Evil Is Forever

I’ll admit, I side-eyed the premise at first—a chef and a SFX artist reuniting under a stalker’s shadow sounds like a rejected *Hallmark Meets Horror* pitch. But *Evil Is Forever* commits so hard to its own absurdity that it works. The real star here is the narration: Audrey Obeyn’s performance as the protagonist, Mira, is all sandpaper and exhausted wit, like she’s two espressos away from snapping. When she delivers lines like *“I’ve faked more deaths than you’ve cooked steaks”*, you believe she’s spent a decade elbow-deep in fake blood. Robert Hatchet’s chef, Leo, starts as a smug caricature (his *“babe”*s are *painfully* frequent), but Hatchet peels back the layers once the script lets him—his voice cracks during a confession scene so effectively I actually paused to check if that was a production choice or a genuine slip. The pacing, though, is where opinions might split. The first third drags with *a lot* of kitchen banter and SFX shop exposition—Pucci’s world-building is immersive, but I found myself fast-forwarding through yet another description of gourmet plating. Once the stalker subplot kicks in, though, the audiobook becomes a white-knuckle listen, especially in chapters where the narrators overlap during chase scenes (a smart directorial choice that amplifies the claustrophobia). My biggest critique? The romance’s resolution feels rushed compared to the meticulous buildup; after hours of slow-burn tension, the emotional payoff lands more like a *thud* than a crescendo. Still, for fans of audiobooks that *sound* like they were recorded in a haunted diner—where the mic picks up every guttural laugh and shattered plate—this is a standout. Just maybe skip the appetizer and go straight for the main course.