The Evil That Men Do

[Jules]

The Evil That Men Do is written by Nancy Holder and is set in season 3 of the Buffyverse. The characters are very true to form and there are a few references to episodes like Bad Eggs etc.

I like this book a lot, mainly because Helen and Julian remind me a lot of Spike and Dru especially with Helen's obsession with Angelus (not to mention her slight lack of sanity) and Julian's jealousy of Angelus.

Reading this story I never feel sorry for what happened to Helen. She betrayed her best friend by revealing Diana's secret. She put the love of a bloke before the love of a friend and that's what got her into the mess she was in. Then she believed the lies of a vampire when she was told that Diana hadn't tried to save her. She was weak!

So, what did everyone else think of this book?

[Keanoite]

I really like this book, alot. I have rered it a few times. I agree about the Helen/Julian-Spike/Drusilla thing, they are extremely similar. It deals with a lot of hard hitting issues too, like drugs and the school shooting. Also I thought the bitter Willow was very similar to the Will we would see later in the series and of course it is appropiately Bangel:D

[Jules]

Yeah, I was shocked when I read the shooting part at the beginning. It was a very bold move for the writer to put it in there.

I thought the parts where the Scoobies were possessed were a lot like the Hank/Buffy scene in the season 1 episode Nightmares. It was such a sad scene between Buffy and her mum when her mum was saying all those awful things!

[Keanoite]

Yeah it was really harsh for Buffy, and then having to cuff Joyce to the table and everyhting. This book is one of the one I think would have made a really good ep. It so well written it feels like the show.

[Joyce Summers]

Another excellent Buffy novel. (OKay let's just cut to the ooey-gooey center and say they're all great) Like you guys have mentioned that shooting at the beginning? That totally shocked me and like Jules said it was a very bold move on the writer's part.

I love it when these novels get very intricate and have all these different storylines and themes going on and this one pulled it off without letting any fade into the background.

The part that really made me sad was when Buffy overheard Giles' phonecall when he is talking to a friend and calling Buffy a bimbo etc. My heart broke for her. That was one thing about this book- I spent most of my time reading it in a state of perpertual sadness because Buffy just seemed to be ending up so alone with everyone saying these cruel things to her. I mean it still hurt even when she realized it was a spell. Of course the writer did a Joss and undercut all this sadness with comedy- the example I remember is after Joyce says a load of nasty things to Buffy and Buffy ends up tieing her up or something and when Angel asks about it, Buffy replied that she gave her a straight vodka that has sent her instantly tispy 'and when I handcuffed her to the chair she said something about Giles that I didn't understand and I'm not sure I want to....'.

The scene at the end was very vicious too where all of Buffy's friends are forced to take the posion just making them these vicious killing things after Buffy's blood. It's the kind of thing I've always had nightmares about ever since I was a little girl- when everyone you know changes and you can't reason with them anymore and they just hate you. So that really kinda reached me on a personal level....but it's just very horrible.

Fantastic book though, hehe.