Phases of Eve

Eve is a young woman nervous to begin her parole officer training. During her first solo interview, she meets an extremely volatile nineteen-year-old named Jessie Fallon. She doesn’t know it yet, but this meeting is the start of a horrible chain of events that results in her getting kidnapped and spending weeks trying to recover. The reader, however, knows that Jessie is the villain right away. He is the very first character we meet, and, in the first chapter, we learn that he hits his mother and (I feel like I should prepare you for this part) kills kittens.

Unfortunately, the violence against kittens is not a one-time thing. Jessie does it often, and he films himself doing it to make and sell a very specific, very horrifying type of pornography. Though it is always clear that Jessie is the bad guy, a lot of the story is told from his perspective. This results in many stomach-churning scenes. I often had to stop and take a few deep breaths (and sometimes hug my cat) before I could continue reading. As hard as these scenes are to get through, they do display great skill on the part of Carp. She does an excellent job of getting inside the head of a violent psychopath and even allows the reader to understand how he turned out this way.

There are a lot of books that delve into the dark recesses of murderers’ minds, but Carp goes further than that. She also goes into the minds of Eve and those closest to her. At times, this is heartbreaking, but it is also empowering. Traumatized from the initial kidnapping, Eve eventually becomes inspired to take back her life. The people around her are endlessly supportive, and, even though the book gets very dark at times, Eve and her support system bring enough joy and love to make up for it.

Phases of Eve is intense, terrifying, sad, beautiful, hopeful, and so much more. You might have to read through your fingers at times, but you will certainly have to keep reading.