4 out of 4 stars
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The Making of Evil is a fictional novel by C. Ross Dutton that offers readers a unique insight into the life and adventures of Juan Gonzalez, a boy who, because of certain unfortunate circumstances, was forced to become a man at a young age, and how his upbringing, or lack of it, influenced his behavioral patterns all through his life.
Juan was born to an impoverished courtesan in the streets of Santiago de Cali. He never met his father, and his mother was a drunk who paid him little or no attention, so he was left to cater to himself and, eventually, his siblings. Juan was a philomath. His thirst for knowledge led him to Sister Emma, a nun in a cathedral close to his home and a teacher in the free Catholic school program.
Sister Emma nurtured Juan in school the best way she could when she noticed his thirst for knowledge and tried reaching out to Juan's mother on several occasions to ask her to consider furthering Juan's education, but got ignored or turned down each time she tried. Subsequently, Juan's mother had more children, and therefore more siblings for Juan to take care of, so going away from them for any reason, even if it were for school, was not an option for him.
Suffice to say, Juan was a thoughtful, caring, and compassionate person until an unfortunate event that split his family up and made him leave the city and eventually the country permanently. His original loving and caring demeanor changed to that of an ice-cold killer. He worked mindlessly for a renowned mobster and engaged in heinous crimes, including hired assassination and human trafficking. Will Juan ever find his way back home to what's left of his family? Will he finally see the error in his ways and abolish his crude lifestyle? Find out these and more in The Making of Evil.
I found this book very interesting and captivating. The development of each scene from the first-person perspective to the third and vice-versa was simply amazing. Each character's role was explained unambiguously, and it was very easy to identify them at any point in time. I usually forget the names of the characters in some books, but this book contained enough information on every character, their background, and their relationship to the main characters in the storyline, that I found it quite easy to link them back to the main characters and retain enough information about them. This made the book very engaging and kept me thoroughly entertained. An instance of this is the part where Juan was meeting with Peterson for the first time. Peterson was a former partner of Ralphs' and was now very good friends with him. When Ralph introduced him to Juan, the next few pages explained Ralph and Peterson's former relationship up to the point of that meeting. The detailing here was impeccable, and it was easy to grasp Peterson's role in the story.
This book was so exceptional and intriguing that I found absolutely no shortcomings in it. The plot was very interesting, the characters were well developed, and the penmanship was outstanding. This book is one of a kind.
I'm rating this book 4 out of 4. I really enjoyed watching the plot of the book unfold. There were no grammatical or spelling errors here. Apparently, it was professionally edited. I recommend this book to people who enjoy reading crime and thriller novels. This book combines these two genres beautifully. This truly is a masterpiece.
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The Making of Evil
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