wakes up screaming and no one is getting any sleep. His family doesn’t believe in his visions and Tad spends a brief time in a psychiatric hospital before Pogo the Clown is caught and his horrific deeds are revealed.

The author then takes you forward eight years. Tad’s nightmares ended when Pogo was caught and his biggest problem now is that Jenny, one of his best friends, is hot for bad boy Jeremy, while Tad’s feelings for her have changed from platonic to to romantic. He is falling for her.

Tad’s nightmares begin again. This time he can’t see the crime as clear. Can’t quite tell who the killer or victim is. And his dreams don’t tell him whether the crime is going to happen, whether it’s happening now, or whether it’s yet to occur. But it will happen. And his biggest fear is not being able to do anything about it.

Something this author does and does well is catch you unawares. You’ll be reading a scene, and suddenly, with no warning, it turns ugly. It rocks you back on your heels. And it happens often, catching you again and again.

The atmosphere of pending danger is felt the whole time you are reading, even in scenes that seem innocuous. Not that they stay that way for long as the evil in this small town is rampant. Hiding in plain sight. Happening to many different people. It’s as if the town harbors evil.

As I neared the end of the book, I knew there were going to be many issues left unresolved. So when I read the title for the last chapter, Loose Ends, I feared the author would cram all of the unfinished scenes into this last chapter.

The author does tie up some of the loose ends. But some really big ones are still hanging wide open. I’ve never read a book with so many things left unfinished and I still loved the ending.

3 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Channeling Stephen King

Reviewed in the United States on 29 June 2014

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I received this book from the author and from Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock.

Normally this isn't the type of book i would read, but I have read a few Stephen King books and I have to say that I felt the authors style was very similar.
The story revolves around a young man named Tad who has the special ability to see auras and know what the colors mean. The author creates avery detailed environment in which her tales of horror are set. Her characters were real and each one was interesting. If you like Stephen King novels like under the dome you are going to want to read this book, and the rest of the series.

I'm giving this book 4 fangs only because this isn't a genre where i find myself having to run out and get the next book.

One person found this helpful

Crystal @ I Totally Paused!

Did I fall asleep?

Reviewed in the United States on 23 March 2013

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There are times when, as a reader, I make a conscious decision to step outside of my normal reading box and pick up something totally uncharacteristic for me. I was approached about reading this series, and although I knew it wasn't entirely my bag, I decided it would be fun to try something a bit different. I looked at the synopsis and figured that since it's been awhile since I tried some horror, it could be interesting to try it again.

As I was reading, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I didn't like the book, but for an entirely different reason than not being a big fan of the genre. See, I was mentally prepared for this to be a thrill ride, and a bit gory. I knew going into it that I was going to have to steel myself for all that, and I did. But there were some other elements of the story that I had a difficult time with, and I really thought they would pass, but the final chapter came around and I had the same complaints as I had at the beginning.

First and foremost, I will mention that the "horror" or gore aspect of this is not exaggerated. I've seen some things billing this story as YA and I have to vehemently disagree with that categorization. There are a ton of violent deaths, blood, and just overall ickiness. Some of the characters are teens, but I don't think this is appropriate subject matter for your average YA reader at all. So, if you're a parent and your teen wants to read it, I would advise reading it yourself first and then deciding if you think it's okay. I'm pretty liberal and there's no way I would let someone under the age of about 17 even think about this one.

The story starts out interestingly enough, basically at Tad's 8th birthday party. We get the introduction of Michael Clay, aka Pogo the Clown, and that's where my annoyance started. I think that a murderous clown can be a good character, and could be a base for a unique story, but this screamed John Wayne Gacy to me from the start. There were just too many similarities for my liking, taking it from a story sort of about this kid with supernatural abilities, to a "what if Gacy had escaped and continued his spree?" Gacy himself went by the name Pogo the Clown, was known as the Killer Clown, created art from within prison after he was caught, killed 33 known victims, and buried a majority of them in his crawl space. Granted, I have a bit of a fascination with the psychology of serial killers, so it's possible that I went into this knowing more about Gacy than the average reader. However, the author had to have known that someone would see the parallels. I think I would have enjoyed it more if this clown had been more original, and a new take on that ever creepy scenario, instead of rehashing a crime from the 70s.

I also felt like there were too many characters and too many things going on. We've got three main issues in this one: Michael Clay; a psychopathic and obsessive teenager; and a missing kid. I think that the book would have been a lot better if it had focused on just one of these topics instead of all three. It also would have benefitted from a smaller cast of secondary characters and explanations behind so many things. For example, there were a few times in the book where the history of a particular neighbor or house was explained, with no need for the information or no further mention of that person. It became confusing at times, because these segments would be kind of like tangents off the main story, and I felt like they detracted from the overall cohesiveness of the story. Additionally, there were several scenarios where the wrong character name was referenced, almost as though the character had initially been called by a different name and renamed during another draft, but some pieces were missed. This also confused me a bit because I would think "oh, is there a third person in this scene?"

