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

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.

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.

Left wanting more

This was a really great story it left me wanting more Greig Beck had done an outstanding job with his story telling in all of his novels and this one does not disappoint.

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,

I don’t understand why writers don’t know their craft

Perhaps it’s just the titles I choose, but all writers seem only to focus on the plot and the characterization and the dialogue, and totally overlook the mechanics. They’re also apparently not doing their research. Take this story as an example; the writer says that the doctor is doing an autopsy on a dog. Does this writer not know that autopsies are specifically for humans? a post-Mortem on an animal is called “a necropsy.“ He also mentioned the smell of methane in the cave. Methane is an odorless gas. Also, he says a weird thing “in a few seconds more.“ That got on my nerves. The story is OK nothing special in my opinion it’s a fun read for credit but I wasn’t overly impressed.

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.

Not the same...

I am a huge fan of Beck's work, but this story just isn't the same. It reads like a pre-teen short novella. The narrator has a good voice for narrating , but character voices in this book are severely lacking, almost laughable. Lastly the story is short and mind numbing with incredibly formulaic garbage.

Another winner

This author never disappoints. His books are phenomenal. This narrator was a solid choice too.

left me wanting more

very edge of your death story and kept me wanting to know more. wish the ending wasn't so quick hope there will be a second book. became very interested in the main characters without much conclusion. still recommend listening to it.

Greig Beck does Stephen King (my opinion)

Great story, very much reminded me of Stephen King. Nice pace throughout and narration is very good. Shorter than other Greig Beck books but makes up for it by telling an awesome story that I found very gripping.

Gripping fast paced adventure

A little different from some of the of the other Greig Beck books and perhaps a little too short but overall I guess as I’m left wanting more that’s a good thing. Readers of James Herbert will enjoy this book.