The Evil Within follows Lindsay once again as she returns to the dreaded Marlwood Academy. Since I had recently finished the first novel in this series, I found it really easy to get back into the flow of Holder's writing. Holder provides a minimal amount of back story, which I found to be refreshing. Personally, I want a little bit of a refresher course when starting a new novel in a series, but do not like to be bogged down by countless amounts of the previous story being retold. And this is exactly what Holder does. I got the refresher without feeling like the new story was being overshadowed.While I enjoyed Lindsay's character in Possessions, I must admit that I found myself liking her a lot more in this novel. Her character is much more fleshed out and complex. And since this novel is told in her point of view, I better understood her train of thinking, so there was a little bit less of me yelling at this book. In contrast to Lindsay, the secondary characters were not a full bodied as I had hoped. The reader understands the characters, but the connection with Lindsay felt a little lacking. It is not that I wanted to see events from their point of view, but rather that I would have enjoyed to being able to care about them a little more. It is basically like they are on the side lines the whole time. The reader gets to know them, but not on the deeper levels like Lindsay.The Evil Within, all in all, was a huge step forward in the Possessions series. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Lindsay and Marlwood Academy, and getting deeper into the secrets they both hold. This is definitely a series that I will be keeping an eye on, and can only wait to get my hands on more.
