Seed of Evil

By: Greig Beck

Narrated by: Danny Montooth

Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

There’s something growing deep in the old Angel Mine - something the Native Americans warned us about - And now it’s rising again.

Mitch Taylor, ex-Special Forces medic, is seeking a quiet life in the town of Eldon. Tragedy has dogged his life, and he sees the small friendly place as a second chance. But buried deep below the friendly smiles and quaint painted houses is an old abandoned mine that holds a legend of an ancient and terrible god. In the mine’s labyrinthine depths, something has been growing, something from a time of myth when ancient gods strode the Earth and mankind hadn’t even stood on two legs. But when the Earth shakes and the groundwater rises, it reaches out and those it touches begin to deform and reshape into the image of their god. Their one goal - to feed their ancient master deep below the ground.

Mitch Taylor soon finds himself fighting again, this time for the town, the ones he loves, and for his life. The Seed of Evil is a horrifying legend of an ancient god that turned out to be real.

©2021 Severed Press (P)2021 Severed Press

A town of idiots

There was not a single person, from the mayor to the suicidal vet who had a brain between them. The story was interesting and the "disease" was unique. I generally liked this book but it seemed like a novella or short story.

If you’re a fan of Michael Crichton or Robin Cook, you’ll love ‘Seed of Evil’

This book combines ancient evils with modern science. Characterization could use some work and in places the storyline was incomplete. It was just the kind of premise I enjoy in a book. In my opinion, had the author followed through with characters this would have been a really great book. For example, the author builds suspense about the children transforming and then just drops that storyline. Overall I did like the book,

Tree of Life Not

I really enjoyed this book something different and Greig never disappoints with his monsters. I really hope there is another to see if the Phoenix rises. Narration was wonderful he did a fantastic job.

hope to have longer sequels to follow

this book is great. greig beck knows how to write story's that travel time and that bring the legends of the past to life. hope this is the start of a trilogy.

Very good

Liked it a lot, definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick horror read. Would love to have a longer more in depth sequel as it does end on a good hook for a follow up.

What a surprise for a novella

Seed of Evil was a fun read. It was creative and almost entirely believable. The book would make a great movie or tv series.

My only gripe was that the book is a bit short. I listened to it on Audible, and it was barely longer than 5 hours. I generally enjoy books in the 14 to 20-hour bracket, but Seed of Evil did not feel rushed. It set the background, developed some of the characters rather nicely and provided an ending that surprised me. I don’t want to give away spoilers, but don’t expect a typical outcome. Perhaps there will be a sequel, but I hope not. I would like the story to end where it did and leave me wondering what the consequences were.

As a novella, I wanted to rate it 4.5 stars, but rounded it up to 5 stars since the storyline was so original. Sure, there are better books, but this one surprised me. Yes, there are some clichés in the story, such as the mayor who did not want to bring in outside authorities, fearing that the town’s tourism industry would be ruined. But that is precisely what a cliché is – the expected becomes true.

I haven’t read any of Beck’s Primordia series and only the prequel of the Alex Hunter series. Still, he is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. His other books are generally outstanding and very entertaining.

Danny Montooth, as the narrator, did a sterling job. He was easy on the ear and had just enough variation in his reading to keep it interesting.

Reminded me of an X-Files

Good story, entertaining, narration was decent but left me missing Sean Mangan. What I liked about it was it had a X-Files esk mystery to it. Some classic horror survival lessons. curiosity killed the cat.. There’s some places you just don’t want to go exploring.

Story seems rushed

I enjoy Greig Beck books so was excited for a new one. This one is a bit disappointing. The story is fine, but seems rushed. There’s is no real character development, and details seem to be skipped over. There were definitely opportunities to add on to the story, but it seems like he was just pushing something out to satisfy a publishing deadline. The story is decent, just shorter than I have gone to expect from him.

It okay but probably his worst book.

I hate it when the protagonist dies without defeating the antagonist. I have enjoyed all the other books of his that I have read.

A cool idea, but with so much more potential.

This is difficult for me, because I typically love monster V man type stories. I grew up watching "Aliens" and "The Thing" (the original who goes there still eludes me), I was really hoping for something more than this. As a story, this sort of fell flat. Maybe I have expectations that are too high with this sort of thing, and I am aware that it is hard to make a dent in the wall of the big authors like King and Koontz. The performance by the reader was fine, good, even. The story was just not that tight.
I don't care for stories, in general, where the human protagonists have little to no hope of doing anything meaningful. Even the ending, I am not convinced, ended any actual threat to that small town or anyone else. There is a government shadow organization that is mentioned and means basically nothing, a plot device to make the story move along and at the same time instill the reader with a sense of "wow, that is scary...".

Just the opinion of one horror aficionado.