There was also a lot of repetition, which I could understand if this was a 600+ pager, but at under 300 pages, I didn't feel like I needed to be told about Tad's "special power" multiple times. It fit at the beginning of the novel as it was happening, but over time we would be introduced to a new character, who would then explain Tad's situation again. Or, the character of Jeremy repeated over and over again that "he and Jenny were in love and no one could do anything about it, especially her wimpy step-dad, he wasn't her real dad anyway..." The level of repetition seemed more fitting to a middle grade book, with the exception of the subject matter in this one.

And finally, I really felt like most of the adult characters were kind of disgusting in one way or another. I completely understand that all humans have their flaws, but it didn't seem like there was a decent parent among them until really awful things started happening to their family and friends. At one point, the scene is a pretty terrible one taking place on Halloween night, and the inner monologue of one of the police officers is essentially complaining about how her costume is going to waste. I'm sorry if it's a bit critical of me, but if you don't want to fight crime on a holiday, you should probably be in a different line of work.

I will be reading the sequel to this book, although I'm definitely going to take a bit of a break and not dive right into it. I'll keep my fingers crossed that some of my issues will be less prevalent in the next book, or that I won't be as bothered if they do exist. I am curious to see what will happen to resolve the threads of story that were left open, and in a way I will be interested to see what heinous crimes come next in poor Tad's nightmares.

4 people found this helpful

Lisa Pottgen

Engrossing read

Reviewed in the United States on 16 August 2012

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After reading a lot of fantasy and YA novels, I found myself looking for a change, and The Color of Evil fell right into my lap at precisely the right time. If you are a fan of the macabre and looking for a good thriller that will keep you awake at night, this is definitely the book for you. The characters were easily related to. The storyline flowed smoothly. While I could not relate to the area in which they lived, having money and all of that, I could relate to the trials and struggles and secrets that the characters faced and lived with.

The story sucks you in pretty much from the beginning, begging you to keep reading just to find out what is coming next. The excitement begins early on, and does not let up until the very end.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and would highly recommend it to those who enjoy thrillers and horror reads. I will warn, however, that there are some pretty adult scenarios that are not for the faint of heart and I do not recommend this for anyone under the age of 16.

The reason for the 3 star review was related to some grammatical issues and minor inconsistencies within the story, and after having had this information passed on to the author, I have heard rumor that there may be a revised copy coming sometime in the future.

On a personal note, I want to thank the author for a generous offer made in terms of giveaway, which will be posting in another thread directly following this one. Keep your eyes open, folks, as there is more to come from this author and I really think that she has the potential to hold ranks with the likes of Stephen King.

2 people found this helpful

AnnieC

Started it...

Reviewed in the United States on 21 May 2014

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I started reading this based on the fact that it received several awards. I will not be finishing it. I didn't look up those awards to see the value of them. I also wanted to try reading some paranormal YA horror because a couple of people in my writing group write in that genre and I wanted something to compare. The opening with Jeannie planning the birthday party for Tad was all right, though when she mentioned Pogo the Clown, something triggered in my memory. When I got to the body parts, including a couple of heads in the clown's refrigerator, I remembered. John Wayne Gacey. And this was him all over again.

Maybe I could have passed over that, but the errors, and the repetitiveness began to annoy as did the lack of any moral or ethical parents or teachers. Characters behaved out of character. Jeremy's father is suddenly articulate in one lengthy paragraph, but is otherwise incapable of completing a sentence. His father either was or wasn't a stable hand who worked with horses or he was or wasn't a gamble who played the horses. They either moved a lot or didn't. His background is confusing.

There were several inconsistencies along the way. Tad doesn't come right out and warn his best friends, Jenny and Stevie, about the colors surrounding the principal and Jeremy. We hear over and over again that he has the gift of seeing auras

The dates jumped around. The writing struck me that once the author created a sentence, she then had to figure out what she meant and explain all about the person she just introduced whether the information helped move the story along or not.

The worst part of all this is that the book is touted as a YA novel. I hate to think that any youngster would be exposed to this story. The pedophile principal, Cassie who sleeps with everybody, the graphic sexual encounters of several of the characters, and the complete lack of moral or ethical values of the adults is appalling. Granted some people do behave that way, but this seems to permeate the entire town. I don't think Stephen King has anything to worry about.

Last but not least, the author claims to being a writer for 55 years and a college professor. I can't help but wonder if that is also a poorly written fiction.

One person found this helpful

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